You can identify supply vents in your home by turning the system fan on and holding a piece of paper or your hand in front of the vent. If air blows out, this is a supply vent. Return vents are connected to your return ducts, which pull air out of your indoor spaces to deliver to your heating and cooling system. They are typically larger in size.
What is the difference between supply and return air ducts?
Your duct system has two types of ducts: supply and return. The supply ducts channel conditioned air from the air handler out to the air registers in your rooms. That is, they supply your rooms with warm or cool air. Return air ducts channel air from rooms back to the air handler.
What happens if you don't have a return air duct?
Furthermore, without a return air duct in each major room, the supply duct air has to "push" all of the air in the room out of the way as it makes its way towards you. The return air ducts help pull the air as it is being pushed.
What's the best location for return air ducts?
What's the Best Location for Return Air Ducts? Supply air from furnaces and air conditioners should be on outside walls. The return air vent openings need to be on the opposite side of the room so the conditioned air is pulled across the room. If the supply ducts are in the floor, then the return air should be located up high.
What are the signs of poorly installed ductwork?
If your ductwork has a bunch of air leaks and poorly designed duct systems, you will definitely have worse indoor air quality and higher energy bills than those with sealed and insulated ducts. Below are some commons signs of poorly installed ductwork. Contact a qualified HVAC company to fix any of the following duct problems.
Do all HVAC systems have return vents?
Your Home Might Not Have Enough Return Vents Homes built before central air was common often have retrofitted HVAC systems. When contractors first installed central air, they put in a single big return vent somewhere central in the house. This isn't the most efficient system.
How do I find the return vents in my house?
Return air vents are generally located near the center of the homes. Older and newer homes often have one register per floor, but homes built from 1960-1990 may have a cold return air vent in each room.
Do return vents have ductwork?
So, in a nutshell, it recycles air from each room in your home. Warm air travels through a specific set of ducts (called a supply duct), and once cooled down, it travels back to the vents through another set of ducts (called a return duct).
Which duct is the return?
Feel the ducts when the furnace is running during a heating cycle. The ducts that are warm are the heating side of the furnace, while the ducts that are cold will be the return air ducts. The closer you touch the ducts that are next to the furnace, the more the difference will be in the hot-and-cold temperature.
How do I know if my house has ducts?
Climb into your attic, crawlspace and/or basement and take a look at the ducts that are visible. Look at each section of duct and connection for obvious gaps, disconnections and tears. Also, look for areas of the ducts which have duct tape affixed. This is a sign that duct leaks have likely been patched before.
Are vents and ducts the same thing?
Supply vents suck in air that goes through the air ducts that finally ends up at the main heating or cooling unit. Return vents circulate the air back into your home.
How many return vents should a house have?
Instead, there should be at least one return vent in every room, with two or three being ideal. If your house has only one return vent, this is not a problem — make sure to keep the doors open in every room so the air can circulate properly. Make sure there are no furniture, draperies, rugs, etc. blocking return vents.
How much does it cost to add a return vent?
A return air drop replacement will run around $300-$400, including installation. In rare cases where a second drop needs to be added, the cost can be up to twice that amount.
How many air vents should a house have?
Generally, the size of your home determines how many vents you will need per room. If your room is larger than 100 square feet, you will need more than one vent (at least two) to really get adequate airflow to the room. If the room is smaller, you only need one.
Where is furnace return duct?
They must be correctly placed and unobstructed —Return ducts are usually placed in hallways, under stairwells, or in larger open areas of your home. This placement ensures that they will be able to pull in enough air to take back to the HVAC equipment.
Why is there two air vents in my room?
Most homes across the U.S. have forced air systems and in newer homes there will be cold air return vents placed at both the ceiling and the floor of many rooms. Having two air return vents allows you to seasonally control which air is returning to the HVAC system. In older homes, this may not be an option.
How do you tell which way the airflow is on furnace?
Stand in front of the furnace and look for the ducts. Pull the old filter out and discard it. On the new filter, find the arrow indicating the proper airflow direction. The arrow must face toward the furnace and away from the return duct that pulls the air in need of heating or cooling.
Do all return vents have filters?
