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Comment on Is it cheaper to use a plug-in oil radiator to eat an individual room, or run the central heater to heat an individual room and living room?

Gerudo@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

Just an FYI, closing up vents in an hvac can actually cause problems. It puts more strain on the fan unit, which can cause it to burn up quicker. The unit is designed to move a certain amount of air, if you restrict that air, pressure builds up in the system.

A couple closed over an entire system is fine, but closing all but one room would definitely cause problems.

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BackOnMyBS@lemmy.autism.place ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
I have been closing 3 out of 5. Is that too much?

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- chaospatterns@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  Depends on the unit and whether it was over sized or under sized for the space, but restricting 60℅ air flow is a lot.
  
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  - BackOnMyBS@lemmy.autism.place ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    
    Depends on the unit and whether it was over sized or under sized for the space, but restricting 60℅ air flow is a lot.
    
    Thanks for your response! I appreciate it. Do you know how I can investigate this further? I would like to figure out if I’m over-stressing my unit because I’ve been doing that for the past ~2 years.
    
    Another thing to consider is that if you later want to heat up the entire house, the unit has to work harder. Sometimes it can be more efficient to just keep the house close to your target temp.
    
    Heating up the house happens so rarely that I can’t remember the last time I did that. It may have been ~2 years.
    
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    AA5B@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    Wait until your furnace dies and see if it was closer to ten years or to 25 years?
    
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    chaospatterns@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    I’m not an HVAC technician so I wouldn’t know exactly, but I think there’s two things to consider: static pressure and duty cycle. Static pressure is the fan working hard to spin which causes wear on bearings. Duty cycle is how long the machine runs. If your duty cycle is too low then the machine is turning on and off quickly which is bad.
    
    You could look at the size of the unit and there’s some rules of thumb that translate size, climate, and square footage and there are online calculators you can use. I think the only way to know for sure is to measure the pressure drop across the intake and outflow and see what the fan motor is rated for.
    
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