Browse Forums Heating, Cooling & Insulation 1 Nov 20, 2014 3:49 pm I want ducted air con and have closed doors. I am building a two storey home and besides the main return air, getting a smaller return air for each of the zones upstairs (in this case 3 bedrooms) is easy as there is roof access. However for the ground floor I have a guest bedroom and a media room that have doors that may be closed when in use. The contracted air conditioner specialist suggested transfer vents. Holes in the wall or vents in the ceiling connected to a vent in the adjacent hall, thus allowing a pathway to the main return air vent. Has anyone used transfer vents and what is your experience with them in regards to noise transfer, or should I not bother at all with a return air path for the guest bedroom and media room? Anyone have a room with a ducted air con vent but no return air path and have satisfactory performance with the door closed? Re: Ducted - Return Air for each zone 2Nov 20, 2014 5:40 pm From my experience ducted air conditioning won't be effective if a room is sealed from the return air The Harder You Try - the Luckier You Get ! Web site http://www.anewhouse.com.au Informative, Amusing, and Opinionated Blog - Over 600 posts on all aspects of building a new house. Re: Ducted - Return Air for each zone 3Nov 20, 2014 7:37 pm A room with my return air will be inadequately controlled and be prone to overshoot setpoint. Transfer vents are essentially silent. If they are sized correctly, you won't hear air velocity noise from too much air passing through too small an opening. Although much better than just a single common return air, you won't be utilizing all the benefits of having additional return air registers in each zone without installing additional thermostats and averaging the readings for better control. Re: Ducted - Return Air for each zone 4Nov 20, 2014 8:27 pm Thanks. I'll keep the additional thermostats in mind as the supplier/installer was suggesting they are unnecessary. The manufacture I was sourcing have just released some wireless thermostats which I will look into as they don't require running additional cables. (WA everything is double brick) In regards to noise, what about sound leakage from the room. Not from air turbulence but, say the TV or people conversing? Has anyone used air relief silencers such as NAP http://www.nap.com.au/index.php/silencers/misc/air-relief. I am awaiting a reply, but appears that their solution is targeted towards commercial applications. Anyone know of any other brands/suppliers? Of the few companies I have visited on the web the all seem to be geared towards large industrial solutions. I will email a few more companies to see what their response is. Is there no off-the-shelf residential solution? Re: Ducted - Return Air for each zone 5Dec 23, 2014 11:33 pm I was in an air con shop in subi the other day and he was saying (I think) that multiple return grills are not such a good idea because air will take the shortest path and you will end up with air running mainly over half the coil? which could confuse the unit and it will not be performing in an optimal way. He suggested a better option would be to install the air relief vents over the doors for our main living area. It wasn't suggested for any of the other rooms but he did say for optimal performance the doors should be kept ajar. I'm not sure I've got the detail right but am curious to know if multiple returns are a bad idea. My New Home Build with Dale Alcock - https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=66662 Landscape Design Thread - https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=71784 Re: Ducted - Return Air for each zone 6Dec 30, 2014 12:03 am I'm getting transfer vents due to the same advice from a number of a/c installers (as explained above) about having too many return airs. Not unless you have managed to put it as a special condition into the contract somehow. 1 6150 Hi all, sorting out the ducted air con for a 350sqm double story house. Does this placement sound reasonable to you? Also, I plan to have 6 zones I think. Living room… 0 0 Hi all, sorting out the ducted air con for a 350sqm double story house. I think i plan to have 6 zones I think. Living room (mainly for entertainment so not used often),… 0 0 |