Half my house is freezing the other half is hot

[sophiecentaur]

What do people do in the UK for domestic hot water?

A single boiler for CH and water. There are options of a hot water tank or a combi boiler. Only one expensive item and two plumbing circuits. But AC has not been commonly used in UK. A proper Energy policy with home insulation would see things that way, even with climate change.

I don't understand what you mean.

Dry = Hot air. Wet = radiators. Two different approaches which seem to be mutually foreign to UK and US. An analogue to the clash of cultures about electricity supply. As usual there are good reasons for either but we all make assumptions about what the other guy does..

Is it that there isn't enough land, or is it - like here in Canada - that the only land people want is in cities?
Because, for a tiny nation, UK seems remarkably rife with green space.

There, in Canada, you have land, lots of land. Green belt has been jealously guarded and Nimbyism rules in UK. Urban living is popular but folks can't afford their mortgages. It was pointed out, today, that mortgages in the US are usually for long terms at a fixed interest rate. These days, in UK, interest is seldom fixed for more than a very few years. That's another difference between east and west.

 

[russ_watters]

Dry = Hot air. Wet = radiators. Two different approaches....

Fair enough....we call it "central air" here and it confused me to call it "dry' due to all the water pouring down the drain...

...which seem to be mutually foreign to UK and US. An analogue to the clash of cultures about electricity supply. As usual there are good reasons for either but we all make assumptions about what the other guy does.

Yeah, it's the different requirements/constraints that make most of the difference. The design choices do make sense in context.

But I just realized....
I'm working on an all-electric/zero carbon lab project, and we had a very hard time finding air source hot water boilers. Our major equipment vendor had never sold one in the US and had to lean on their European division for assistance. Even still, product options are very thin and there are many available in Europe/Asia that are not available in North America. And I just realized why: When Northern Europe electrifies, they will easily convert from natural gas and oil boilers to heat pump boilers whereas in the US all our residential and light commercial heat pumps are forced air. We simply don't have anywhere near the market for a heat pump boiler as exists in Europe. Also, ginormous natural gas reserves, so less geopolitical pressure.

 

[bob012345]

Can't you just put in a small window AC unit upstairs? Then you can use less central AC on the main floor.

 

[sophiecentaur]

Can't you just put in a small window AC unit upstairs? Then you can use less central AC on the main floor.

Why not just use a fan and some ducting to get warmer air into the cooler rooms? A/C involves yet more electrical power input and, of course, it's expensive to buy.

 

[bob012345]

Why not just use a fan and some ducting to get warmer air into the cooler rooms? A/C involves yet more electrical power input and, of course, it's expensive to buy.

Ceiling fans can mix up the air. There are two settings, one for summer and one for winter. The upper fans could be used to push the hot air down and the lower fans to pull the cool air up.

 

[sophiecentaur]

Ceiling fans can mix up the air.

I wasn't proposing a ceiling fan. I was thinking in terms of a large diameter, slow, 'extractor fan'. The big ones shift a lot of air (good for smokey kitchens) and are bidirectional. Trunking etc. is always available to fit the popular ones. You could annoy your house sharers by pumping curry / steak aroma into their half.

The logic of the ceiling fan (Punka) is to blow air downwards in summer and upwards in winter - or is it the other way?

 

[Flyboy]

To return to the original question in the OP, I think that the comments about the return vent are spot on. Might be worth patching in another return duct on the side without one, or to put a vent between sections to allow crossflow.

Another possibility, though much more complicated, would be some sort of proportioning valves in the ducts to force air at different rates to different areas. The issue I see with that beside the complexity is the controls. You'd basically have to reverse the proportions as the seasons change, i.e. more flow downstairs in the winter for heating, more flow upstairs in the summer for cooling.

 

[Bystander]

To return to the original question in the OP, I think that the comments about the return vent are spot on. Might be worth patching in another return duct on the side without one, or to put a vent between sections to allow crossflow.

You recently retired?