My last house had a heat pump. One winter I closed off several vents to
rooms that I do not use, thinking it would warm up the rest of the house
faster, and cheaper. Wrong. It shut down, and a guy came out and fixed
it for $60 by adding a booster. Not exactly sure what that was all
about but it worked for the last eight years I lived in that home. He
also told me that with a heat pump you cannot close off the vents.

Now, in my present home, I have a furnace only. Is it safe to close
vents in several bedrooms that I don't use.

Thaanks.

Kate

On Wed, 06 Dec 2006 22:44:54 -0800, Kate wrote:

My last house had a heat pump. One winter I closed off several vents to
rooms that I do not use, thinking it would warm up the rest of the house
faster, and cheaper. Wrong. It shut down, and a guy came out and fixed
it for $60 by adding a booster. Not exactly sure what that was all
about but it worked for the last eight years I lived in that home. He
also told me that with a heat pump you cannot close off the vents.

Now, in my present home, I have a furnace only. Is it safe to close
vents in several bedrooms that I don't use.

Thaanks.

Kate

I've been doing it for 30 years without a problem. But I also do it
for cooling without a problem.

On Wed, 06 Dec 2006 22:44:54 -0800, Kate wrote:

My last house had a heat pump. One winter I closed off several vents to
rooms that I do not use, thinking it would warm up the rest of the house
faster, and cheaper. Wrong. It shut down, and a guy came out and fixed
it for $60 by adding a booster. Not exactly sure what that was all
about but it worked for the last eight years I lived in that home. He
also told me that with a heat pump you cannot close off the vents.

Now, in my present home, I have a furnace only. Is it safe to close
vents in several bedrooms that I don't use.

Thaanks.

Kate

No it isn't. You need a certain amount of air flow through a furnace
which is usually what all the vents are sized for.

"Kate" wrote in message
...
My last house had a heat pump. One winter I closed off several vents to
rooms that I do not use, thinking it would warm up the rest of the
house faster, and cheaper. Wrong. It shut down, and a guy came out and
fixed it for $60 by adding a booster. Not exactly sure what that was
all about but it worked for the last eight years I lived in that home.
He also told me that with a heat pump you cannot close off the vents.

Now, in my present home, I have a furnace only. Is it safe to close vents
in several bedrooms that I don't use.

Thaanks.

Kate

It is more a matter of degree. If you close off too much the total air
flow becomes less, you loose efficiency and your overall cost may go up to
heat less area. You also can tax the equipment so it may fail and you can
end up paying repair cost. It is not possible to give an accurate direct
answer on-line to your question since there are so many variables. Even on
site it would be difficult and to get any kind of accuracy would require
quit a bit of calculation. The usual answer is going to be, don't do it, as
it is the safe answer.

My guess, and what I would likely do. Partly close off those bed rooms.
Make sure all other vents, including those that may be in the basement or
utility room are full open. Also make sure your filter is clean and keep it
that way.


--
Joseph Meehan

Dia 's Muire duit

Like many others, I've done it for a room or two, with no problems.
You have to do it with some common sense though. Closing off a
register forces the air to now flow through less openings. If you
close off enough, air flow becomes too restricted, which is what sounds
like happened in your previous experience.

If it's never to be done, then why do they install registers all over
the place that can be controlled and shut?

Al wrote:
On Wed, 06 Dec 2006 22:44:54 -0800, Kate wrote:

My last house had a heat pump. One winter I closed off several vents to
rooms that I do not use, thinking it would warm up the rest of the house
faster, and cheaper. Wrong. It shut down, and a guy came out and fixed
it for $60 by adding a booster. Not exactly sure what that was all
about but it worked for the last eight years I lived in that home. He
also told me that with a heat pump you cannot close off the vents.

Now, in my present home, I have a furnace only. Is it safe to close
vents in several bedrooms that I don't use.

Thaanks.

Kate


You should not close vents in any rooms. It effects the static
pressure of the system and on a gas furnace can cause your system to
overheat and trip on the high limit switch.




http://www.thehvacmedic.com - All the free heating and air answers you want!



If closing the registers in any room is so bad, then why does every
house I've ever lived in have registers that can be fully closed? In
any properly designed and installed system, you'd have to close a hell
of a lot of registers to reduce airflow to the point that the high
limit switch cuts off the furnace.