FIX Hot and Cold Spots in Your House, For Forced Air Systems Only 

Thank you for this video!! I'm 71 years old and your video solved my problem. One of my rooms was almost 10 degrees colder in the winter and very hot in the summer. I didn't think anything inexpensive would solve it. I hated to call a repair service and pay a fortune. Your video worked!! I had no dampers on any of my vents. I used other videos and installed four dampers and the heat and AC in each room are balanced within 1 or 2 degrees of each other. Yes, I had to crawl through my "crawlspace", but your video inspired me and convinced me this was the answer. Total cost: $29!! Thanks buddy.

Purchased: August 2023 - still works GREAT!I ru-vid.comUgkxxsUnXhGsSJLim_XnMHyQK0u3XVaW-CGn live in a studio and during the summer it gets scorching hot - really old building with no ac units. I can’t express how EASY it was to install. This unit has been a life savior during the summer and some days during other seasons where it can still be a bit warm at night. In this small place is my friend, a husky, poodle mix and myself. We need AC - lolI don’t use the dehumidifier option - I’m not sure if it will leak in my house, since I did not install the small draining hose that came with it. May look into it late but I don’t worry about much humidity in the apartment. I don’t understand why the negative reviews since all things mentioned, I personally did not find issues with. Definitely worth it!

Dang....I wish all “explanatory” videos on here were done as well as this one! Not a single wasted word or video clip, and made it so simple to grasp, even for someone with significant ADD! Thanks for your efforts!

This is the greatest RU-vid video ever. I fixed two separate vents that had no airflow. I can’t believe it was this easy. Thank you a million

Thank you for the informative video. I had 2 AC companies come by and inspect and no one mentioned this. The best thing is I can fix it for free. I pull air only from 2 rooms now I plan on correcting this. Thanks again!!! Dan Winter Garden FL

Amazing -- this makes total sense -- I have been asking the guys who installed and service our furnace/AC for years and they never once recommended this.

I can’t believe it was so difficult to find a video properly explaining this. Thank you so much!

I didn't even see the dampers until I watched your video. Now I see that there are dampers in 70% of the ducts in my basement and the previous home owner labelled each one clearly. I managed to adjust all of them. Looking forward to a much more balanced air flow. Thanks so much.

Thanks Man . I found the dampers and it was totally closed to one side of the house. Once I opened it. Every thing fixed and heat went out to all the house again. Your video is estremely helpfull

Man I have to thank you so much for this video, I thought there was something wrong with the air duct or some how kinda clogged not allowing much air. The other rooms upstairs the air was wide open and blowing strong except the master bedroom, master bathroom & closet. I tried closing other vents to redirect the air flow but nothing. I'm kinda familiar with how the ducts are run and came on RU-vid for instructional videos and your was the second one i saw. I was about to go to Home Depot and buy the equipment to add 2 extra vents on the master bedroom to help it cool down. I never knew about the levers until this video. After watching this I went right to my attic where the ducts are near the furnace and found the dampers, adjusting levers that was wrapped in orange string hanging down. I never know what they were until now. There are 2 giant ducts leading to smaller ducts branched out. Right at the beginning of the duct were the lever aimed in a diagonal angle upwards, I turned them completely horizontal and success, strong blowing air!! I'm so happy and thankful for this video, you saved me money 💰!!!!

I think the "pro's" need to watch your video and explanation. Very clear and concise. Just the explanation I was seeking. THX

Hay thanks for this valuable information. Had 4 office vents in my warehouse that the air waa coming out so so faintly. I we in the attic and followed your ez instructions and now i understand what balance is. It helped and make a significant difference in air flow. Never went to hvac school but your instructio s are too legit to quit mc hammer hammer time. 🔨 thanks

I learned about dampers awhile back and adjusted the ones for the rooms that were lacking air but I never thought about the balance between all the house vents. I’ll try that before getting one of those inline fans.

