Should Air Vents be open all Year round?

ronan45

Stupid Question time

Air vents have an open and closed position. Under what circumstances does one close the air vents. Would I be right in assuming Its for winter to reduce heat loss? If i Close my air vents during winter will i get a build up of moisture in the house?

BryanF

ronan45 wrote: »

Stupid Question time

Air vents have an open and closed position. Under what circumstances does one close the air vents. Would I be right in assuming Its for winter to reduce heat loss?

marginally, in that they will reduce the air-change slightly

If i Close my air vents during winter will i get a build up of moisture in the house?

maybe that depends on a number of factors. internal RH (generated moisture), heating, building fabric including windows, air-changes through lack of air-tightness/ and other means of ventilation, the size of the house etc

just do a few experiments..

DoneDL

If you have gas or oil appliances then these vents must be permanently open, I would always consider the same permanently open vents for solid fuel. Kitchens and bathrooms should have mechanical ventilation, as regards the other rooms then comfort and a healthy air are your considerations.

Mr. Presentable

As previous posters note:

Close the door and windows and vent in your bedroom for one night - see the amount of moisture that you will have produced by morning. It's pretty surprising.

Vents are for more than keeping moisture down, they are also for venting poisonous gasses in the event of heating systems failure.

I think they should be open all year round and am not sure why they have closures on them. Most of mine don't..

AMG86

You need fresh air 24/7 regardless of costs etc. This is one of the main requirements for vents. If air is getting in through other paths say around windows doors etc you could consider closing them. It comes down to how airtight your house is. This can be measured. Bear in mind what DoneDL says if you have gas or oil appliances then these vents must be permanently open.

MrThrifty

Would add that it depends importantly on how exposed a location your house is. In exposed areas, the winds in winter mean that the old through wall vents act like open windows with a crazy amount of cold air being left in.

10-10-20

DoneDL wrote: »

If you have gas or oil appliances then these vents must be permanently open, I would always consider the same permanently open vents for solid fuel. ...

This is a generalisation - there is a requirement for fixed ventilation of a correct size where the heater is not room sealed, but this does not apply to all of the vents in the house.
Where it is a room-sealed device, no ventilation is required.
For example, see the pages 3 & 4 below.

http://www.radmidlands.co.uk/Microsoft%20Word%20-%20Ventilation%20of%20dom%20nat%20gas%20appliances.pdf