Vent covers are an integral part of your home’s HVAC system and are highly visible with placement along the walls. Vents are responsible for venting cool or hot air throughout a home and they also serve as the intake point for air that is used by your system to produce cool or hot air.

Air vents are part of a home because they quite simply are needed to vent cool or hot air, but they are normally not attractive and can be unsightly. Air vents are a critical working component of your home’s health. Featured here is an explanation of the facts about a home’s vent covers and what their working function is in a home’s HVAC system. The facts are as follows:

HVAC system duct work and vents require cleaning and updating annually. Keeping them both clean, changing out filters and making sure both have unobstructed air flow needs to be done each year to make sure a system is working at its best and providing clean healthy air for a home’s habitants and visitors. Contact your local HVAC heating and cooling company to schedule annual service on your home’s system.

Vent System Facts to Know

HVAC systems feature return and supply vents. Return vents assist your HVAC system by returning air into your system. This helps the system control the air temperature in your home so it stays at the temperature you have set on your thermostat. 

Return Vents

In most homes there is one large return vent located in the main center of the home. In several other instances there is return vent located in each room. Return vents are normally installed at the top of interior walls.  

Return vents function to manage HVAC air flow and pressure in a home. Cold air return vents reduce energy costs because they pull in cool air, which matches the temperature in the home, instead of drawing hot air from outside.

HVAC Register Supply Vents

Supply air vents deliver cool or warm air, depending on the time of year, to the room to make the room the preferred set temperature set on your HVAC’s thermostat. Supply vents are located on walls or on the floor of the room. When supply vents are set up when an HVAC duct work system is being installed in a home, they are installed away from return vents. Setting up the duct work and the supply vents prevents the air originating from the supply vent from being sent right back into the system’s return vent.

Vent Cover Grill Products

Return and supply vents serve a critical function in an HVAC system. Vent cover grills provide a pathway for air to flow in and out of a room. They also can take out dust and dirt from air coming in and out of the room.  

Maintaining Vent Cover Cleanliness

Clean supply and return vent covers are critical for the keeping your home’s air clean and making your house’s HVAC system run as efficient as possible. It is wise to keep your HVAC system running right and keeping your home’s air clean as possible, to clean your system duct work and vents annually. Cleaning your system’s duct work and vents will run you from $275 to $375 dollars. For bigger systems the cost will be more. Cleaning your HVAC system will remove dust, fungi, dirt and bacteria. Your system will run better and be much healthier for you and your family.

In homes with lots of activity in and out of the home it normally means more dust and dirt coming in, which means your HVAC system will naturally be dirtier. If this is the case the best thing to do is to clean both sets of vents each week as part of your home’s cleaning schedule. Featured below here are a set of methods to use to keep your vent covers clean all year round.

Floor Vent Covers

Areas of your home that receive lots of foot traffic that have feature an HVAC system with vent floor covers means it will get dirty very easily. A simple way to clean it each week is to remove the vent from the floor (it may pop off easily or require removal of screws holding it in place) and then run it through a wash and dry cycle in your home’s dish washer. The other way to clean it is to fill up the kitchen sink with hot water and dish soap, clean it and then let it drip dry. Once the vents are clean, reinstall them right away. It is easy to lose screws for a simple product like a vent cover. The last thing anyone wants to do is go to the local hardware store and buy screws to replace lost ones for vent cover.

Vent Covers Located on Home Baseboard

Vents are often found along a home’s baseboard. Like flooring vents, foot traffic delivers plenty of dust and dirt along the floor into the home baseboard vent covers. The best approach to keeping the vents there as clean a possible is to vacuum the area once a week and remove and clean them after vacuuming with soap and water or in the dishwasher. If the vents are not removable, clean between the slats with a home cleaning product using a rag. Be sure to go over the slats with a clean rag after they have been cleaned with the cleaning product.

Vent Cover Product Options

Older vent covers are often drab looking, featuring dull colors or they are just dated and need to be replaced. To replace your current older or dated vents, measure them first (be sure they are removable to save a trip), then visit your local hardware or big box home improvement retailer online or at the store and see if they offer a newer vent you can buy to replace your old ones. Replacing the old vents will improve your home’s look and style, plus they will be easier to clean due to the paint on the product being newer, smoother and be less greasy over time.