DUDE! The damper junction point-out ALONE makes this video worth sending you a fiver! God BLESS you XD

Great video, thank you for posting. I am currently on phase three of correcting the poor building that was done on my home. First was installing more insulation in my attic (they actually put loose fill over garbage to make it look more than it actually was), second was reinsulating the wall space between my garage and bedroom floor, was cold for 3 ft from the wall during winter, now phase 3 is redoing ductwork but your balancing tip is well needed and will definitely do so.

I increased airflow to two upstairs rooms with your help. Now they will be warm in winter and cool in summer. The previous owner must have shut down the other two rooms to save energy. I cracked open the damper and air is flowing full and warm.

Looks like an easy fix with less talking. Thanks again.

Excellent video. I learned a lot. The camera was good, you are obviously very knowledgeable, and there was no annoying music accompanying the video. A Plus job!!!

Thank you, best demonstration and solution to our irregular hot/cold rooms.

Oh thank you. I was closing vents as well. I called someone to check out why my daughters room stayed so hot in the summer and cold in the winter and they just checked the AC unit outside, charged me $150 and left. Definitely going to try this, thank you

Excellent video! Thanks. My home was built in the 70s so I think I will probably have to add dampers to my system. The HVAC is new but I doubt dampers were every added.

This video shows what I have been looking for with RU-vid videos. None of the others meet my situation. Thank you!

Kris, great video! The engineers only seem to look at the size of the room and NOT at how far away it is from the fan that "forces" the air through the system. Your schematic at 1:39 illustrates this as the room size is only variable, not the distance from the fan. I have the same problem in both my main house and a vacation property. Thanks so much!

man this video saved me for 2 years in my house I had a room burning up air /heat barely blown through the vent , thanks

Thank you so much I have owned my house for 6 months and have not been able to get good air flow....until today.

This is a great clear video Kris! Thank you for sharing. I saw several videos that didn't explain it as clear as you did with the right video! I never provide comments on youtube videos but this one is a keeper!!

Kris. Thank you for this vid., and especially the duct map showing CFMs. I found one branch right under a Kitchen cabinet, so I took off and filled the Boot with insulation. I planned to add it to my 82*F Bedroom before I saw this. Now I am going to see if I have these adjustable dampers first. I live in GA.,

Thanks Kris for the video highlighting design vs actual and fix. Awesome

Thanks for this, your drawing was extremely useful and your explanations were excellent! Much appreciated! I was going to buy a couple boosters but didn't want to use electricity and this will be much more effective!

Great explanation. Watched 5 videos and yours was so much better than the others, since your explanations were just better. Keep up the great work.

*Saw this video. Was excited to find a solution to my problem. Soon as I got home i rushed to my attic to adjust my dampeners....only to find out i don't have dampeners and im SOL.*

Very, very good video! One end of my home is 5°+ colder/ hotter than the rest. Due to limited or no access to those ducts supplying that end of the house I’ll first install dampers on the others. Hopefully that will resolve the issue. If not, I’ll be removing some ceilings for access. 😕 Thank you!

Excellent explanation and detailed presentation. Very easy to understand. Thanks so much.

Thank you for this video! So easy to understand! I will get my husband to do this because one of the rooms it's usually hot, while the other 2 are supper cold.

Quality content; hanks for the help.

Fantastically useful. I bought my funky 70s house 3 years ago in a place that has all four seasons - a brand new experience for me and my family. It has 4 levels and the airflow is a huge issue. Every winter we have roasted upstairs and worn sweaters in the lower levels. In summer, the opposite. Plus the bathroom vent blows out what seems like most of the air, leaving little left for the living room and kitchen. Trying to close that vent led to poltergeist levels of shrieking. Dreadful! I never knew about those nifty dampers until seeing this video. To my shock and delight, my retro house has them exactly where you said they'd be. I am looking forward to experimenting with these levers and having a cozy house, top to bottom. Sure beats getting a new furnace like some companies have suggested. Thanks so much, sir!

