Return Air in slab

8 years ago

Our house was built in ‘65 with all the return air running under slab foundation. We also have an extremely short and compact attic area. They replaced the hvac in 2016 with a large commercial unit and did not change anything with the duct work for supply or return air (house is ~3300sq ft, single story). Just curious if its worth figuring out how to reroute or add new return air and close off the under slab ducts or just wait until there is an obvious issue? We wonder about air quality and whats lurking in those old vents. The companies here are unable to clean them because of the material they are made of.

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Comments (6)

sktn77a
8 years ago
"The companies here are unable to clean them because of the material they are made of."

Wow, that doesn't sound good..................... Do you have an outdoor package unit?
K Waite
Original Author
8 years ago
They said they were some cardboard like material with a foil line interior so their air hoses would basically just destroy it. What do you mean by outdoor package unit? :) we have two internal heater/blowers and the external compressor unit.
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sktn77a
8 years ago
OK, so you have a standard split system (many times they use in-slab returns for outdoor all-in-one/package units). Yes, I'd change out the returns.
K Waite
Original Author
8 years ago
We have almost zero space to do this in the attic. Even if we could it’ll be a struggle to find someone small enough and willing to go in there :) We could easily add another intake vent at bottom of the inside unit closet. It currently has an intake on the door and on one aide which is the guest bathroom. The third we could add would be in the entryway.

Our house is very long and narrow so would need some other option to pull some air from the far ends? The inside unit is right at the middle of the house. Is there a beat practice to block the old air?
ionized_gw
8 years ago
Is there any way to put new ducts in furr downs?
sktn77a
8 years ago
"We have almost zero space to do this in the attic. Even if we could it’ll be a struggle to find someone small enough and willing to go in there :) "

You'd be surprized how a good company can put ducts pretty much anywhere! Call a few and see what they can do.