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Old 06-26-2018, 09:54 PM
 
2,611 posts, read 2,881,848 times
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I usually close the vent of unused room because I think it will save money and energy. But I read online that doing so can damage the system since it disrupt the balance of air intake and out.

Conceptually, it may be true if all rooms are open and connect to each other. But if I close the door to the room and the door is airtight, it is essentially similar to closing the vent since air cannot escape the room and recirculate back to the return air vent.


What do you think?
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Old 06-26-2018, 10:01 PM
 
Location: Columbus, OH
1,058 posts, read 1,250,313 times
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I have heard never shut off the vent to more than one room. I never have because I really don’t think you will see an energy savings. Not worth the risk to mess up your system.
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Old 06-26-2018, 10:33 PM
 
Location: Tricity, PL
61,699 posts, read 87,101,195 times
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It could. Explained here:
https://georgebrazilhvac.com/blog/wh...cooling-system

Closing the vent and closing the door to the room has no relation. By closing a vent, you're not causing your air conditioner to work less. All you do is increase pressure in your air ducts, which is bad news for the blower because it's designed to deliver a certain amount of air against a certain amount of pressure.
By closing the door, you just prevent/obstruct the air circulation.

Last edited by elnina; 06-26-2018 at 10:42 PM..
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Old 09-05-2018, 02:13 AM
 
20 posts, read 13,631 times
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Closing air vent in a room will damage or hurt your air conditioning unit by lowering down the airflow in the room that causes the coil to get too cold, and sometimes turn into a block of ice. Eventually liquid refrigerant flows back to the outdoor unit compressor destroying it.
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Old 09-05-2018, 02:41 AM
 
106,662 posts, read 108,810,853 times
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when i was an hvac tech i had quite a few services calls where people shut off the basement vents and the system froze up .
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Old 09-05-2018, 08:34 AM
 
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I keep the whole house at a constant. Usually downstairs is set 72-74 and upstairs sits at 71. My issue is our bedroom at the end is always warmer than the other rooms, yes it's larger but we have to leave the ceiling fan on as well to keep it cool. I don't close completely but I do adjust them slightly so less air flows through some rooms in order to push more down the hall to us.
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Old 09-05-2018, 09:24 AM
 
Location: Johns Creek, GA
17,474 posts, read 66,045,317 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jonesalex View Post
Closing air vent in a room will damage or hurt your air conditioning unit by lowering down the airflow in the room that causes the coil to get too cold, and sometimes turn into a block of ice. Eventually liquid refrigerant flows back to the outdoor unit compressor destroying it.


Closing "a" vent in "a" room isn't going to harm- or "destroy" an HVAC system.

Between this post and your other posts related to HVAC; perhaps this isn't a profession for you.
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Old 09-05-2018, 10:08 AM
 
28,667 posts, read 18,784,602 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Nn2036 View Post
I usually close the vent of unused room because I think it will save money and energy. But I read online that doing so can damage the system since it disrupt the balance of air intake and out.

Conceptually, it may be true if all rooms are open and connect to each other. But if I close the door to the room and the door is airtight, it is essentially similar to closing the vent since air cannot escape the room and recirculate back to the return air vent.


What do you think?
Closing the vent to a room merely makes the house smaller for the HVAC system. That's not going to damage it, especially considering how sloppily "balanced" so many systems already are without them all ending up in self-destruction. The balance isn't that delicate.

I don't think there is a properly balanced air condition system in the whole state of Texas (there can't be, considering that return air systems seem to be in the minority here), and the systems still function.
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Old 09-05-2018, 10:52 AM
 
Location: Retired in VT; previously MD & NJ
14,267 posts, read 6,954,430 times
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When I lived in a 2 story house, I used to close the upstairs vents in winter because there was plenty of heat rising from the first floor. In summer I opened the upstairs vents and closed some of the downstairs vents to let the a/c do a better job on the second floor and most of the cool air came down to the first floor.

In any case, those vents don't close completely. They are not air tight.
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Old 09-05-2018, 11:00 AM
 
3,609 posts, read 7,921,245 times
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There's a definite "maybe" element here.

Closing a vent will decrease airflow, will raise backpressure and might result in icing of the coils.

Whether there is a problem will depend on details: how many vents, how tight are the closed vents, what are the specifications of the system.

By the way, most closed doors are fairly leaky. If not, you would have no AC when you close the door.
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