Closing Return Air Vents In Winter

Once winter arrives you want to have the cold air at floor level drawn into the air return system.

Closing return air vents in winter.

Allow the cold air to return to the furnace to be heated. Winter time open your cold air return vents. Closing return air vents in the winter the ac draftshield is designed for dual system homes having a separate system for heat and a separate system for air conditioning. Other issues with closing vents.

Adjust return registers for summer. It is time to open these vents if they are closed. Run it a few days like that and see if you re comfortable. Since cold air is so heavy it will automatically flow to the lowest level into cold air return vents.

The ac draftshield when used as the manufacturer suggests you isolate the entire system by covering all of the ac grills. But there are a few other important problems closing vents can cause including. Look at the nearest air vent in your room. Try the following since it is still the winter heating season.

Since cold air is heavy it will automatically flow down to the lower register. If a particular room has a heating vent but no return vent it won t get as much hot air from the furnace because the room is already full of air that isn t going anywhere. Others say that they should always be open so the hvac unit doesn t have trouble pulling in air. Open top return grill dampers and close bottom return grill dampers on all sets like this throughout the home.

Closing air vents is a popular strategy for adjusting air flow in the home but it s not necessarily a good one. When the vents are closed the air won t be able to come easily through the vent. Blocking a return vent if one of the rooms in your house gets too warm when you turn on the furnace a good way to lower the temperature is to cover the return vent. By opening the lower registers and closing the top ones you keep hot air in and draw the cold air out.

The popular notion has always been to shut off vents in rooms that you use infrequently. That means your home will take longer to cool down or heat up. Note any change in comfort. Instead it will be forced through any crack it can find in the duct work or other areas that aren t sealed properly.

It most likely has adjustable fins that allow you to direct the flow of air in the room and you can use the adjusting level to shut off a vent almost entirely. Then switch positions on each set and run it like that for a few more days. Homeowners typically close vents in an attempt to redirect air away from unused spaces. In the winter you want the cold air to be drawn through the return registers leaving the hot air behind.

Comfort issues remember a psc blower delivers less air the more vents you close. 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.