Close Ac Vents In Winter

It appears set in first photo has high return grill damper closed with bottom open and the other set the opposite way.

Close ac vents in winter.

Instead of blocking the flow of air in a room closed off vents simply create additional pressure within the ductwork. Open top return grill dampers and close bottom return grill dampers on all sets like this throughout the home. They need to be open in the summer. You probably already know that attic vents are important both to your roof s longevity and to keeping your energy bills down during the summer.

Just remember to remove the plugs when the weather turns mild in the spring. In the winter you want the cold air to be drawn through the return registers leaving the hot air behind. Adjust return registers for summer. Don t shorten the life of your hvac system unnecessarily by closing off your vents.

Try the following since it is still the winter heating season. The pressure imbalance creates a suction effect that causes the cold air return duct to pull in air from cracks in windows and doors. In winter when the air is drier the vents are closed to reduce the chance that the pipes in the crawl space might freeze. The popular notion has always been to shut off vents in rooms that you use infrequently.

Since cold air is heavy it will automatically flow down to the lower register. In extreme cold the lack of warm air in your duct work may cause freezing to occur. So in a way the idea of closing those vents during the winter also makes sense because theoretically this would help prevent heat from escaping your home during the winter when you re trying to keep it in. But when you add humidity to the equation this is a very poor decision for the overall health of your crawl space and home because it doesn t have any effect at all on controlling humidity.

The warm air that s blocked from entering the closed off room will simply find other places to go through leaks and cracks in your ductwork or back. If you really want to save some cash on your bills keep your vents open and allow the air to flow freely throughout your home but consider lowering the temperature a few degrees. The simplest way to close foundation vents for the winter is to plug them from the outside with foam blocks made specifically for this purpose. You probably won t notice a temperature difference but your system will be happier without the closed vents and you will be saving money.

After all one of the purposes of attic vents is to help release some of the heat from the attic and prevent it from becoming super heated. 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. 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. Now most people close their crawl space vents in the wintertime to keep the cold out so that the cold air doesn t freeze the pipes under the house.