Should I Close Some of My Registers?

Have you heard that you should close some of the registers in rooms that are not being used to save energy? Is this really a good idea? Bartlett Heating and Air has some answers. It is true that your heating and air conditioning use up a lot of energy. This totals to about half your electric bill each year. Your blower is the heart of your system and it pulls air from your home through your returns and pushes it back out through your supply’s. The blower is made to push against a certain amount of pressure to work correctly. When things like dirty filters and restrictive ducts change this you can run into issues. You end up losing efficiency when it is put up against a different amount of pressure than it was designed for. Higher pressure can mean less air flow in this situation. When you end up closing registers in some of your rooms you end up throwing off the pressure in the ducts. They become more restrictive. Most homes also do not have their ducts sealed so this becomes an issue also because you will have more leakage in your ducts from the higher pressure caused by the closed registers. The more registers you close, the more the motor has to work and that mean more energy is wasted. The harder the motor has to work will also cause unnecessary wear and tear. In a fixed capacity system, the amount of heat absorbed and given off is a set amount. If less air is flowing over the coil due to closed registers and there is excess condensation in the air this can cause the coil to literally freeze into a block of ice. This will cause it to not cool your home and can damage your system. Low air flow due to closed registers in the winter can cause your heat exchanger to possibly overheat and crack. When your heat exchanger cracks it can leak carbon monoxide which can be deadly to your family. In summary, if you want to close your registers here is a list of things that can be affected. Increased duct leaks, frozen coil, cracked heat exchanger, low air flow, compressor issues, and your system not heating or cooling properly. Your homes HVAC system was made to work with all registers open and unblocked. If you are having any issues with your HVAC system call Bartlett Heating and Air today!