Which direction should I point the louvres from my heating/ac vents?

February 8, 2004 11:25 AM

Which direction should I point the louvres from my heating/ac vents?

Toward the ceiling? Toward the floor? Toward the nearest wall? Away from the wall? Straight ahead? At the people in the room, or away from? I'm concerned about comfort first, and efficiency second.

posted by crawl to Home & Garden (4 answers total)

When it's driving cool air, aim it up. When it's driving hot air, aim it down.
posted by adamgreenfield at 11:39 AM on February 8, 2004

whatever you feel is most comfortable?
posted by andrew cooke at 11:45 AM on February 8, 2004

Efficiency will make you comfortable, so they're really the same goals. When your heat or a/c is at it's most efficient, it will keep the air across the whole room at an even temperature and will cool or heat the room to the desired temperature as quickly as possible.

Generally, what adamgreenfield said. However, the DEGREE to which you point them should be determined by the air pressure at each vent. Now, how the heck do you measure that, you say? Heating & Air conditioning guys have sensors that measure it. It's generally about $50 to have one of them come out and spend an hour running around your house like a goon making tiny adjustments to your vents and waving little handheld sensors all over the place. The process is called "balancing" the vents.
posted by SpecialK at 1:50 PM on February 8, 2004

When it's driving cool air, aim it up. When it's driving hot air, aim it down.

But in either case, not directly at anybody, unless they have a curious preference.
posted by nthdegx at 5:53 AM on February 9, 2004