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As subject states, do you think that closing vents and doors of unused rooms saves $$ on bills in regards to heating and air conditioning ? Apparently not everyone feels the same way I do about it.
For example. 1200 square foot home, 3 bedroom, 1 bath. If you close the door and vents of one or more bedrooms, will less energy be required to heat/cool the rest of the house ?
Some people close doors and vents to bedrooms/office rooms that arent used around the clock. Some people live their entire life with all doors open, even if they dont use that room very frequently.
Where do you fit in the this situation ?
All doors open, or close some doors..
Northern state/location that see a lot of cold, or southern location that is mostly warm/hot?
As subject states, do you think that closing vents and doors of unused rooms saves $$ on bills in regards to heating and air conditioning ? Apparently not everyone feels the same way I do about it.
For example. 1200 square foot home, 3 bedroom, 1 bath. If you close the door and vents of one or more bedrooms, will less energy be required to heat/cool the rest of the house ?
Some people close doors and vents to bedrooms/office rooms that arent used around the clock. Some people live their entire life with all doors open, even if they dont use that room very frequently.
Where do you fit in the this situation ?
All doors open, or close some doors..
Northern state/location that see a lot of cold, or southern location that is mostly warm/hot?
I believe the answer is no, you will not reduce costs and it’s primaarily based on the original design of the system, the cfm’s the size of the house. With closed doors, warm air will still move to cooler areas and with closed doors the return air flow back to the unit will be restricted/reduced and air will find its way under doors or openings to trying to balance both flow and temperature. I’m sure an HVAC Tech could provide a better explanation, however I have heard this several times in the past.
Your HVAC unit is still putting out the same air whether the doors are open or closed. If there's enough undercut or some other path for return air, it makes no difference at all. If not, the unit can get restricted and have to work harder. So no, you're not saving money by closing doors.
Closing vents increases the pressure in the supply ductwork. One or 2 vents may not be a big deal. If you close too many, eventually air leaks will develop or the unit might malfunction. So no, you're not saving money by closing vents.
I have a similar question.
I have thermal heat based on water heated in a boiler that flows through valves and pipes in the slab floor. I have four zones in the house with four thermostats but I essentially only have two zones operating full time with a third operating some days. It would seem that closing off zones would have no bearing on cost since the boiler has to heat the mass of the water anyway. I might as well run all four zones if I'm going to run one.
Am I correct?
As subject states, do you think that closing vents and doors of unused rooms saves $$ on bills in regards to heating and air conditioning ?
The answer is maybe. Those systems are designed to accommodate X amount of air flow, as you reduce the air flow the efficiency of the system is reduced and it could potentially damage or reduce the lifespan of the system if you close off too many of them. Closing one or two off may not be an issue, don't go closing a lot of then off.
Ideally for single zone system you would have vents in the room you want to heat to open up when closing off the others but they need to be on main trunk or somewhere where they could actually increase the air flow into those rooms. .
Quote:
Some people close doors and vents to bedrooms/office rooms that arent used around the clock. Some people live their entire life with all doors open, even if they dont use that room very frequently.
If the room is heated it will typically have a return vent thus if the heat vent is open you aren't really accomplishing anything because the heat flow is not interrupted. Closing the heat vent and not being able to close the return vent would cause air to move into the room from somewhere else. The easiest path which may be crack around the window
Last edited by thecoalman; 01-23-2019 at 04:46 PM..
Your HVAC unit is still putting out the same air whether the doors are open or closed. If there's enough undercut or some other path for return air, it makes no difference at all. If not, the unit can get restricted and have to work harder. So no, you're not saving money by closing doors.
Closing vents increases the pressure in the supply ductwork. One or 2 vents may not be a big deal. If you close too many, eventually air leaks will develop or the unit might malfunction. So no, you're not saving money by closing vents.
Then why is there a lever to close vents in the first place ? If it creates ineffiencencies and problems, why do the vents have levers to close them off ?
Then why is there a lever to close vents in the first place ? If it creates ineffiencencies and problems, why do the vents have levers to close them off ?
The vents are not on or off only, they are variable. At in every house and apartment I have lived with forced air HVAC.
So you can use the levers to balance the system throughout the house, to keep temperatures consistent throughout the house.
As subject states, do you think that closing vents and doors of unused rooms saves $$ on bills in regards to heating and air conditioning ? Apparently not everyone feels the same way I do about it.
For example. 1200 square foot home, 3 bedroom, 1 bath. If you close the door and vents of one or more bedrooms, will less energy be required to heat/cool the rest of the house ?
Some people close doors and vents to bedrooms/office rooms that arent used around the clock. Some people live their entire life with all doors open, even if they dont use that room very frequently.
Where do you fit in the this situation ?
All doors open, or close some doors..
Northern state/location that see a lot of cold, or southern location that is mostly warm/hot?
Unless you can explain how it is possible to save money by restricting airflow, I am not convinced.
Vents aren’t like a faucet, where you save money by restricting flow.
You’re making your HVAC take longer to get the house up to temperature, so it runs longer.
Open your interior doors and open your vents. We should not be arguing about this in 2019. It’s science.
The question has been asked, answered, cussed, and discussed a thousand times in the past-
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