Attic Furnace Duct Design
Make sure your hvac contractor follows these duct design best practices and principles using manual d.
Attic furnace duct design. High efficiency furnaces aren t usually recommended for an attic. Well mainly it s a way to save space. You ve got to know how much heating and cooling you need for each room in btu hr. A furnace can suffer from a drop in energy efficiency if it s in an unconditioned space such as an attic.
Sketch a rough design using a central supply duct from the unit to the opposite end of the house with branches forking to each outlet. 9 greyridge farm court stony point ny 10980. Most updated central air conditioned homes have a new air conditioner split system meaning the ac is broken up into parts. Adapt the design to the type of unit.
Make the layout as symmetrical as possible with branch ducts spaced evenly along the trunk duct and each branch of similar length. This involves return air unconditioned coming into the heating cooling system. So why put an hvac system up in the attic at all. Then by heating cooling that air delivering the newly conditioned air to your home.
If your system includes air purifiers with activated charcoal filters these also affect air flow and may require larger ducts and or additional air returns. Attic hvac systems save space. Number one is the heating and cooling load calculation using a protocol like acca s manual j or the ashrae handbook of fundamentals. A furnace in the attic is a design that works for all homes.
Consider your equipment type and supporting systems. One on a concrete slab. The layout and installation of the duct system will incorporate these basic principles of good ductwork design. Situate the air handler close to the center of the layout to minimize the length of ductwork spans.
Most of the issues that furnace might experience in an attic are due to extremely cold weather in this poorly insulated space. Certain types of air conditioning systems like heat pumps require larger ducts. An outdoor unit which houses the fan condenser and compressor and an indoor unit which holds the evaporator and fan. The purpose of residential ductwork design is to properly distribute the airflow produced by your heating cooling system to your house.
You might not receive the same air movement benefits if the unit is in a garage either. Designing a duct system is important but there are a few critical steps that come first. To promote balanced air circulation through the supply ducts home and return ducts the ductwork should be simple in layout accurately sized sealed insulated in unconditioned spaces and installed in the right places.