HVAC (Heater) Ducting

So the decision of the day was how we would mount the HVAC ducting. For the bedrooms the HVAC company (business name to follow) recommended that we place the new registers over each of the windows, since these are typically where the most heat is lost, and the warm air from the duct will actually blow down over the winder, creating a blanket of warm air, and thus more efficient. The registers will still be at head high level, which always bothered me. Heat rises, so putting the hot air ducting from the top does not make for the best airflow. Here’s where the $’s come in. It seams by a back of the napkin calculation that the energy we would expend over time from an electric ceiling fan would out weigh the cost of routing the ducts to lower. Plus this makes furniture layout in the room easier, because it’s harder to block the vents.
There will then be a 12 or 14 inch round duct (similar to one we found at Ilisa’s office) that comes out from the attic (where the new 92% efficient Gas Furnace will be) straight out at about a 10 foot high level. This will have nice brushed Aluminum vents two on each side directed at the Ceiling Fans in the Kitchen and
The hard decision what where to put the ducting tube so it will look and function the best and be the simplest. We conference called in the architect, Drew Hubbell who pointed out that many new downtown café’s and bars are going for this post modern industrial look. The HVAC guy also said that many places will paint the duct a dark color to add to its aesthetic value. The other option would have been to put soffet (sp?) ducts in the corners of the vaulted ceiling, but this would add more additional cost and complexity to the system with possibly less benefit.
The HVAC guy also said that he will be installing manual dampeners (close off valves in the duct) at each duct branch for each room. I asked that these mechanisms are adaptable to 24VAC actuators (electric motors). This will be great, because eventually I would like to put a zone based HVAC controls system in place that will open and close these dampeners based upon individual zone thermostats and/or timers and/or motion sensors, so that we only provide air to zones that require it, and hopefully creating a more efficient design.
It’s funny we have so many long term goals for this project, yet have to be realistic for what if affordable both in money (baby’s coming in a month, and the Prius isn’t paid off yet) and time (did I mention baby’s coming in a month). We did do our best to put in adaptable hardware so that as more advanced features and options come out (such as household energy controls systems) and water recycling systems we can change easily to these things without having to completely redo a system from scratch. All good things will hopefully come with time.