Have you noticed that some areas in your home are cooler or warmer (depending on the season) than other parts of your home. Maybe it’s a corner or an entire side wall. Air flow is important. Good air flow is even more important.
Conditioned air enters your room through air supply vents. Once it leaves the vent, the air should move back to and through the doorway on its way to the air conditioner. Look for your thermostat. It should be located in close proximity to this “return air”. At the return air chase you’ll find a louvered grill and just behind the grill, an air filter. The continuous flow of conditioned air, pushing into the room through the supply register and back out to the return air chase is a key ingredient in creating comfort.
Take a look at the photo on the left. Notice the location of the supply vent. Now notice the location of the window. Because we live in a hot climate the sun has the potential to heat the room by shinning into the window. The room will be hotter near the window. For that reason it’s best to locate the supply vent near this heat source. Notice that the homeowner has installed an aid, (a plastic scoop), to “help” push the air toward the window. It would have been more appropriate to locate the grill nearer the window.
Look at the next photo. The room measured 16 X 14. The small home measured just 1050 sq ft. The bedroom is almost 20% of the floored area of the home. This room will be hard to heat and cool with just one register for two reasons. It does not have enough air flowing from the duct system (one supply register) and the room faces west and has no shading to protect it from the suns heat in the afternoon.
Are you building or remodeling? The location of supply and return outlets can have a significant effect on the performance of your HVAC system. An understanding of air flow characteristics in combination with good judgment and common sense are necessary ingredients for effective placement of registers and grilles. Outlets and returns should be located to provide an acceptable level of comfort in the most critical operating mode, whether heating or cooling. That simple step will play an important roll in helping you maintain comfort.
Watch this 2 1/2 min video for a few tips on how to adjust your registers to help improve your air flow.
For more information about air flow, balancing, energy audits and construction consultations call me at 601-454-5559.