HONEY BUNCHES OF OATS
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Friday, 13th of August 2010 09:45:34 AM
Well, the most certain method is to get someone with a camera
HONEY BUNCHES OF OATS
in there.. I would check with ur local plumbing company, or air
Registered User
conditioning service. both types of companies may have the little cameras
Joined: Thursday, 6th of May 2010, 13:03:54
they can run into a small space by remote. The plumbers use it to check
Posts: 495
drain lines, etc.
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If you can feel it blowing out from the space tho. I'd say you don't have
one that has collapsed. its more likely you have one that has become
disconnected, or opened up. You might be able to take the vent cover off
in the home, & shine a light down the vent, & use a small mirror to take a
peek at the run, from that end. If it is close to there, you might even be
able to repair it. I suspect tho, that if it has come loose, it probably
came loose at the trunk end, since you can feel it blowing 20 ft from the
duct.
If you were not feeling any air at all outside the home, I would have
suggested closing all the vents, & checking for airflow at the one you
think might be collapsed.
You may want to check the rest of the vents. see if they are blowing as
strongly as they should be. If they are not. you may have lost a piece of
sheetmetal near where ur air goes into ur ductwork.
I went by to visit an elderly lady one day, & she was sitting in her home,
& it was miserably hot. I asked her why didnt she have her air conditioner
on? Seems she had had some trouble with it, & called a local service
company..They told her she needed a new condenser coil outside. And. they
rigged the furnace so she couldnt even turn on the fan.. Nice huh? I told
her I would look at it.. I found where they had failed to engage the
safety switch on the furnace with the cover plate, rendering it inoperable
& popped it back in correctly. Flipped the thermostat switch to fan, & it
kicked right off. That in itself was a big help.
She commented she didnt seem to have the air flow in her living room like
she used to have.and I checked the vents. & there was just a bare minimum
of air flow. Her furnace was a downdraft, by the way. So, I go around
the back of the home, & open up the crawl space. & I am hit with this
blast of air.. much like you are describing here..
I crawled under, & discovered that where her furnace was placed, & it blew
straight down.. the duct work had corroded out right there.. literally, the
bottom fell out of it.
All it took to fix it was some sheetmetal, screws, & metal tape.and about
a half hour. I asked her if the service company had looked under the
home, & she said yes, but they didnt see anything wrong.. Obviously,
someone was about to take her to the cleaners..and they had rigged her
furnace so she couldnt even run just the fan..I thought that was a pretty
rotten thing to do, & I went & told them so.
If you have a downdraft furnace, you may be able to get a look at the vent
underneath, by going thru the furnace itself, or moving it out of the way,
while you work on the vent. If you can access the ductwork from ur
basement. then I would pop that open there..take a section down, open a
corner, etc. I would start out looking with a mirror & flashlight
first.. then, If I couldnt determine anything, I'd call some service
companies to find one that used one of those remote cameras.
As far as pouring cement.. i wouldnt go that far.. Id stuff some batten
insulation in there instead, & maybe use some foam sealant, to redirect
the air flow. but you need to see where it has popped loose at first.
Good Luck!