is it better to close unused rooms off

johnnys99softail

Ok so we have 2 bedrooms that we do not use  unless grand kids are over and we close the doors to the rooms and block the heat vents off is this really any help?  Or are we cooling them rooms down, which in turn cools the adjoining walls  and floors and keeps the system working harder to keep the house warm?

Gordy

depends

   How much you cool them down.  How much wall area, and floor/ ceiling area is adjacent to used rooms, above below side to side, and what are the adjacent rooms are used for.  How many exterior walls do the rooms have you want to close off. Yes it does create a heatloss to the ajoining rooms. The interior walls are not insulated..... usually. All though I have seen people insulate interior walls for sound deadening in the bedroom area or rec room.



   The big question is how much you would save by closing off the register. I assume you have forced air heat when you say "Block heat vents". So the system will run any way until the thermostat is satisfied, unless those rooms are zoned which I'm thinking they are not because you would not need to block the vents because each room would have its own thermostat, and there would be a motorized damper to close the duct work.



   I would say you won't save a nickle, with forced air heating. Beware that no plumbing is in any outside walls to worry about freezing is a thought comes to mind.



Gordy

Brad White

I agree with Gordy

It does depend and the downsides are potential freezing (depending on how tight your close-off is), and as Gordy said, how much heat loss the rooms have themselves.



With air systems there is also the issue of pressure imbalance. What cannot get into those rooms (or return from them), will likely come from outside, somewhere, perhaps over the entire house.



For two rooms? I would leave them be, personally.



Better yet, have the grandkids over more often!