I have a split level home. Main floor contains living dining and kitchen. 8 stairs up to top level with 3 bedrooms and a bathroom. Down 6 steps from main level to family room and from there down another 6 steps to fully underground sub-basement.
My last house was a ranch which we liked to keep warm at about 75F or so in the winter. With the thermostat set to 75 in the current split level, the top level must be 90F if not higher. The thermostat is in the dining room next to a sizable window. I just covered the supply vents in the top level but I'm not sure if this is safe/efficient/productive, etc. The bottom 2 levels have electric floor heating in addition to vents from furnace. Furnace is in sub-basement.
Any suggestions greatly appreciated.
Best Answer
Usually we have dampers to adjust multi level homes in winter pushing more heat down stairs and less upstairs, if there are no main trunk dampers individual room vents usually have dampers or are adjustable. I never recommend totally closing a duct off because I have seen ducts split and flex line blow off when vents were closed too much. Opening the lower vents and partially closing the upper vents will help.
I have also found that keeping the main fan running in low can also help as the air is moved constantly so the upstairs won't have the heat naturally moving up.