Air return vents are often located near the center of a home, generally with one return air vent per floor. This allows the air to circulate efficiently throughout the home and back to the HVAC system. Return air vents are usually found in the lower wall of a room or hallway.
Cold air return vents should typically be placed lower on the walls or the floor since cold air naturally sinks. This placement helps capture the cooler air faster and more efficiently, allowing it to be recirculated through the HVAC system for heating or cooling.
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.
Up High: having an air return higher up on a wall will be better at sucking in hot air that rises. Making it more efficient at transferring this hot air back into your system to repeat the cooling cycle. Down Low: if you have your air return lower on your wall it will function better as a cold air return.
If you prioritize heating, put the HVAC and vents in (or below) the floor. This principle works for return heating vents as well. Place returns for cooling in the ceiling where the warm air congregates and heating returns in or near the floor where the cold air congregates.
Cons Of Ceiling Vents
Remember, heat rises, so if it starts at the ceiling, it has nowhere to go but up. Exposes HVAC system to unconditioned spaces – Attics tend to be dusty and prone to extreme temperatures, adding wear and tear to the equipment and increasing heat transfer loss.
Blocked or insufficient return air can lead to reduced airflow from your vents. Symptoms include weak airflow and uneven cooling or heating throughout your home, with some rooms feeling much cooler or warmer than others. Homeowners should regularly check vents for consistent airflow.
You want to pull in the colder air so vents should face the floor! What if they are closer to the ground? Either way is fine, but aiming upwards looks better because you see less contrast between wall and grille.
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.
However, most HVAC contractors use a rule of thumb to determine the number of air vents needed. For example, for a standard residential HVAC unit, you'll generally need one supply vent and one return vent for every 100 to 150 square feet of living space.
1. Openings shall not be located less than 10 feet (3048 mm) measured in any direction from an open combustion chamber or draft hood of another appliance located in the same room or space. 2. Return air shall not be taken from a hazardous or insanitary location or a refrigeration room as defined in this code.
Can You Have Too Much Return Air? Too much return air coming through your system isn't much of an issue because the fans and ductwork working to get that air back into the system only pull with so much force to make the HVAC system work correctly.
In fact, when installing return ducts it is always advisable to avoid putting them in bathrooms or kitchens. This would just simply cause the heating and air system to circulate cooking odors and moisture throughout the system.
While return vents don't always require filters, adding them provides additional filtration, improving indoor air quality and keeping dirt and debris out of your system.
You don't need an HVAC return vent in every room. In fact, many homes only have a single, centralized return duct. However, in houses with one return vent, air can only circulate properly if all the interior doors remain open.
According to the Department of Energy1, 78° Fahrenheit is the sweet spot for air conditioners to balance energy savings and comfort when people are at home and need cooling.
The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022 makes tax credits available on high-efficiency HVAC units through 2032. It allows you to deduct 30 percent of the purchase and installation costs and caps the amount you can write off: Air conditioners, furnaces, boilers, and water heaters max out at $600.
Many HVAC companies offer financing to their customers to streamline the HVAC replacement process and paying for it. Banks and credit unions may approve you for a personal loan, home equity line of credit, or a home improvement loan where loan proceeds are used specifically to make the upgrades your home demands.
When it comes to cooling your home, return vents are best installed near the ceiling so they can draw in any hot air that has risen. Supply vents should also be placed high on the wall for better distribution of cold air throughout the room.
Return registers also perform best on an interior wall — not one adjacent to the outdoors. Instead, that's where your supply registers should be, ideally under a window. Lastly, make sure the return registers aren't too close to the supply registers.
Turn them where you don't look at them and see in. So if they are near the ceiling turn them up. Near the floor turn them down. It really is not going to make a difference in the air flow.
If there's not enough return air, your living room can be 10℉+ warmer or cooler than, for example, the bedrooms. Not enough return air in summer can cause rooms close to the central unit to be cooler and those farther from it to be warmer. In winter, rooms farther from the furnace can be too cool.
You generally need at least 1 CFM per square foot, meaning that room's duct should have a 144 CFM capacity. Although a 4” x 8” duct is ideal for a 12' x 12' room, the actual duct size you need varies based on different aspects of your home (size/number of windows, insulation type, etc.).
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.