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I just purchased my home a few months ago, and the AC was sub par during the summer. Now that winter is here, the house is extremely uncomfortable (cold).

My furnace shoots hot air up to one main exit, then branches to the two sides of my home.

I discovered two hinges, one on each branch, one of which when I rotated it, provided air to one side of my home (as many may expect)

The other, no matter how much I rotate or which angle I rotate the lever, the other side of that ducts remains cold and no air is pushed to the other side of my home.

Is it possible/smart for me, as a new home owner, to try to dissemble the ductwork in the problem area to attempt to free the valve or any possible blockage? One friend of mine told me to cut a hole in the side, use a coat hanger to try to open it, and seal it with duct tape.

EDIT

I noticed when looking at how I could take the duct off, there are no screws, just tabs. Please see attached picture.

Any help is greatly appreciated by me and my cold family :)

enter image description here

EDIT 2

Things are still not working in our home. I tried all different combinations of the two dampers open and close to no avail. I also drilled a hole and used a rod to ensure the left (in the diagram) damper was open which it was. There were no other obstructions in the way.

We are still hanging out in 65 degrees at max in cold, so please keep the suggestions coming.

Edit 3

Thanks to all that helped! Unfortunately, even a pro could not identify the problem and we ended up replacing the whole furnace. We are now a warm family again but after a hefty price tag.

Benny
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4 Answers4

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If it is a manual damper, there is usually a wing nut that attaches the handle to the shaft of the damper. If this wing nut is loose, it might allow the handle to turn without actually turning the internal damper. I would verify that the nut us tight and when you turn the handle, you can actually see the shaft rotating at the same time. If the tube of the duct has somehow been compressed, then the damper would bind up and not work properly.

enter image description here

Dave Nay
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5

Don't use duck/duct tape on HVAC ducts, use foil tape. Duct tape isn't designed to take the heat variations in duct work and will lose it's adhesion over time.

foil tape

More than likely you can unscrew this section of duct work and remove it instead of cutting holes. With it removed, you can either fix the damper or replace the section with a new damper. If the damper itself is fine, the problem may be a clog in the duct itself which is easier to clean with the duct opened up. I've used the dryer vent cleaning brushes from Gardus which would work well for this job:

lint cleaning kit

When reassembling, use self taping sheet metal screws to attach the ducts, and then cover the seams with the foil tape.

BMitch
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2

One other thing to check. In your diagram, the "cold" part is on the left, and you've verified that the damper is not the cause of the problem.

You'll need to check to see what's further to the left of your diagram - air needs an outlet in order to flow, and from your description it doesn't sound like that's happening.

I'd find the first vent attached to the left hand leg, and work back from there to see if something is blocking the airflow. It doesn't sound like there are leaks, because then the left leg would at least be a bit warm.

chris
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If the valve to the left is working properly, I think you are going to have to remove some of the exposed ductwork and see what the problem is.

I can suggest snaking a camera through the duct work first before cutting lots of holes everywhere.

There was a home improvement show with the same exact problem as you are having and it was a combination of lack of insulation and faulty ductwork. In fact, in several places, there were very large holes in the duct work as it ran through the walls!

Basically, it was not installed properly so no or very little air was reaching its intended destination.

If this were me, I would hire a reputable HVAC professional to come out and diagnose the problem and look at your heating and cooling system.

Jon Raynor
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