I was shocked the other day when I took the vent cover off of, what I thought was a heat register in my living room.
- I figured that I should vacuum out the vents before I turned on the heat for the first time.
I was new to the apartment and this would be the first winter season living there. Imagine my surprise when I realized that there was no duct work there. It was actually open to the other side of the wall where there was an identical vent cover. I thought at first that someone just put them there for decorative purposes but when I asked the landlord about them he explained that the vest covers and pass through were to allow for cold air return. The heat came from the vents in the ceiling and it was drawn down by the cold air returns. The air was then sucked back into the furnace to be warmed again. This natural flow of warm and cool air allowed for even heating. Years ago, before HVAC systems were installed, they used floor vents and wall vents to circulate the warm air throughout the house. It is still used in many areas where it is impossible to install modern equipment. Warm air rises, cool air falls, it is just the nature of things and if you can use this process to give you an even warm temperature, this is all the better. If you have efficient, “drafting”, as it is called, you can certainly save a lot on your energy bills too.