In general, it is recommended to have an air filter in every return vent (as long as you choose the one of the right size and thickness). The filters will improve the air quality in your house and will protect the HVAC equipment from dust, pollen, pet dander, and hair.
How many return vents should a house have?
Instead, there should be at least one return vent in every room, with two or three being ideal. If your house has only one return vent, this is not a problem — make sure to keep the doors open in every room so the air can circulate properly. Make sure there are no furniture, draperies, rugs, etc. blocking return vents.
How do you clean air return vents?
3:418:25How to clean Air Return Vent - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipAnd put the water to hot or or warm and then use a spray and then simply spray it first so once youMoreAnd put the water to hot or or warm and then use a spray and then simply spray it first so once you rinse it uh the dust will go a little bit loose.
What happens if you don't have a return duct?
If supply air doesn’t have a way to return to return ducts, it will leak out of the house through cracks and openings in the home’s outer envelope. In the winter, this means you’re losing heat energy to the outside, and rooms won’t stay warm for long.
Why is it important to have return air ducts?
It’s important that roughly the same amount of air moves through supply ducts as return ducts, in order to maintain neutral air pressure in rooms.
Can you be forgiven for not knowing about your air duct system?
A person can be forgiven for not knowing much about their home’s air duct system. It plays a vital role in the home’s forced-air heating and cooling system, performing its job quietly and without much attention.
Do you need a return vent in every room?
For this reason, it’s important that house construction doesn’t scrimp on return vents and ducts. Ideally, there should be a return register or vent in every room where a supply register is located. If that’s not possible, there should be easy airflow between rooms, via such strategies as air pass-through grilles in doors or jumper ducts in ...
What to do if your home has no return ducts?
If you find your home has insufficient return ducts, ask a heating and cooling technician about adding more. In some cases, additional ducts can be installed in the wall cavities and connected with the main return duct. Depending on the construction of your home, however, your technician may opt for other methods. Door undercuts and transfer grilles can also help ensure sufficient return airflow.
What is return air duct?
Return air ducts channel air from rooms back to the air handler. They’re connected to the air grilles you might find on the walls or ceilings of your hallways and larger rooms. The return ducts help maintain good air circulation, preventing hot and cold spots, and keeping your rooms from feeling stuffy. Balanced airflow prevents indoor pressure ...
Why do return air ducts matter?
Return air ducts play a significant role in your home’s energy efficiency. Why Return Ducts Matter. Your duct system has two types of ducts: supply and return. The supply ducts channel conditioned air from the air handler out to the air registers in your rooms. That is, they supply your rooms with warm or cool air.
Does every room in a house have a return air grill?
Optimizing Your Return Ducts. Ideally, every room except the kitchen and bath should have its own return air grille. At the very least, each level of the house should have one.
Can door undercuts help with return airflow?
Depending on the construction of your home, however, your technician may opt for other methods. Door undercuts and transfer grilles can also help ensure sufficient return airflow. Maintenance matters, too. Make sure your return grilles aren’t blocked by drapes, furniture or other items that could interfere with airflow.
What is the difference between supply ducts and return ducts?
Every time you turn on the heating or air conditioning system, air flows in through supply ducts and out through return ducts. If your HVAC unit is the heart, supply ducts are the arteries (carrying blood to the heart) and return ducts are the veins (carrying blood back to the heart).
How to check air ducts?
In addition to checking air ducts for kinks and damage, check the following: 1 Clean air filter 2 Minimum 2-foot clearance around outdoor condenser unit 3 Open and unobstructed vents and registers 4 At least one support every 4 feet for flex ducts 5 Annual professional heating and air conditioning maintenance
What happens if you have a bunch of ducts?
If your ductwork has a bunch of air leaks and poorly designed duct systems, you will definitely have worse indoor air quality and higher energy bills than those with sealed and insulated ducts. Below are some commons signs of poorly installed ductwork.
Why does my HVAC system lose air?
According to Energy Star, “about 20% of the air that moves through the duct system is lost due to leaks, holes and poorly connected ducts.”. Ductwork leaks cause your HVAC system to work harder. In addition to losing conditioned air, if the ducts aren’t tight enough, negative air pressure can suck in dirty air.
What to do if you notice a leak in your air ducts?
