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I live in a two story townhouse with a basement this summer, they replaced the furnace and air conditioning unit. Last winter i put the 3M film over the windows to help with drafts and it worked great i was warm and comfy all year. This year i did the same and my room is always cold and the heat is set to the same temperature. This doesn't make sense i figured maybe new furnace would heat better. My bedroom is on the 2nd floor furnace is in basement. That is 2 floors away. Heat rises. In the summer the upstairs is a lot warmer than the ground level living floor. Now in the winter its the opposite the upstairs is colder...I don't get it. Anyway is there a way to keep my bed room warmer without turning the heat way up or adding supplemental heat with a plug in heater? Any one have any ideas?

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What type of heating system do you have? Do you have radiators or heat registers (vents) that air blows out of? – mikes Dec 26 '12 at 17:56
Just regular heat..with registers – squinny Dec 26 '12 at 18:57
Can you check if you're getting any airflow from the registers in the bedroom? – Timo Geusch Dec 26 '12 at 20:39
yes i am getting airflow. its usually set to 70ish degrees. when i put my hand over the register it doesn't feel like 70 but maybe it is. its defiantly warmer air than the air in my room. see thats why its so confusing to me. it warms it up but not as efficiently as last year. which it shouldn't be with a new furnace. It almost has to be set to 75 to be comfortable and that should not be necessary..idk maybe im wrong. is 75 to high to be comfortable? I live in metropolitan Detroit by the way so ya its 25 degrees outside – squinny Dec 26 '12 at 20:43
Where is the thermostat located? Does the room with the thermostat heat up first? – Steven Dec 27 '12 at 6:39
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I would also expect the new furnance to provide better heat than the old one. First thing to to is be sure you didn't arrange anything in the room different from last year. You don't have anything blocking the air registers. Check and make sure the air filter on the furnace is not clogged. If the room has only one register leave the door open so the colder air can circulate out of the room. If nothing in the room has changed contact the installer and ask them to check for any blockages or leaks that might be preventing the heat from reaching the room. It may be a problem with the blower pushing the air to that end of the house. If you have never had it done an energy audit is always a good idea. Most utilities offer them for free. They may point out missing duct insulation or air leaks that make the room colder than the rest.

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Nothing has changed in my room other than i moved a desk kind of closer to my cold air return. i had a desk before that had a solid wall for essentially the legs of the desk. now i have a desk from IKEA that is in the same spot that doesn't have a full wall as the legs it has like those 12" x 12" storage cube things there. The bottom ones have a small box in the opening of the cube that i could not see blocking airflow. Could restriction to the cold air return cause my room to be colder? – squinny Dec 26 '12 at 20:36
Yes it can. For the warm air to come in the cold air has to go somewhere. You want to exchange the cold air for the warmed air. This is where duct insulation is important. You want the air to be as warm as possible when it comes out of the register. – mikes Dec 26 '12 at 20:48

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