Multiple Air Returns
“I moved into my new 1700 square feet home and have two returns, my other house had one. Why do I have two returns?”
Any home over 1600 square feet in this state has to have at least two returns in the home instead of a single return. The house is big enough, and I would always recommend having multiple returns because out of 15 years I have never been to a home and thought there were too many returns. That has never been the case. What has been the case is most of the time is you go to a house and think there is not enough returns here.
You will have a return and it will be all the way on one side of the house. With multiple returns in this 1700 square foot house you probably have one return on one side and one return on the other side of the house. Probably, how it is laid out is you have rooms on one side with a return, you have the kitchen, living room in the middle and then on the other side you have bedrooms with the other return. That is why you have two returns.
You want to make it as easy as possible for the air to get back to the unit. The bigger the return and the more you have in these different locations where it can be closed off, the better. You want to make it very easy, otherwise, the unit is going to get the air it needs. It is going to suck it through the crawlspace, to the attic, through the outside, it is going to get the air it needs to get to operate but you want to control it to be cool or warm filtered air from the return. You don’t want it to come from the outside which is unconditioned air. That will save you energy and the unit will not have to work as hard to get the air back to it.
Two returns is not a bad thing, I am glad you have two returns, because you need two returns for that size home. If you have that one return on one side of the house and you had this other 1600 square feet then all of that air has to get back to the other side of the house one way or another. We all know it will be very difficult in that back room when you shut the door because that is your junk room and you have all the junk in there that you don’t want anyone to see. It is going to be very hard for that air to then get back to the return.
Multiple returns are needed for that size home and the easier you make it for air to go the direction you want it to go to get back to the system, the better it is for your energy bill and for you.
Your friend in comfort and energy savings,
Derek Cole
Derek Cole is the General Manager of One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning®, an independently owned and operated franchise based in Laurinburg, North Carolina since 1953. He has more than 15 years of experience in the HVAC industry and has created two You Tube broadcasts, The Comfort Experts and #AskDerekCole, filled with tips and tricks on saving energy and being comfortable. He was named the Top 40 under 40 in the HVAC industry by the News magazine and featured in Entrepreneur Magazine Franchise Player Spotlight. Derek has also been seen on CBS, FOX, NBC, ABC, Huffington Post, and Bloomberg Business sharing about One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning® and home comfort tips.
