Heating and Air Systems. Where are the return vents meant to be located in this video I Want to talk about the return vent Heating and Air systems have. They have their supplies where they blow out, but that Air's got to be pulled into those ducts so that heating and air system has somewhere to pull air from I Want to talk about where you should not have those return vents located in the home and what I want to do is tell you some rules of thumb. Some general places some of the things we're going to go over are not just rules of thumb, but they're actual codes that you are not supposed to break for safety reasons in some cases.

but I will say that I do hate general rules I Think every house is different I think if you follow what we're about to go through that you might give you some ideas on where to locate it. but again, every house is different I hate when folks are like, well, you should have a return in every living room and every master bedroom. Or you should have a return in every single room in the house. Every house is different and let's dive into this: where should those returns not be located? Number one, The Garage now.

I Would have thought that this would have been a common sense, but I'm seeing this done all the time. I Just had somebody the other day that we helped with our website new HVAC God Where we help homeowners through the process of buying a heating and air system and this poor homeowner had a heating and air guy recently installed ducks in his garage coming off of his primary heating and air system. Most codes have something in place where that is not okay. and not only is it not okay to have a return in the garage, in most cases, it's not okay to have any vents at all.

So whether we're talking about the return or the supply because of carbon monoxide and things like that, you should not have it connected to the ductwork for the system that's in other parts of the home. So definitely don't have a return in the garage. And if you do get it remedied immediately. Number Two Bathrooms Again, this should be kind of Common Sense We see it from time to time where folks had added a return to the bathroom trying to get better airflow in there and they cause more harm than good.

They're pulling in the moisture from folks taking showers. They're pulling in the smells that come out of bathrooms and they make mistakes of having those returns put in bathrooms. Number Three Kitchens for the same reason. the bathroom with the odors and the moisture that can be pulled in there kitchens are the same way.

Kitchens also have other issues when you talk about when you're cooking and things like that, codes have gotten more stringent on this. Sometimes they now require based on the size of the home or the kitchen. They'll have to have some sort of ventilation. They'll have to have kitchen hoods installed pulling that air out of there.

And aside from all of that, you just don't want to return in there. You could be causing more harm than good. Don't have a return in your kitchen. And so for those three I pointed out the reasons why, but there are all code.

This next one is not necessarily code, but it might be a little more common sense and that is having a return load to the ground or floor. That is a high traffic area. We see folks do this from time to time where they have a lot of high traffic people walking by it a bunch. Maybe it's an area near the home's front door where that's being opened a whole lot and that return is pulling in all kinds of mayor.

Those air filters tend to get dirty a whole lot faster. They're getting so much air and so much traffic and I just wouldn't put a return there. Another one we see way too often. This one's a ton and that is folks installing a return behind the couch.

So not only is this a low return on the wall typically, but then they've put it in the living room where Furniture could be placed and that would block the airflow there. We've pulled out a lot of couches and found returns, but it's not just the couch. I Could see that return being located behind some sort of curio cabinet or some sort of entertainment center. We see that from time to time in homes as well, another one is near the fireplace.

If you have a fireplace in your home, maybe, let's just for example, say it's in your living room. Having a return near that fireplace could affect other parts of the home as it's pulling that air. Now you might say I have had customers intentionally put returns near the fireplace to pull in that warm air when they are creating that heat and they want to disperse it in the home. but I would probably not do that unless it's some sort of wood stove where that fire is contained.

If you had an open fireplace where Smoke's being created and it's going up the chimney, I would not want to return near that fireplace. Giving that fireplace any sort of draft or vacuum of air being pulled towards that return, you could be creating quite the pickle and safety issue pulling that air near the fireplace. I would avoid it entirely if I were you. But again, every house is different and I could see situations where you might have to add it to the same room, but then in that case, just try to keep it away from the fireplace.

Another one would be near an external door or window. We see folks from time to time when they're laying out their ductwork. They'll add a supply near those and that's for other reasons. Things like air scrubbing and trying to remove pockets of air near an external hole in your wall.

