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Scouter said:
Can anyone explain how to balance a heating system?
I live in a ranch-style house, the core rooms are comfy, but the corner rooms are cold. I have done everything I can think of - insulated ceiling, walls, modern windows. Yet, the rooms are cold. I had thought about moving the thermostat, but there is no other place I can find to put it that isn't ether in one of the cold rooms, or is in the path of the furnace ducts (forced air).
Rooms with two exterior walls (and usually more windows) have a much greater heat loss and need more supply air. They also need a way for that air to return back to the furnace without causing a neg pressure in that room. There may be a way to balance the air using the dampers or even the registers if that does not upset the required static psi for the furnace. In some cases, the isolated "corner" rooms will always be a little cooler before the furnace cycles back on since the interior rooms have little heat loss and will always be a bit warmer, but that can be reduced. Placing the thermostat in the cooler rooms will only result in the warmer rooms to be hot. The thermostat only knows the temp of the space it is in. Another method is using sensors in the cooler rooms with a control damper in the ducts and a control board to cycle the furnace accordingly without allowing the other rooms in the house to become too hot. Expensive and can be complicated. A pro's opinion may save you some time. And it could take a few attempts to get it close enough for comfort. What will happen in the summer making these changes? 
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Scouter said:
All vents are floor level. Not on the floor, they are on the wall, but floor level.
There's no vents anywhere in the house above floor level?
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Nope. Not unusual for this area. Most homes have vents on the floor or on the lower wall.
Mike
I work on the 50-50-90 rule: If there's a 50-50 choice, I'll pick the wrong one 90% of the time! 
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Standard here as well, floor diffusers for supply and bottom of wall for returns. Take a look for and open any dampers in the heating runs to those rooms and make sure any dampers in the registers are open as well. Leave the doors open to the rooms and see if the temps improve. You may only have to cut a bit off the door bottoms to solve your issues if someone has been buggering with the system.
Blackhat
Bad experiences come from poor decisions. So do good stories.
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My ranch house which was built in 1953 has, what was then a highly sophisticated heating system. It has restrictors ranging from 1 to 4 to control each room. It was an engineered to the house system.
Of course no one has a clue how to modify that system and it was designed to make all the rooms the same temperature.
I wanted to be able to control the bedrooms independent of the rest of the house. I would be able to keep the bedrooms warm at night and let the rest of the house cool to maybe 62 degrees.
So I called in heating contractors for estimates for a two zone system. I got prices for $1,800.00 to $7,000.00 and each described an entirely different system. I ended up doing nothing.
Now I am thinking of having a forced air gas fired furnace installed, with vents to the bedrooms only with the thermostat in the master bedroom.
A 54,000 btu furnace is just $1,100.00. Of course there is the installation and the duct work and the propane tank so this is not going to be cheap. But forced air pumps up heat quickly and the duct in each bedroom can be opened or closed so since only the master bedroom is currently being used I don’t have to pump heat into the other two bedrooms.
Much cheaper is a through the wall gas fired heater. You would install one in each bedroom. And each is individually controlled.
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Quote:
...and the duct in each bedroom can be opened or closed so since only the master bedroom is currently being used I don’t have to pump heat into the other two bedrooms.
The system must be designed for that depending on the cfm required for each room. You can't just close off air supplies and expect the furnace to operate properly- or you'll cause problems. With the other rooms colder, you still have the same heat loss in the home. The colder rooms with no interior insulation will cause adjoining rooms to be cooler. When it is time to start heating the colder rooms during the day, the furnace will just run much longer to re-heat that space and savings go out the window. You would need a 2 stage heat system designed for that, but it still takes XX btu's to heat the home regardless of how many registers you close off. 2 systems and insulate the interior walls to the part of the house you don't use and block that off? Perhaps a smaller home, then you don't need to heat as much? 
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Thanks everyone, I took some of the suggestions and gave them a shot.
I measure the temps in the two cold rooms, about 5-8 deg cooler than the main room. The main room has two outflow and one return duct, I closed (as much as possible) the outflow duct closest to the thermostat. There is now a 2-3 deg difference, livable. SWMBO is happy.
Mike
I work on the 50-50-90 rule: If there's a 50-50 choice, I'll pick the wrong one 90% of the time!
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Have you tried the simple solution of just running to fan at all times? Makes a huge difference in heat temp balance in my house.
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We had to run it to help clear out smoke one day, when the electric bill came it was unbelievable. Leave it run 24/7? No way.
Mike
I work on the 50-50-90 rule: If there's a 50-50 choice, I'll pick the wrong one 90% of the time!
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Scouter said:
[blockquote]EatenByLimestone said:
How warm are the floors? Are the rim joist and sill plate sealed? Cut down the drafts and the floor will warm up a lot. While on drafts, have you done any air sealing? Ceiling light fixtures, around the new windows, and such will make a huge difference.
Depends, the master BR floor is cold, but it's above the garage, so understandable. I insulated the floor, but hasn't helped much. Other floors are warm. Not sure what you mean by the rim joints and plate seal. I have insulated everything, few or no drafts. I would love to have an infrared done, but the only companies doing it are the gas companies.
[/blockquote]  Spots without insulation can be found with a IR temperature gun. I've heard the Harbor Freight gun works well for this.
Matt
If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason.
-Jack Handy
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