Return air system.

[David C. Macy]

1960 ranch with basement.

One bedroom had no return.

One bed had the supply right next to the return and by the look of the discoloration on the carpet seems wrong.

The cold air return using the sub floor cavity was poorly sealed and there was a nice hole in the supply in the basement.

Any opinions or thoughts?

I look forward to doing an energy audit on homes like this in the near future.

[Charley L. Bottger]

Originally Posted by dmacy

1960 ranch with basement.

One bedroom had no return.

One bed had the supply right next to the return and by the look of the discoloration on the carpet seems wrong.

The cold air return using the sub floor cavity was poorly sealed and there was a nice hole in the supply in the basement.

Any opinions or thoughts?

I look forward to doing an energy audit on homes like this in the near future.

Was this a 2 story with the return between the levels are you positive those two grills were supply and return and not two returns. Can not use a wood chase for a supply, return only allowed. The stain on the carpet looks like a piece of furniture was resting there which could account for the discoloration appearance.

[Greg Veal]

David,

Whether a Ranch or Two Story, Basement or Crawl, what you are showing and/or describing indicates problems that I would recommend to my Client to have checked and remedied by a Prof. HVAC contractor.
Pic#1 S/A & R/A next to each other is an obvious problem which should be readily correctible if there is access to the ductwork in the basement.
Pic#2 Same thing as above, though a little more costly and time consuming to correct, but necessary.
Pic#3 I assume is a shot of a supply plenum or trunk line (hard to tell), mainly because of the round pipe out of the top with a damper handle/clip visable. If that is correct, wer'e not allowed to use duct(grey cloth)tape on supply ductwork, and haven't for the past 20+/-yrs., in our area.
You can get away with more centralized return design, if done correctly. It is not always best design, but can work.