Central Air Conditioning Closing Vents

Through small openings joints cracks and around closed windows and doors through a process called infiltration.

Central air conditioning closing vents.

The typical system however is far from ideal. Your furnace or a c runs longer. The ideal system also has low duct leakage. That means the ductwork was sized so that amount of air going into your air conditioning system equals the volume of air going out of your system.

As it turns out closing air vents in a home with a modern central heating and air conditioning system does little to save energy. Closing air vents is a popular strategy for adjusting air flow in the home but it s not necessarily a good one. In a 2003 study the lawrence berkeley national laboratory discovered that register closing led to increased energy use. Closing ac vents increases energy bills if you close your ac vents you actually increase the amount of conditioned air that gets wasted via duct leaks.

But this is an average. Environmental protection agency estimates that most homeowners lose 20 percent of the cool air they re paying for right through their home s ducts. Closed vents increase pressure. But when you close a vent yes even just a few it increases the pressure inside the ducts.

Before closing any vents in your home. Ensure that your ducts are properly sealed and connected. When you close vents pressure builds up in your ducts. Many homes lose even more.

In a well designed system the blower moves the air against a pressure that s no greater than the maximum specified by the manufacturer typically 0 5 iwc. That means you re paying 20 to 30 more than you should on your utility bills. Homeowners typically close vents in an attempt to redirect air away from unused spaces. Leaking or burst ductwork.

Air pressure inside supply ducts increases in proportion to the number of vents closed and pushes still greater amounts of conditioned air out of existing leaks. Closing vents worsens that leakage problem because the extra pressure forces moreair out of those leaks. This causes a couple of problems. The only real difference with closing vent registers vs balancing dampers is the increased potential for losing conditioned air to an unconditioned space by closing vent registers.

The average home loses 20 30 of the air blowing through it thanks to air duct leaks according to energy star. So when you shut some vents you are messing up the balance of your ac system. You see your ac pushes out cool conditioned air through your ductwork and into your home. Particularly if the registers are not sealed to the drywall opening.