I have just moved into my 2 story home this past August. When it came time to switch over to heat (I have a heat pump system, the only control is on the first floor, it appears to have a return register on both floors, with the one on the second floor much bigger than the one on the first) I keep having the problem with it being cold downstairs and really warm upstairs. I also am having this weird thing where unless I turn the heat up to like 70, I usually keep it set to 68, I will feel the vents downstairs and it feels like cold air is blowing out. So when I feel the cold air and it's freezing downstairs I turn the heat up to like 70 the auxiliary light comes on and then I can feel heat coming out. By the way the room temperature when the cold air is blowing at said 64 which is well below the 68 I set it at, so I can't understand why it would blow out cold air until I turn it up to like 70. I can't really feel the upstairs registers because they are on the ceiling. I have tried to shut the upstairs registers in the hopes that my home's temperature would even out a little. When I went to do that I couldn't move the registers at all. I mean the part that is supposed to move in the register to adjust the flow or completely close them off. I searched online and had trouble finding any help. Has anyone else had this problem and if so how were you able to get the registers closed? Any information is appreciated!

Thanks!

Some registers are set not to close by the installer for a reason. You have an air balance problem with the home. A professional with the proper tools can fix that problem. It is not just a simple of turning registers on and off. The proper air flow must be set.

I have no idea if this is your first home with a heat pump but get used to the cool air feeling even if the unit is running correctly. Heat pumps work at a much lower discharge temperature than do gas, oil, or electric furnaces. The heat pump if working correctly can actually be providing heat above the indoor temperature but below the human temperature. Couple that with the air movement across the skin and it will make you feel cold. This is normal but I would do the following.

Have your heat pump checked by an ON Site professional to be sure it is operating its best.
Have your ducts/registers professionally adjusted so as to provide the correct amount of air into each room.

These two items will say you $$$ on the utility bill by making sure your system is operating properly and efficiently.

HVAC1000,

Thanks for your response. This is my first experience with a heat pump. I forgot to include that my home is all electric. The reason I thought the upstairs registers were just stuck is because they have the same lever to adjust them as the ones downstairs. When it was hot outside I closed the ones downstairs and left the ones upstairs on and my home felt near perfect as far as temperature upstairs and downstairs. I can't really afford to pay for anyone to come to my home right now. That's why I thought I should exhaust all possibilities that I could take care of on my own first.

I don't know the model and serial number for my heat pump. It is a Lennox Elite 10 or 12 and a Merit Series 10hpb heat pump unit. I will have to find where the information for my particular system is on my unit. I didn't think that information would necessarily be needed because I was basically asking about just closing the registers and just some general information about my experience with the heat pump.

Thanks again!

I just found the model number it is CB29-M-31-1P. I did realize that I need to change the filter and it says on the unit to change every 3 weeks. I always thought you change it once a month. Does anyone know why it would be 3 weeks?

Changing the filter is based upon dirt accumulation. In my home all filters are changer every 2 months according to schedule. I use a special depth style filter and a coating spray. The spray in combination with the depth style filter gives me 2 months service for all 8 returns. Yes my home was designed to have 8 16X20 return air filter grills with a duct design of my own. In the 35 years of usage I have never had to clean an A/C or heat coil in my systems. You also cannot hear my systems run no matter where you are in the home. The system just provides quiet heating and cooling just the way I designed it.

If you are using the 2.00 air filters they are junk. Actually they will only filter big chunks of dirt and many of them you can almost read a newspaper through so that tells you something about the filtering ability.

Replace the filter with at least a multi-pleat type usually 3M Brand and check the filter every month to see just how dirty it is getting. Then you will know how often to change it. When you have the $$$ get your system serviced.
If the registers are not screwed or locked in place you might be able to remove them and give them a squirt of WD-40 so they will open and close again.

hvac1000,

Again, thanks for the useful information. I will put into use all of your helpful ideas. When you say that you use a coating spray can you tell me a little more about that? You said: "The spray in combination with the depth style filter gives me 2 months service for all 8 returns." When you say all 8 returns, what do you mean by that. Are those the vents in your home that pull air in from the inside of your home? There is only one place I saw that a filter goes and that is in the actual furnace itself. So I basically just use one filter at a time.

Cats

Most furnace systems have one filter. But just think about this nonsense, the dirt has to travel in the return air system usually for a long distance before it sees a filter. This give microbes a place to breed. It makes sense to get the dirt before it gets in the system.

Now wouln't it make sense to filter at each return grill? Yep, but it's costly. If your diligent and the previous owner was diligent in changing the filter regularly, you should not have to resort to commercial duct cleaning unless some one was allergic to pets.

I liv in a house that's 50 years old. Ducts never cleaned and they don't appear real dirty either when you remove and look.

Some systems have just one return grill for the entire house. This isn't going to work well except in a mobile home.

Having selctable returns where returns should be helps the comfort levels. In this case and in my case, there are two returns for the most part in rooms that have them. One at the top and one at the bottom of the wall. Heating entails that the top be closed and the bottom be open (cold air returns) and cooling requires just the opposite (hot air returns)

The kitchen got one (one at the top); but remember that this can be closed.

The living room and dining room share a large existing cold air return (always open) and a smaller hot air return that can be opened and closed.

The finished basement area didn't get a hot air return because heat rises.

In another finished area (2nd kitchen) it probably should have gotten a return. When it's used for cooking/canning the door stays open.

The system is now variable speed with an electronic/pleated air filter and will compensate for closed registers by reducing speed automatically.

Are those the vents in your home that pull air in from the inside of your home?

Yes the more return air vents the quiter and better performing system you will have. Many would say I went overboard but the way the home is laid out in three different zones it made good sense to me.

You said: "The spray in combination with the depth style filter gives me 2 months service for all 8 returns.

The spray is esigned to work with the special filter material I use. There are other filter coat sprays available for regular fiberglass filters. The 3M filters cannot use the spray because of there design.


Here is a page with info on filters and the spray.

Genuine Air Kontrol Retail Products!

No return airs allowed in the kitchen, bathrooms, attached garages where the R/A penetrates the house area, unconditioned crawl spaces, attics or other areas that may be deemed a hazard to human health, provide objectionable odors, or cause system inefficiencies. Bathrooms and kitchens must offer some form of natural or powered ventilation. Cause the code sez so.