If you look at the room vents for the air conditioning (and heating) system in your home, you’ll notice that behind the grill are louvers you can adjust with a handle. This offers a temptation: why not adjust the louvers to shut off the vent entirely? That way you can save energy by closing off rooms in the house that don’t need air conditioning.
However, this is not the way that the vents or the air conditioning works! You don’t want to block the airflow from the system in any way, as it can severely damage the air conditioner and lower comfort elsewhere in your home.
The purpose of the louvers
The reason that you’re allowed to adjust the louvers behind the vent cover is to better direct how air enters the space. For example, if you don’t want the air to blow directly onto a spot where you’re sitting, you can direct it elsewhere. But the louvers are not designed to seal off the vent entirely.
How closed vents can harm the AC
If you close off the vents in rooms that you aren’t using, you’ll increase the air pressure inside the ventilation system. This will cause the blower motor in the HVAC system to work harder to maintain airflow. The motor consumes more energy, and leaks will start to develop in the ducts because of the high pressure. Due to the drop in airflow, you’ll end up enjoying poorer comfort in other parts of the house.
Shutting the air vents can result in other problems as well, such as a frozen condenser coil and stress on the compressor that can lead to a burnout.
Using a zone control system
You can close off rooms to the air conditioning system with the installation of zone controls. These systems use a variable speed blower and dampers within the ducts. As the dampers close off sections of the ducts, they also change the blower speed so the air pressure will not spike.
Comfort Zone Heating & Cooling offers zone control installation in Roswell and Cumming, GA. Call our customer service specialists at 770-213-COOL (2665) and let us know how we can help.
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