Cold 2nd floor in Cape

inChelmsford

our approx. 1300 sq ft cape has an old furnace. The problem is that the 2nd floor is always Much colder than the first floor. I figure that there may be several problems, but i've been told it can't be fixed. I thought maybe 1. the furnace isn't large enough (powerful enough) to handle heating the extra Sq. Ft. (as most capes were built with unfinished 2nd flrs.). 2. There are no returns up there (do there have to be?) and 3. the vents are very very small and the heating duct seems to travel quite far across the room before getting to the vent -and the air seems to cool considerably. Any suggestions?

Big Ed_4

Yep Normal Problem

Cold in the winter and hot in the summer. The upstairs has a greater heat loss in winter and heat gain in summer. The solution is zoning and yes it can be done. Just depends on how far you want to go.

You have warm air so you need to run a second supply duct , install two duct dampers , bypass duct ,control board run a thermostat line upstairs.

2nd install a boiler and run radiation up stairs.

Third install a multi head mini split heat pump AC upstairs. Then your half way there for central air. Install a AC box coil on the furnace to complete the house.

tccoggs

INSULATION

Be sure to check for Insulation, alot of the capes were converted and never properly insulated. My brothers house had 6" fiberglass batts in 2 x 10 joist between the first and second floor, this left a 4 inch gap between the insulation and the 2nd floor deck, which was basically wide open to the fully ventalated space behind the kneewalls. Result, that 4 inches was acting like a windtunnel on cold nights and the floors would reach 45 degree temps.

We laid additional batts over the existing to close the gaps, and added foam insulation to the kneewalls and it was a night and day difference.

inChelmsford

Thanks for that. Do people tend to have a secondary furnace for the second floor? Is that how it's usually solved? I should have mentioned that it's Gas forced air heating. What is an AC box coil? (we are thinking of central air in the future, so i'd like the problem resolved before then).