Basically, that's what a window is. It's a hole through the wall, it's just covered with glass and so they'll add vents there or Supply ducts. so that way they can help circulate the air and fight that hole in the wall a little bit and creating better comfort for the home. But I I would never want to return near any of that for different reasons.

Whether it be that the door could be opened from time to time and now you're pulling in unfiltered air from outside. Or there's always just the fact that you're pulling in moisture and air from outside. That could be that extreme temperature that you're trying to fight. and on that same token, this is something that I don't see a lot, but I want to throw it out there if you have caught this video and that is I wouldn't have a return on an exterior wall unless you have installed it in some way that it is not necessarily in the wall.

So in other words, if I had an exterior wall, That's insulated and finished and then I added my return in some way shape or form, where it's boxed in or however, you had to do it, maybe that would be okay. Again, every house is different, but I would not want it to be in that external wall where it's affecting the R value of the insulation. And of course there's other things that can happen with exterior walls. things like something becoming compromised and water being put into that wall in some way, shape or form.

or of course Critters and things like that. So I just just wouldn't have the return duck near the external wall to avoid a lot of those issues. There's other issues too that I'm not going to dive into, but that's the main ones. Another one that you would think is common sense is a place where there's going to be dust created and we've seen returns added to rooms that ended up being a wood shop or some sort of area that's creating sawdust and they've put a return there.

That air filter in that return needs to be replaced a lot. and so if you're laying out your face, if you're deciding where you're going to put your duct work and your returns, if you have an area like a basement or some sort of area that could become a wood shop, then I just would avoid having that return put there if I could. I would put that return on the other side of that wall and pull in air from that area. Just don't let it be a bathroom.

Foreign might be where you are planning for your pets to be kept. Pets are a big one that we see folks do from time to time We have an area in our house where we keep the dogs. If we're going to be doing something and they need to be kind of contained somewhere, we don't do the crating thing a whole lot. We do have them if we ever need to, but we have an area in our house where we might put up a baby gate and kind of keep our dogs back if something's going on or we just need to keep them contained for a bit.

and I would never want to return to be in that area because I can only imagine how quickly that air filter would be filled up as well. And let's be honest, an air filter. Picking that stuff up and filtering that air is not necessarily a bad thing, but you're just going to have an air filter that you're having to replace quite often if it's in one of these areas. and then finally a closet and you might say a closet, what are you talking about? There are exceptions to this rule I will say and we'll talk about that in just a second.

but I would say in most cases, if you have a closet or a room that is just so small that you could call it a closet, you might not necessarily be using it as a closet. Have you ever seen those houses that every time the heating and air system turns on, doors close. Well, a lot of times that's because returns or supplies have been added to Rooms to create that issue. and I think if you were to put a return in a room where it's small like a closet, then you're going to have that issue now.

One of the exceptions I could see that is we do have some customers with some pretty big houses and some of these customers have closets or rooms that they're calling a closet that are large enough that some folks could fit their house in. Some folks have that kind of money, right? And even if not a return, definitely, There are times when code says you have to put a Supply in that closet, but also installing a return for good airflow for one reason or another. Especially in some of these houses where it's a closet, where the homeowner might actually spend some time, whether it be an area that they change or where they come out of their bathroom, they've taken a shower or something, and they go into their large closet. Then I could see situations where you need to have for Comfort reasons.

a return put in that closet and the last thing I'll say is we've done other videos talking about ductwork, what to look out for, what to avoid. And I'll say this: if you've caught this video and you're trying to decide where returns are supposed to be installed, just keep in mind as you're deciding, probably shouldn't have the return in this room or this area that because of static reasons a lot of times in residential you really want that return to be as short as possible to have as less static as possible to have less bins and reasons why airflow could be affected which does add static and just keeping those returns as short as possible when you are considering which rooms or what areas to add your returns to did I miss any areas that you should not install return, please comment down below I'd love to hear about that, especially if you have any horror stories. I Love hearing those of when heating and air guys may be added a return to a part of the house that they shouldn't have. But other than that, thanks for watching.

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