Closing Return Air Vents

A return air venting system can be installed in one of two ways.

Closing return air vents. Try the following since it is still the winter heating season. Homeowners typically close vents in an attempt to redirect air away from unused spaces. Furnace s heat exchanger the part that heats the air. Room air pressure shifts from neutral to.

Air conditioner s evaporator coil the part that cools the air. How closing air vents can hurt your hvac system. It s important not to close more than one or two at a time though or the furnace might not have enough air to circulate. Though the supply register to a room is closed the return register in that room which cannot be closed continues pulling air back to the furnace or a c.

This pulls the air across your body. Others say that they should always be open so the hvac unit doesn t have trouble pulling in air. The return air vent openings need to be on the opposite side of the room so the conditioned air is pulled across the room. For a few different reasons it s better to have a return air vent in every room than it is to have.

The issues your hvac experiences due to closed vents are like problems caused by dirty air filters including inadequate airflow turning off and on frequently and premature hvac breakdown. Open top return grill dampers and close bottom return grill dampers on all sets like this throughout the home. It appears set in first photo has high return grill damper closed with bottom open and the other set the opposite way. Some say that the upper returns should be closed when the heat is running to circulate out the cold air and the lower returns should be closed when the a c is running to circulate out the warm air.

By opening the lower registers and closing the top ones you keep hot air in and draw the cold air out. This will direct the hot air from the furnace into the rooms with open return vents warming them more. Since cold air is heavy it will automatically flow down to the lower register. In the winter you want the cold air to be drawn through the return registers leaving the hot air behind.

Closing air vents is a popular strategy for adjusting air flow in the home but it s not necessarily a good one. Some return vents have adjustable louvers for this purpose. Return air vent installation. If the supply ducts are in the floor then the return air should be located up high.

Low airflow causes the coil to get too cold and sometimes turn into a block of. When you shut off the vents you can increase the pressure in your ductwork which can back up into your hvac and cause issues. Low airflow will cause heat exchanger to. Either every room with a supply register will also have a return air vent or there can be centrally located return vents on each floor of your home.