Basement Freezing and Upstairs Hot in the Summer?

Brr!  You freeze in your basement, but wake up sweating at night upstairs in bed!  Does this problem sound familiar to you?  Your cold air isn’t circulating as well as it should be! This is a fairly common problem because hot air rises which can make your home seem to be unevenly cooled.  Often this occurs in homes with only one furnace or air conditioner.  Here are some ideas from FLAME to help make your home more comfortable.

1. To almost eradicate the problem, you may need a whole new duct system or air conditioner.  This way the system can be re-worked to make everything heat  the way you want it to.

If a whole new duct system does not fit into your upcoming schedule or budget, here are some ways you can help to make the temperature difference between your cold downstairs and hot upstairs not as great: 

2. Seal off all the registers in your basement-when you are running your air conditioner, seal off the registers so that not as much cool air will enter your basement. 

3. Consider purchasing an attic ventilator fan-these fans mount on your roof and can be controlled by thermostats.  They help to exhaust some of the hot air from your attic, which gives the warm air on your second floor someplace else to go.  This can help to lower your upstairs temperature by a couple degrees! 

This problem is very common when it is warm outside and your air conditioner is going and these solutions will help at that time, however, having your home feel as if it is not being heated or cooled evenly can happen all year round!  An improper heating and cooling system and duct work can be a large source of that problem.  

Feel free to call FLAME and find out what will help you! Also Check out FLAME discuss this on the news! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJ1nWf7iZCc&feature=related(FLAME Furnace, MI.  Discusses Cold Air Circulation)