Great idea, never knew about these

Awesome information. Thanks

Great help thank you im going to go find the dampers .. because all the cold stays in the basement

Beautiful video Kris, explained with more experience than these so called HVAC professionals. I just received my new home in December 2015 and the temperature on the 1st floor is always just right while the 2nd floor is always either too hot or too cold. Unfortunately all the duck work in my home is sealed between the 2 floors, I have to lift the carpet and floor on the 2nd floor to even look for these dampers. I don't see anything on the unit that can control the dampers electronically.

I went in my attic today and found the levers for the dampers. The guys who installed them covered many of the levers in tape and pulled the insulation over the top. Some of them even have zip ties clamping the insulation to the duct with the lever partially stuck underneath. I managed to adjust some rooms which were getting too much air, but will have to do some more cutting and reshaping of the insulation to get the levers to move their full range of motion. Thanks for the video!

I have two levels plus attic. I have a DuroZone remote damper control on the second floor wall. I need to know what to keep it set on? It has open, 1/3, 2/3, closed. I have trying to google the answer to no avail. Can You help with that?

Thank you I will definitely try yhis

This is very useful (even though I'm late to the party). I have a single story (ranch) with all of the duct work fairly easy to get to from a full basement with drop ceilings. None of my ductwork has the insulation around it...I'm wondering how useful it would be to try to retrofit it with insulation. The finished basement is a pretty consistent 68 degrees regardless of the temperature outside. Would you suggest going through the effort of trying to add insulation where possible? At least I have dampers to adjust. Thanks!

I went to my attic to check the air-leaking and I wanted to replace the entire air-ducts. I found one "triangle duct box connections" with branched out about five lines. This is too many lines mounted on one small triangle duct box. Should I separate them?

Thanks for the video. Explains clearly what many servicemen over 15 years wouldn't take the time to do. My case is a 1994 construction two story in New England with finished basement, garage under... and everything is in the walls. It's all floor registers (except the two gems in the basement) and there are two returns, both in the living room, the most central room in the house, also where the thermo is. I have two rooms diagonally opposite from the air source that are easily 10-15°F difference from the rest of the top level (minimal if any air flow) even with their d does wide open. Also a prior owner cut directly into the main branches in the basement to source two registers in the finished area down there, which is easily stealing 5° or more and a TON of airflow from the rest of the house right out of the gate. Adjusting the round registers does nothing noticeable. "Best" of all, there's only one thermostat for the 3000SF of finished space on three levels. Can baffles possibly be retrofit right at the furnace where everything branches out? Any way to permanently close off one of those basement registers (even if it means pulling sheetrock) Any ideas that don't involve tearing into other walls or floors would be appreciated.

Yes, this makes sense. I actually have dampers on all 7 of my first floor ducts but none on my 3 upstairs ducts. I will restrict to 60% on my main rooms to hopefully force air to upstairs

Thank you SO much! I was considering replacing the entire duct system.

I don't have the dampers in my house. Not required by code when it was built in South Florida in 1986. My problem is that I have a vent right above the air handler going into the living room that is taking all of the air and leaving none for the bedrooms. I think I am going to "damp" it by placing a section of AC filter in the vent grille, probably trying a few different filter material types to see if this makes a difference. My only thing is that I do like more air to the living areas during the day at the height of summer and more the the bedrooms at night so I may have to figure out an easily adjustable solution.

WOW! This is what I was looking for! TY!

Pure gold! Thank you!

Help I have an above the tub airhandler/coil where is my trunk line? I have flexible ducts in my attic. 1984 townhome which is too cold downstairs/ warmer upstairs. The summer is ok. Winter is too cold downstairs

Thank you for this video. Very informative. Would you be able to share some of the things you used to measure the temperature of your house grid, and some tools to best capture the room temperatures?

What if you used to have good air flow in your basement but now the best floor is the middle one?

This video is very helpful! Thanks

Thank you for making this video. The visual aids and explanations were extremely helpful in helping me better understand this problem. Your explanation and showing how to adjust the dampers was extremely informative. This video might be 9 yrs. old, butter the information you provided is very relevant today. Thank you very much.😊👍👍👍

this was phenomenal, thank you! i wasted time and money with an ac guy who only just said i need a return (then i pointed out i have one) or that it was my insulation. he never really checked the ducts at all let alone an adjustment like this. SO, now i have something i can look at for this. (the other company i had out didn't do this either but at least they had some other ideas vs SHRUG or telling me it's normal to always have this issue and basically live with it.)

