While organizing your furniture in your room, you will have to juggle around windows and doors to arrive at the perfect presentation of your room.
As you arrange your room you are wondering if it is okay to place part of your furniture over a vent.
(And This Begs The Question) Can You Put a Dresser Over a Vent?
In best practice, it is not recommended to cover vents with a dresser. The vent system is used for heating and cooling and its setting in your house is to the desired specific footage to allow for optimum functioning. If you block air vents with furniture, the amount of air being channeled through the ventilation system is the same as when unblocked but with increased pressure. Your HVAC system is strained and will work harder than was initially designed. This will shorten its lifespan besides causing other problems in the system.
Why It Is Not a Good Idea to Put a Dresser over a Vent?
If you put a dresser over your vent, it will not send any signals to the HVAC system to lower pressure.
It will keep pushing air through the vents causing a lot of pressure build-up which would potentially damage your system.
It is also important to note that placing furniture atop a vent may dry the wood spoiling your cozy sofa or your kitchen furniture.
Due to buildup pressure, your conditioner or furnace is strained thus will consume higher power to get work done resulting in higher utility bills than previously budgeted.
If you had no option but to dress your vent, it is advisable to install vent deflectors to redirect airflow in ways that will bring comfort and save on your energy costs.
It is now evident that blocking your vent will cause you more harm than benefit, however, you can navigate these problems by installing a deflector to redirect the airflow.
Read on to find out different types of deflectors and more tips on avoiding those problems posed by vent dressing.
Six Reasons Why You Should Not Place Furniture over a Vent
So, you may want plenary discretion to arrange furniture in your room to your desired home décor, but the reality is that you should have some restrictions.
You need a free flow of air through the doorway or the windows and so shouldn’t you block the vent either.
What happens if you block your vents? You will encounter the following problems:
1. Damages To Your Furniture
You risk damage to your furniture by placing it on top of a floor vent or very close to a wall vent.
Coupled with heat, the air coming from the vent can be excessively dry which could squeeze the moisture out of the wooden parts of the furniture.
The challenge with excessively dry moisture is that it will cause the joints to fail, break or even damage the wood leading to shorter furniture durability.
Additionally, on some occasions, moisture will coalesce around the furniture close to the vent or cover the vent.
This provides ample background for the growth of molds which will damage the wood and inadvertently spoil the finishing of your furniture.
You will have to deep deeper into your pocket to foot the cost of furniture repair and vent system maintenance.
2. Irregular Heating And Cooling
The primary intention of setting up the air conditioning system in a home is to provide even cooling and heating.
However, this is unachieved if you block the vents. A room with a blocked vent will cool or heat slowly since the airway is partially blocked.
During summer, you need your room to be cooler.
Therefore, with blocked vents, hot air in the room is slowly wished out hence the room temperature will be a little bit higher than the rest of the houses with a well-functioning cooling system.
The reverse is true during winter; your room will take longer to gain warmth.
3. Lower Lifespan of Your HVAC System
By placing the furniture too close or on top of the vent, you are restriking the functioning of the air conditioning in your room.
This, ultimately, forces your system to work harder to achieve the desired function.
For instance, to heat your room during winter, the system will run longer to bring heat to your room.
This will cause additional wear and tear to the system besides increasing the cost of power.
Eventually, your system will run for a shorter period before demanding a replacement.
You will also notice that with a restricted exchange of air, there is friction causing the system to overheat.
For sure you will cough up a lot of money to meet the cost of repair and maintenance of the air conditioning system.
4. Increased Utility Bill
If you put a dresser over your air vents, you will block the airway, and this will cause your system to run longer to accomplish the desired task.
Your system will work harder to heat or cool your home. With this, you will pay higher in your utility bills.
To avoid this problem, maintain your airway as free as possible.
5. Possible Growth Of Molds And Mildew
Air flowing through the vent system, in most cases, is latent with moisture.
And due to this humidity, moisture will collect around the blocked vent festering growth of mold and mildew.
Mold and mildew will infect the air blowing through the entire house spreading it too far corners and walls.
This is a worrying scenario and proves dire especially to the house members who are allergic or asthmatic.
6. Potential Fire Hazard
Well, you may be wondering how this is so.
As noted, before, a blocked system will tend to overwork causing unnecessary overheating. The furnace apparatus will be at risk of setting ablaze.
It is not a very common occurrence but better not leave anything to chance; it is not an impossibility.
When you block the air vent, limited cool air flows through the heat exchanger causing it to overheat.
Heating beyond optimum levels will expand and cause cracks and thus compromising the overall working of the air conditioning.
Alternative Options for Placing Furniture over the Vents
If you are considering placing furniture over an air vent, there are options on how to place them.
Firstly, the furniture should sit some inches above the air vent then redirect the air from the bottom of the furniture through a deflector. Here are common diverter options:
1. Home Intuition Adjustable Magnetic Deflector
This type of deflector allows you to place furniture near a vent but several inches above the floor and away from the wall.
2. Deflector Vent Extender
This vent extender augers well on the sofa or bed with a skirt placed over the air vent.
Can You Hide Air Vents?
Yes. There are options to make your air vent less conspicuous and less distracting.
Use decorative room diverter to block its view.
Paint it to match the floor or wall coring. It will make it less noticeable.
Place furniture on top but ensure it has provisions for proper airflow such as a table with a room for a diverter.
Is It Okay To Close Vents In Unused Rooms?
No. if you close air vents in unused rooms such as your bedroom during work hours, it will create an unequal distribution of heat in the house.
The colder rooms will draw heat from the warmer rooms and in effect make the house feel colder.
Final Words
While it is advisable not to put a dresser over the air vent, there are ways to work around the vent and still be able to place your furniture over the air vent.
As discussed in this article, you can utilize a vent diverter or use the right furniture.
With this, you will have your desired furniture layout in your home without infringing on the working of an air vent.