If you notice any leaking air ducts, schedule duct testing immediately. Your HVAC technician will pressurize the duct system to pinpoint any leaks that are present.
Why is my air conditioner making a noise?
Undersized ducts and grilles restrict airflow and may be the cause of your comfort and temperature problems. If you notice loud airflow and strange noises such as whistling and popping, you may have improperly sized ducts or blocked vents and registers. If you see any sagging flex ducts, contact a professional to make sure everything is supported and pulled tight.
Why do ducts leak?
If you are suffering from allergies and other problems associated with an excessive amount of dust, you may have ductwork with considerable leaks. The leaks in your ductwork not only release conditioned air, they also allow air, dust, and debris in. Signs of leaky air ducts include: High energy bills.
How to audit ductwork?
Audit your own ductwork by going on a tour of your home. Inspect the ducts. Do you see a big hole, a broken duct, or even a missing duct? You may have a problem.
What happens if you have a hole in your ductwork?
A poorly functioning duct system, in the end, is costing you a bundle of cash. Imagine 20-30% of the air your HVAC produces ending up in either your attic or basement. This is what happens when you have a hole in your ductwork. You may have the coolest attic in the neighborhood, but no one wants to pay for that.
How Do I Know if I Have a Problem?
So when a room is really cold when it’s supposed to be warm, or when the heat nearly knocks you over when the rest of the house feels like a cool summer day, do you have a problem?
Why are my ducts under insulation?
Inadequate insulation forces the HVAC system to heat or cool the ductwork before the proper air temp can be reached.
Why is there no air coming out of my HVAC vent?
Little or no airflow from the vent. When the HVAC system kicks in but you feel no air coming from the vent or register, you have a problem. Either something is blocking the duct or the duct is compromised. Air filter gets dirty quickly. You should change your air filter periodically, but you shouldn’t have to change it monthly.
Why is my room temperature different than the rest of the house?
If you have a single room that consistently a different temperature than the rest of the house, you may have a problem with the ducts feeding it conditioned air.
What is an air duct?
Air ducts are the big tubes that bring conditioned air, be it heated or cold, to a room. They’re the roadway that conditioned air travels on. When the road is clear of debris with no detours such as holes in the tube, your HVAC system does its job efficiently. But when debris such as Cheerios, barrettes, and small toys block the road, ...
When upgrading your AC, is it important to have your duct system inspected?
When upgrading your AC it’s important to have your duct system inspected. If you have these ducts in place, you’re losing a lot of cooling before it even gets through your vents! This customer loves their new system and new air ducts are part of the reason!
What happens if ducts aren't sealed?
What happens when your ducts aren’t sealed to the ceiling? Besides the obvious air leakage and an increase in your utility usage, it creates a comfy living environment for rats and roaches! We are fixing a customer’s duct system now so they can enjoy the benefits of proper cooling more than their pests!
Why does my AC make me sick?
This is all caused because the supply duct that attached the air handler to the duct system was undersized. When you hire an AC company that really understands airflow, these kinds of problems can be avoided! Improper airflow systems can not only make you uncomfortable, but they can also make you sick!
How to find the CFM of an air handler?
Look up your air handlers model number on Google, you should be able to find the design cfm.
Is Duct Cleaning Worth the Money?
Yes, in certain circumstances, air duct cleaning is very necessary and worth the money. Beyond the benefits to your health by breathing better quality indoor air, cleaning your air ducts also helps your air conditioning system work better and for longer! Learn more from our amazing HVAC expert, and co-owner of Jenergy Air, Joel Reynolds.
Where should HVAC return air ducts be?
"An HVAC return air duct should be in every room except a bathroom and kitchen. They should be on interior walls across the room from the supply ducts that should be washing exterior walls with conditioned air."
Where to put return air?
It's best to put them on an interior wall across the room from the supply duct. © 2018 Tim Carter
Why does my furnace need return air?
The reason for return air is simple. Your furnace is simply a recirculating pump. Instead of pumping water, it is pumping air. We need to get the air back to the pump. Furthermore, without a return air duct in each major room, the supply duct air has to "push" all of the air in the room out of the way as it makes its way towards you.
What is the air duct in your house?
