Hello, I have an old house and the gas furnace is just about as old as the house. The problem I have is that the temperature on the first floor is a lot higher than the basement. I did try to close some of the vents on the 1st floor and open the ones in the basement but I still have a big difference.

Is there something that can be done?. do I need to install something to re-circulate the air?.

I do not have air conditionning so this might be a good idea to install one. But I would like to use the existing piping (docks). Am I looking at too many things at the same time ?

Any help would be apreciated.

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Originally Posted by gabrielmontreal

Hello, I have an old house and the gas furnace is just about as old as the house. The problem I have is that the temperature on the first floor is a lot higher than the basement. I did try to close some of the vents on the 1st floor and open the ones in the basement but I still have a big difference.

Is there something that can be done ? ... do I need to install something to re-circulate the air ? ...

I do not have air conditionning so this might be a good idea to install one. But I would like to use the existing piping (docks). Am I looking at too many things at the same time ?

Any help would be apreciated.

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You don't say if your furnace has a fan or if it's gravity-based (no fan, uses the fact that hot air is lighter, typical of very old houses). If the latter, then switching to a furnace with a fan will make a huge difference. If you already have a fan, figure out if the ducts from the furnace to the basement are longer/narrower than those to the first floor. That would explain the difference in heating. If the ducts to the basement are shorter (which would seem more logical if the furnace is also in the basement) check if they have any restrictions meant to reduce air flow, and adjust those. If that also fails, you may need to restrict air flow in the ducts to the upper floor as close to the furnace as possible, rather than at the vents. This assumes that you have plenty of flow (possibly too much) to the upper floor. This will be more effective, and quieter, than closing the vents. If the flow is already low, your fan may be undersized.

If your furnace has a fan, adding air conditioning should be pretty straightforward. If you have that done, adjusting the flow for both A/C and heating will be included in the installation. Otherwise similar observations apply, after noting that the basement may need less A/C than the upper floor, and that some flow adjustment (manual or automatic) may be needed when switching between A/C and heat.