Closing Vents: Facts vs Myths
Wichita summers can be blisteringly hot, and its winters frigidly cold. Logic would dictate that by closing the vents in rooms you’re not using – with the nifty lever they all have, as though that’s what vents are there for – you would be saving energy, and hopefully money.
But as it turns out, this isn’t the case at all.
Surprisingly, closing vents in your home has the opposite effect; it makes your HVAC unit less efficient, causing your bill to go up. So take it from the Wichita comfort specialists here at Fenix that if you want to save some money on your utility bills, don’t close your vents.
Because not only can it cost your money, closing your vents can also damage your equipment.
Why does closing your vents cause this?
It all comes down to the amount of pressure in your ducts. The ductwork, and your HVAC system, are both designed to provide just the perfect amount of airflow, against just the right amount of pressure.
By closing vents, you’re increasing this pressure. At the very least, closing vents can cause your HVAC unit to run less efficiently. At worse, it can damage your equipment and pose a potentially lethal health risk.
ECM vs PSC
The specific issues you’ll run into by closing vents depends primarily on the type of blower in your HVAC system, either permanent split capacitor (PSC) or electronically commutated motor (ECM). This basically means that either your blower is PSC and has a fixed speed, or it is ECM, and its electronics can adjust the blower speed depending on the needs of your home.
Consider the added pressure of closing vents.
For a PSC system, which won’t be able to speed up to overcome that increased pressure, you will have less airflow, which may eventually damage your equipment as it feeds back into the heater itself.
This won’t happen instantly, and you’d have to close off most of the vents in your home for the pressure to become that great, but it’s still a concern.
Dangers of Closing Air Vents for an AC
For air conditioners, closing vents may cause less airflow over the evaporator coil, which is the part that cools the air. If there’s less air picking up that “coldness,” then it’s building up on your coil, causing it to freeze and turn into a block of ice.
This may eventually ruin your compressor.
For Heaters
Reduced airflow from closed vents for a heater causes it to simply become to hot and perhaps crack, a potentially deadly problem. A cracked heat exchange can leak poisonous carbon monoxide into your home. This gas is odorless and deadly.
As stated earlier, these issues won’t happen quickly, and you’d have to close off most of the vents in your home before permanently damaging your hardware. But the increased pressure of closed vents will restrict the airflow from a PSC blower and cause comfort issues.
Why You Shouldn’t Close the Vents on an ECM System
The issues with a ECM blower aren’t nearly as dangerous or damaging, but they exist nonetheless. These blowers are designed to modulate their speed depending on your needs, anywhere between 0 to 100%.
If you close too many vents, the increased pressure will cause your ECM blower to climb in speed to overcome it. You can imagine how much more expensive your bill will be – and how much more quickly your equipment will wear down – if your HVAC unit is running at 80% when it should be running at 40.
It’s quite similar to having a dirty filter. In order for your unit to push the air through dirty filters, it must work harder. It’s much the same for a duct system with closed vents. There are also fewer places for that air to go, so it will end up leaking out, or be forced back down into your basement or floor cavities.
So, the next time you’re thinking about closing off the vents to your home, take it from the comfort specialists here at Fenix, and don’t. Contact us if you have any questions about your home’s HVAC unit, and how to potentially save money through other means.
Join the Fenix Protection Plan Service Program today! You’ll receive some nice benefits, like 20% off all parts and labor, and best of all – you’ll have the peace of mind to know that your HVAC unit is being serviced by the best comfort specialists in Wichita! Just give us a call at 316-945-4842, or contact us today!
Trust the Fenix Comfort Heroes to rescue you from your HVAC problems. Don’t wait until the first day of winter to discover your furnace is not working! Turn it on today. If it’s not running properly, contact us and we’ll work to get your system fixed before the first frost.
Join the Fenix Protection Plan Service Program today! You’ll receive some nice benefits, like 20% off all parts and labor and having the peace of mind to know that your HVAC unit is being serviced by the best comfort specialists in Wichita!
Visit our showroom to see all our trusted products on display at 802 West 2nd St., just across from Wichita’s new library, or give us a call at 316-945-4842.
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