Vents, Grilles and Registers: What Are the Differences?
Vents, grilles, and registers are essential components of your home that play important roles in the distribution of air from your central heating and cooling system. You may ignore them or think they serve the same purpose. But have you ever wondered what the function of each is? R.A. Biel Plumbing & Heating, your trusted provider of new air conditioning and heating units, explains further.
Vents
Your home has a variety of vents, including the ones in your laundry room, bathroom, and kitchen. But when it comes to HVAC vents, you’re probably most familiar with supply vents from which hot or cold air from your furnace or AC comes out via the ductwork. Another type of HVAC vent you should be familiar with is return vents. They draw indoor air into the HVAC system. They can be bigger or smaller, it just depends on how the HVAC technician configured the home’s ductwork. For the most part, they’re larger than their counterparts. Of course, balance is the key to ensuring the amount of return air returning to the system is equal to the amount of air distributed as supply air.
Grilles
The grilles refer to the permanent metal covering that protects the hole on your wall, floor, or ceiling where vent openings are. Since there aren’t any moving parts, their only purpose is to let air pass through. They won’t be suitable if the direction and amount of airflow need to be adjusted. Even so, grilles are the easiest to maintain and they don’t require the expertise of an HVAC and plumbing repair professional.
Registers
Registers are similar to grilles. The only difference is that they are controlled by a damper, which you can adjust to allow as much or as little heated or cool air as you want to go through the supply vent and into a room. The mechanism also gives you control of the airflow direction. Ideally, you wouldn’t want to close the damper of your supply vent registers in unoccupied rooms because this can lead to unbalanced air distribution.
For your residential HVAC needs, turn to R.A. Biel Plumbing and Heating. We specialize in new heating system installation and air conditioning replacement services. Call us at (505) 327-7755, or fill out our contact form to schedule a service appointment.
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