The air ducts in your house should be designed exactly like the blood vessels in your body. Think about it. The veins and arteries supplying blood to the different parts of your body, even out to your fingers and toes, are the same size as the veins and arteries returning that blood back to your heart.
What is the purpose of a return air grill?
The intent is to wash the exterior walls with heated or cooled air. You are trying to combat the heat or cold at its source. The single giant return air grill in the floor balances the load at the furnace motor but does nothing to promote cross-ventilation in each room.
How to get the most bang for your return air buck?
If you want to really have a way to get the most bang for your return air buck, think of installing grill covers on the wall that have operating louvers. This will allow you to choke down rooms possibly on the first floor that are drawing too much air.
How to size an air conditioner?
To properly size an air conditioner, one has to perform a heat gain calculation. In other words, you must determine how fast heat is getting into your house and what things inside the house are contributing to heat gain .
How does a return air duct work?
The system pulls in air through the return air ducts and pushes it out through the supply vents. There are return ducts and supply ducts so that the airflow continues to flow uninterrupted. When you do not have enough air return vents, the system has to pull air from somewhere else. It will continue to search for small holes or cracks ...
How Does a Duct System Work?
As mentioned above, the duct system in your home is like a circulatory system in your body. Only the duct system circulates the air instead of your blood. The air circulation is apparent when you have either your heater or air conditioner on.
How Many Return Air Vents Do I Need?
Generally speaking, you should only need one return air vent per room in your home. However, you may need additional air vents for larger sized rooms. Regardless, the number of return air vents that your home requires depends on the size of your house, the size of the rooms, the ductwork, your particular HVAC system, and a variety of other factors.
Why is return air important?
Return air vents are just as important as the air vents themselves. The air supply vents push the air out into your home from the HVAC unit. You need equal pressure to take the air back to the HVAC unit. Think of it as your bloodstream. If you have a blockage somewhere, it is going to cause a buildup or possible stroke along with your circulation system eventually.
What happens if you block an HVAC vent?
Think of it as your bloodstream. If you have a blockage somewhere, it is going to cause a buildup or possible stroke along with your circulation system eventually. If you do not have an equal amount ...
Why is it important to clean AC return vents?
If your return air vents aren’t kept clean, you and your family may end up breathing in polluted air at a much high rate . Regular cleanings of your return air vents will also help you save money on energy costs and expenses related to possible repairs to keep your AC system running efficiently.
What does it mean when a room doesn't have a return air vent?
Those rooms that do not have return air vents are not going to get good circulation. That means less heat or conditioned air in those spots. Just like your own circulation system, if you do not get enough flow in that area, it can be bad.
What happens if you have a small duct?
If you have ducts that are too small, you will also experience reduced airflow. It will be so unacceptably low that you’ll experience difficulty with maintaining equipment functionality and comfortable temperatures in your home. This can also shorten the life of your heater or HVAC unit since it won’t be receiving enough air passing through it to work correctly.
What is the next important unit to know when determining duct sizing?
The next important unit to know when determining duct sizing is the friction loss rate. This will ultimately help your contractor establish the static pressure of your unit, another measurement that affects air flow.
Why Is Duct Size So Important?
There are many different options available for duct sizing and these are meant to correspond with the different size heating or cooling systems so that the correct amount of air is circulated around your home.
Why is it important to have a duct size?
Having the correct duct size installed in your home is essential for it to do it’s job correctly. If your ducts are too small, or too large, you will allow the air to escape, and it will end up costing more in your heating or cooling bill. This is because the heat or air is escaping, and not making it to the rooms of your home, so you keep it running.
How to find CFM?
To determine CFM, first, find the size of your heating or cooling unit in tons. Then, multiply this number by the average output of an HVAC unit, or 400. Next, divide this number by the overall square footage of your home.
Why is my ductwork so noisy?
Ductwork that is too small for your heating or cooling system will cause a surge in static pressure. This means that your ducts will be noisier than normal and have to work harder to service your home. To adequately heat or cool your home, your system will need to run longer, costing you more money on your bills.
What is the most important thing to consider when it comes to heating and cooling?
Duct sizing is by far the most important aspect to consider when it comes to your heating and cooling systems. Improperly sized ducts can result in unnecessary wear and tear, place too much pressure on your units and end up costing you more money on your energy bills.
