I have a 3 year old raised ranch home and when I turn the heat on in the winter the farthest rooms in the house seem to get very little air flowing through the registers, and in the summer when the A/C is on the same in the far rooms. The butterfly flaps in the vents are wide open and cold air returns are unobstructed. The rest of the house receives normal heating and cooling. I was wondering if I can replace the pulley on the squirrel cage fan in the furnace, or on the electric motor. The duct work is cleaned out as well.
Answer:
The most probable cause of your problems has to do with the distance from the furnace to the rooms that are getting left out. Marry that to ducts having four or more elbows in them and you're going to get precious little at the business end. Your relief will probably come when you've discussed this with a heating contractor and arranged for a booster fan to be installed in the main heating plenum of the furnace. The fan cycles on and off with the furnace fan so its very much trouble-free.