Great Video! Thank you Kris!

thanks for upload ...

What year was your house built? Wondering if this is something common even on older homes.

How do you insulate the cold air duct (very cold when it’s -40 outside) it’s exposed in the unfinished basement. (Making the basement cold 🥶)

Great video! I had a technician come out because I wasn't getting heat in 3 bedrooms. He told me I needed to a damper installed. He said my house (built in 2006) didn't have any in the duct work. I still don't know if it is something I can do myself, but at least now I can go look in the attic to see if they see there.

I have one room that doesn’t get good air flow I noticed that it’s ran from the trunk right next to another duct. That duct is a short run to my bedroom an the other is a longer run to another bedroom. Assuming that airs taking path of least resistance. I closed my vent a bit to get more air in the other room. I notice a difference but that room still seems a bit warm when I walk in there. My room now since I closed the vent slightly has the air blowing directly down instead of evenly across.

I am hoping this is my issue, I have a crawl space. My daughter's room is 15° warmer than anywhere else. But in the upstairs it has two vents but it's almost cold, so I'm guessing the duct through the dead space is not covered up.

Your video is incredibly helpful, thank you!

Thanks for the info! My HVAC company told me there was no way to close off part of the ducts to limit air flow. I knew that must be false and I was right! Time to fire my HVAC company.

My issue was the restrictive filters(not dirty). I resolved it by replacing the filters with ones with a lower MERV rating. It was like NIGHT AND DAY. The thermostat now always reaches the set temp during the very hot summer. I have in slab ducts, so I don't really have the option to add in-line dampers. I used to shove towels in the floor registers to keep air from coming out of the specific ducts.

Great video! Very informative! You’ve instilled confidence in me to go under there and check out my duct system.

This video and information is golden. I have been having major cooling issues upstairs in my home. I've tried closing off a few vents to try to balance out the air, I've turned on all of the ceiling fans upstairs but the three rooms on one side of my house will not get cool enough. I was told to get smart thermostats and sensors to help. The sensors help me see that there's really a problem. The difference in temperature is 5 degrees so I know for sure this is definitely the issue considering I feel very little airflow on all of the rooms on that side of the house. I've called out professionals and they say that I need a more efficient unit which was going to cost about $20,000 since my house was built in 2004. I will take the time to go into my attic this week to do this for that side and I'll tape up any leaks that I find. I can assure you that you're saving people a ton of money with this information.

thank you so much

That’s really interesting! I wonder if my house has those dampers, considering these builders barely did anything right. I’ll have to go poke around in the attic as well.

Every homeowner should watch this video ! Or at the very least, be told about the damper controls at the trunk line ! I've been 'suffering' for 23 years in the hot master bedroom of my house -- closing other vents, fans outside my bedroom blowing in, etc -- all with minimal effect. Lately, I've been thinking about adding a power-linked booster fan, another vent, etc -- what a pain compared to this solution. Great how-to video in general, especially on adjusting the dampers w/o even breaking through the insulation.

Awesome 👏🏽 thanks

Thank you, Kris!!!!!!!!!

Brilliant! Thank you!

Very informative

I don’t have dampers in my system. How is adjusting airflow with a damper different then the vents? I’m guessing it has to do with WHERE the airflow is adjusted? Also, if you’re not supposed to balance with the vents, what is the purpose of their adjustment dial?

What if hardly any air gets to the room on the 2nd floor from furnace located in basement?

Excellent video thanks !

Thank you so much

I thank it might work . Also dusting helps

Excellent video!

Thank you for this helpful info. I’ve done all kinds of Trades work. And there’s been 2 rooms that have always been hotter than the rest of the house. So I’ll try not to break my neck or other bones in my attic. As it’s a huge attic.

