RED Light: Closing Your Vents to Save Energy

As part of Energy Action Month, we're sharing specific household DOs and DONT's to enhance your family's budget, health and Eco-consciousness.  We're using the classic childhood game, 'Red Light, Green Light' to make the information super easy to understand (we know how difficult and overwhelming all the information about lowering energy bills, energy audits, etc. can be!)

BIG RED LIGHT:  CLOSING VENTS DOES NOT SAVE ENERGY

Pro Energy Consultants has performed thousands of energy audits across the country, so we've seen some pretty interesting things people do in their well meaning attempts to save energy. Let's just say that duct tape is not a suitable material for any energy-related home improvement!

A very common activity that seems to make sense on the surface is closing the vents in low-use areas or rooms of the home. People think, ''this will prevent wasted money on heating/cooling this space.' But this logic is wrong, and can wind up costing you.

First, when you close a vent, the air that was directed to it gets stuck. With nowhere to go, it applies backpressure on the unit's fan, causing it to work harder (burn more energy) to do its job. Overtime, this will also cause the fan to wear out quicker.

Second, your HVAC unit will produce the same amount of conditioned air, regardless of how many vents are open/closed (so you are not reducing energy consumption). When you close a vent, you are simply sending more conditioned air into spaces that don't need it - often times, this can even make other rooms UNcomfortable.

Lastly, restricting the flow of conditioned air increases the probability that it will be pushed out through the leaks in your duct work, decreasing your energy efficiency.

Bottom line, closing your vents gets the RED LIGHT this month, and can do way more harm than good.