Close Vents - Daily Financial Challenge
While it’s still Spring, summer is right around the corner and a good time to start preparing your house for those hot summer days so that you don’t spend more than you need to. The main area to concentrate on is taking actions that help reduce the cost of cooling your house since this can account for as much as 70% of your utility bill during the summer. One of the easiest steps to take is to isolate the rooms that are rarely used in your house.
There is absolutely no reason to cool rooms that aren’t being used most of the time as the more space that needs to be cooled, the harder your air conditioner will have to work. Since most people spend the vast majority of their time in just a few rooms, taking the time to make sure the cooling vents in the other rooms are closed makes sense (the one exception is if you have a room that you don’t use which has a temperature sensor in it that can’t be turned off - in this case closing the vent will make your air conditioner work harder since the sensor will always think it isn’t cool enough).
All you need is about ten minutes of time to walk around your house and locate the air conditioning vents in each room (check closets too - you’d be surprised where vents are in some houses, especially older ones). When you locate a vent located in a room which is rarely used, take a minute to make sure that the vent is closed tight. By doing so you’ll make your air conditioner work less this summer which will put extra money into your pocket instead of handing it over to the electricity company.
Depending on how your house is laid out and if it’s a two story, one option is to turn off the duct work (at the furnace) leading to the lower level. That way, all air will be pushed upstairs and drift downstairs (hot air rises, cold air sinks).
I’ve noticed that turning off the vents can sometimes cause them to make a noise. This is due to air still trying to pass through the vent. The best option is to close the flue at the furnace leading to certain areas of the house. In my place, I have an upstairs and a downstairs duct flue. I can effectively close off one half floor depending on the season. I also close the associated vents for any leakage.