HVAC puzzle

[dave1949]

Maybe a "radial style damper" ? See pic on right side of page.
ALAN Manufacturing Inc's Home Page

 

[dave1949]

These are the dampers used in the duct at the boot.
Don Park | Volume Damper 5 In. | Home Depot Canada
It's pretty flimsy and simple. Bolt is spot welded to the damper. Wingnut and handle go on the outside.
It looks like this when installed;
SPEEDI-COLLAR | 10 in. HVAC Connection Collar with Damper | Home Depot Canada

If you put in a complete side-to-side damper axle that is rigidly attached to the connector boot/ring, you could mount a nut on the damper, need to hold it up a bit with side supports, that bridges the axle, then run a bolt through the nut and against the axle so it acts like a set screw. The first one will only take 8 eight hours :laughing:

 

[1969grandpa]

Thats crazy. If the system is installed properly, you should never have to adjust the dampers. Make sure your contractor knows what he's doing. Every time I design and install duct, it is balanced from the start.

 

[kenmac]

Once the system ( air flow) is balanced. There should be no reason to adjust for summer / winter

 

[Tig]

Why rebalance?
Office: 169 cfm cooling, 119 cfm of heat.
Crawl space: 5 cfm cooling, 240 cfm of heat.
Living and dining rooms each are: 282 cfm cooling, 140 cfm heat
As per the design.

By personal preference, in winter I push very little hot air to the upstairs bedrooms. In summer, I go to the other extreme and push a lot of cool air to the bedrooms and less air to the other rooms. So year round I have cool bedrooms and warm sitting rooms. It only takes a minute to make the change over if the dampers are all in the crawl space.

 

[Tig]

Radial damper looks interesting. But I'm thinking about a damper in the boot or locking the diffuser. Something that I can see when I adjust and lock it. I prefer simple solutions. The less moving parts the better.
Dave, you'll have to draw me a picture of that one. but if it's in the duct and requires a blind reach and twist then it's not what I'm looking for.

 

[kenmac]

You should be pushing more CFM'S in the summer without moving the dampers. The fan runs on a higher speed for cooling. Lower speed for heating less CFM'S. I just never have to go out on service calls & move the dampers for winter & summer. But then ,I'm not even close to your area. They may do things differently up there. I know it's not required by code to install dampers

 

[aczlan]

How about something like this: Dampers, Diffusers, Grilles, Louvers, Registers | Diffusers | Damper for round ceiling diffuser | B28944 - GlobalIndustrial.com ?
The vents in the ceiling at work have those incorporated into them and they work well.

Aaron Z

 

[Tig]

It's a geothermal unit with passive cooling (no compressor in summer). 1200 cfm winter and summer.
I'm on the great lakes so we typically don't get a lot of 100 degree days, but humidity is pretty consistent in the 80% range.
Winters can be cold and windy, although it's been a long time since we've had a -40 night.
Some rooms take more air in summer, some less, changing fans speeds would not help.
The summer/winter cfm change is in the design, but as near as I can tell no one else actually pays attention to it. When I mentioned it to the inspector, he looked surprised, but he got it once I explained.
For me it's a comfort thing. It probably also saves a bit of energy.

 

[Tig]

How about something like this: Dampers, Diffusers, Grilles, Louvers, Registers | Diffusers | Damper for round ceiling diffuser | B28944 - GlobalIndustrial.com ?
The vents in the ceiling at work have those incorporated into them and they work well.

Aaron Z

Thanks, that would work. The one shown is surface mount but modification may be possible. I'll have to look for a supplier.

EDIT: A 4" x 10" rectangular version of this product would be perfect. I'd attach it to the grill and drop it in the boot.