Close Air Conditioner Vents In Winter

Closing vents does not save you money.

Close air conditioner vents in winter.

By opening the lower registers and closing the top ones you keep hot air in and draw the cold air out. Since cold air is heavy it will automatically flow down to the lower register. When you shut off the vents you can increase the pressure in your ductwork which can back up into your hvac and cause issues. Although air should circulate year round through the attic your house will probably be more comfortable if you cover the foundation vents in the winter.

Adjust return registers for summer. In a two story home heat usually rises to the top floor thus robbing the lower floors of well needed heat. Many arizona homeowners think this but it s 100 wrong. In the winter you want the cold air to be drawn through the return registers leaving the hot air behind.

Don t shorten the life of your hvac system unnecessarily by closing off your vents. When you close vents and block air from going to certain rooms you are making your system work harder than it needs to and harder than it was designed to. Instead of completely closing air vents you can maximize your home comfort and keep your home energy efficient by partially closing those vents. You don t close the ac vents in winter leave them open in summer or winter.

Closing vents can actually damage your heating and ac system. The air is re introduced as icy drafts through lower vents. Keeping some of the upstairs vents partially closed less than 50 percent of them will prevent adverse pressure changes in the ductwork and ease stress on your hvac system all while keeping other areas warm and comfortable. Hot air produced by heating systems in fall winter lose thermal values of 30 or more through the central air duct system.

Those systems are designed to move a certain amount of air and blocking lots of vents puts a restrictive pressure on the part of the system trying to move the air. Closing vents can actually cause your ac or heat pump to run inefficiently and eventually break. In extreme cold the lack of warm air in your duct work may cause freezing to occur. They need to be open in the summer.

Your home s hvac works best when the air can flow freely. 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. It s even worse than wrong.