Which return vents should be open in summer?

Hot air rises and cool air sinks. Therefore, opening the right return vents in the summer and winter significantly improves the distribution of air by your forced-air system. You’ll also enjoy more even heating and cooling throughout your home. In the summer, open your high returns and close the low ones.

Should cold air returns be up high or down low?

For optimal efficiency, it’s ideal to have return registers installed. To ensure efficiency during the cooling season, your home should have high registers. High return registers draw hot air that rises to the ceiling back into the system to repeat the cooling cycle.

Where should your cold air return be?

Where are cold air returns located? Cold air returns are located on interior walls in a home, typically close to the floor or low on the wall. You want to make sure that cold air return vents are not blocked or covered by furniture so that your home can get proper air circulation.

Should I close my downstairs vents in summer?

You can safely close your basement air vents in the summer, yes. You’ll want to do so intermittently, though, instead of leaving them closed for several weeks at a time. If you consistently want to keep your vents closed, be sure to rotate which vents you shut at least every two days.

Should return vents be open or closed in summer?

Adjust Return Registers for Summer In the summer you want the cold air to remain and the hot air to be drawn out through the return registers. By closing the floor registers and opening the ceiling registers you force the hot air out while keeping the cold air in the room.

Where does the cold air return in the summer?

In the summer having the cold air returns near the ceiling is great. When the air turns on the fan sucks air into the return air vent, thus pulling the warm air from the ceiling and cooling it down, which keeps the house cool. Now in the winter time this system is not very efficient. Remember the hot air rises and the cool air stays low.

When to allow cold air to return to the floor?

Before the winter weather hits, it’s important to draw cold air from the floor into the system. Just like with many home maintenance checklist items, we recommend using Daylight Savings as a time to check the regulation of your cold air returns. In winter, enable the bottom cold air to return and in the summer, enable the upper return.

Do you open the lower air return vents in the winter?

Conversely, in the Winter heating season, you will want to pull the coldest air back to the furnace to be warmed and create circulation. In these months, you’ll want the lower air return open and the upper air return closed.

What to do when cold air returns from ceiling?

In the winter close the top vent and open the bottom and the cold air close to the floor will be drawn in. This will also pull the warm air down from the ceiling, thus distributing the warm air more efficiently. Reverse this step in the summer. Close the bottom vent and open the top vent, so the warm air at the ceiling will be cooled.