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So I have very unbalanced and anemic airflow at the end of the HVAC ductwork at the end of a long branch. It's all rectangular ductwork except for the very end at the register where there is a 90-degree elbow that goes from rectangular to round oval elbow back to a rectangular register face. There is more than enough volume at the source of the blower, but the pressure is such that it just ends up going out the bypass at the furnace rather than making it out to that one branch at the end - it seems like it has too much resistance at the end.

Why does that one terminating end have a round oval elbow? It splays back out to a rectangular 12x8 supply register and there is no joist that I can see. Does that adapter increase or decrease airflow. Would replacing that with a rectangular elbow decrease resistance and thus increase volume of airflow?enter image description here

As an aside, would removing the automatic damper at the end also improve airflow - assuming the damper does work correctly? The damper seems unnecessary since the branch is always the one calling for air as that is the one that is always under conditioned - both heat and cold.

enter image description here

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  • That elbow is probably shaped like it is so it fits a 2x4 wall or a floor register. What's a bypass duct? Never seen one.
    – isherwood
    Commented Oct 8, 2021 at 13:13
  • it actually spreads out to a 12x8 floor register so it doesn't seem to make sense in my mind. Bypass ducts are designed to return supply air directly back into the return trunk when a zone closes down. This reduces overblow and the resultant noise issues in the open zones. Commented Oct 8, 2021 at 13:16
  • Damper half off already, doesn't help. It doesn't need to be there at all, doesn't help. It can either be noisy or it can work : bypass the bypass. A zoned system w/o an ECM blower is going to be either noisy or not work. Step one : pull the damper you never need, and cover it with a plate and tape. Not sure what you should do with the wires though.
    – Mazura
    Commented Oct 8, 2021 at 20:35
  • Is it possible to replace the damper with some sort of in duct booster fan? Maybe I can reuse the wires for that in some way so that when it used to call the damper it can somehow switch the fan on? Commented Oct 8, 2021 at 21:30

1 Answer 1

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Sure, expanding that bottleneck would help. However, if pressure is weak at the end of that branch already you may not solve the problem. You'll need to use the standard approaches to balance the system:

  • Open or boost weak zones
  • Dampen strong zones

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