Seems like an easy fix. My AC unit won't kick off once it reaches the desired temperature. Often, it struggles especially when temps go above 85 degrees. I live on the second floor in a condo so my unit is in the attic. I've been up there to look at things and I didn't find the dampers. I saw in another video that you might have to feel around for them or even make a slight tear in the duct work to get to them. I'm afraid that there won't be any dampers due to this being an old building. I'll report back with the results.

Do Texas houses have duct dampers installed? I've never seen one.

In my area unless you as owner specify dampers there will not be any because the contractors won't spent the money for dampers. It increase cost of job and they don't explain the cost benefits to homeowner.

Hi Kris, great video! How would you manage a 2 story home where in winter and summer 1st floor is cold so that 2nd floor can be comfortable. In other words rising heat requires more airflow for 1st floor then 2nd in winter and less airflow then 2nd in summer. Seems like dampening must be reversed by winter summer season or is there another way?

Great video 👏

My heating and cooling duct work is in the ceiling! is this advice use for ceiling ducts too? It's now winter time and kind of cold but when I turn the heat on it's too hot in the living room and I can hardly breathe , but the bathroom and bedrooms are too cold. So what should I do?

In terms performance, what's the difference between adjusting the dampers as oppossed to the floor/wall registers? Seems like it would effectively accomplish the same thing?

Thanks man, dont think it will take a day or two for the house to equalise, id say my home is as big as your shed.

Great video thanks for posting! Question, I located my dampers, only 2 slightly off so I turned back parrallel with duct for now to see if that helps. I have a 2nd floor bedroom over a garage that gets very hot in the summer. If I closed dampers all the way on other side of house where its cool will the air be redirected to the other side to go up to 2nd floor? Looking at where and how many dampers I have they aren't labelled where they feed, how can I find this information out? Thanks in advance!

I am a certified HVAC contractor with over a decade of experience. While I do find this video educational and informative I do believe that this video doesn’t talk about return air problems and in my opinion return air deficiency/luck of return air is the major issue with residential construction. I can safely say that ~95% of residential properties don’t have enough return air ducts and for 2 stories houses it is a case of 100% deficiency. During construction people use inside of drywall space as a return duct/pathway. Standard space between two studs can route ~100-120 CFM of air.... so, if your house has 5 ton system , your house should have 23-27 of these returns........ now, go ahead and count how many inside of drywall return your house has. You are lucky if your A/C unit gets more than 30% from what it designed to have. What does it mean?...... It means that ~50-60% of your electric bill goes to....... goes to..... utility company for nothing! So, look for a HVAC contractor that is able to do simple math and can calculate air flow correctly. You will be glad to see your electric bill after when air flow will be improved. I can help you with this issue if your house is in greater Memphis area.

cool, smart homeowner who actually did that right

great video... im having this problem now. just moved into a two story home, my sons room gets chilling while me and momma are sweating in our room. thanks buddy

Could it be possible that my duct work doesnt have dampers? I went to the attic and inspect it to no avail. The issue Inis not airflow though. Air comes out strong in this particular room, but too warm, compared to other rooms.

Hello Kris, and THANK YOU for such clarity on this issue - that it makes me feel like I could do it myself. I have a lot of enthusiasm but more insecurity here. I visit my daughter in her new home in Syracuse, NY and the 2nd floor guest room feels like a hot airless cell in summer and is freezing in winter. She doesn't have any problem with the temps in her bedroom, so there doesn't seem to be any hurry to fix or adjust anything. So, I'm taking this on myself, but am looking for a competent and trustworthy serviceperson who will inspect and adjust all of the things you have mentioned in your video without trying to sell a new system. Would you have any leads as to reliable HVAC services in the Syracuse, NY area?

Any idea why some of the vents in my basement don’t have adjustment valves where you can open/close them? Am I not looking closely enough

hi , do you think my system has these dampers. my hoise was built in 2002. also how do i know wich damper to close more or open

This is great if you have an attic access or a basement. How do I find my duct work on a house built on slap?