Heating ducts in the attic

[tim1179]

Hi everyone. My friend and I just bought a foreclosed turn of the century (the previous century) home that needs A LOT of work, including some problems with the heating ducts.
The system has floor vents on the first floor, and a large duct running alongside the chimney up to the attic. In the attic, at the top of duct, there was the "twelve armed monster"-basically a box with a bunch of cut outs to convert the main duct to slinky-type flexible tube ducting. The tubes then ran up to the ceiling of the attic and back down to the of the second floor.
A lot of the tube ducting was damaged, so there was almost no resistance at the top of the main duct, causing ALL the heat to go straight to the attic. As a temporary fix, we capped the duct with some tape and seem to be getting a lot more heat on the ground floor.

I am wondering whether we should just replace the damaged tubes, or try to get someone to redesign the system to vent directly to the second floor. I am definitely an amateur but it it seems really inefficient to send all the heat for the second floor all the way up to the highest point in the house and force it back down. On the other hand, cost is definitely a factor.

Was the previous setup a viable way to heat the house, or just a quick fix?
Also, thanks to everyone who posts on this forum, you have been a lot of help.

[paul52446m]

Hi everyone. My friend and I just bought a foreclosed turn of the century (the previous century) home that needs A LOT of work, including some problems with the heating ducts.
The system has floor vents on the first floor, and a large duct running alongside the chimney up to the attic. In the attic, at the top of duct, there was the "twelve armed monster"-basically a box with a bunch of cut outs to convert the main duct to slinky-type flexible tube ducting. The tubes then ran up to the ceiling of the attic and back down to the of the second floor.
A lot of the tube ducting was damaged, so there was almost no resistance at the top of the main duct, causing ALL the heat to go straight to the attic. As a temporary fix, we capped the duct with some tape and seem to be getting a lot more heat on the ground floor.

I am wondering whether we should just replace the damaged tubes, or try to get someone to redesign the system to vent directly to the second floor. I am definitely an amateur but it it seems really inefficient to send all the heat for the second floor all the way up to the highest point in the house and force it back down. On the other hand, cost is definitely a factor.

Was the previous setup a viable way to heat the house, or just a quick fix?
Also, thanks to everyone who posts on this forum, you have been a lot of help.

As long as you repair the round flex ducts so you do not have air leaks, and your blower speed in right to pressurize the duct , then try it out and see if your air flow is ok. Make sure your blower wheel and air filter is clean. These flex are insulated? Later Paul

[HayZee518]

I did something similar in a house I owned but instead of a box, or plenum in the attic, I installed a TEE with rotating fins inside at the top. by rotating I don't mean that in the physical sense but turning vanes inside the tee so the heat spreads out from the center into two ducts horizontally. I came into each room at the ceiling with a round register with a damper.