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Sure, your furnace makes heat to keep you warm, but the other thing it does is move air. In my opinion, today’s furnaces are a lot more about moving air and less about making heat.
Moving air from the cool side of your home to the warm side - and vice versa - creates an even temperature in your home. In order to maintain an even ambient temperature, it’s important to have your floor registers open.
I regularly see closed floor registers in unused or seldom used rooms. The motivation for closing them is often linked to saving a little money on energy costs. Many people still believe in this energy-saving myth, despite proven research that points otherwise. Closing registers you aren’t using may cause more harm than good, and will realize higher energy bills over the long run.
Today’s contemporary home is well-insulated and pretty much airtight. Moving conditioned air continuously through the home is a primary function of newer furnaces, and in doing so, we enjoy comfortable temperatures and continuously filtered air. There is less demand on the furnace for heat, and if you have a furnace with a two stage heating system, the second stage rarely engages.
By closing the registers, though, you change the system pressure and increase duct air leakage. The warm air that’s blocked from entering the closed-off room will simply find other places to go - through leaks and cracks in your ductwork, or back through your basement and into floor cavities.
The added pressure can be hard on your furnace by causing it to work harder than it is designed to work. It creates more work for your HVAC system, reduces its energy efficiency, and is proven to shorten its reliable working life.
So, take a moment to go through the house - make sure those registers are open to allow your furnace to run at maximum efficiency.
This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.
