How to Balance Heat Flow From Home Furnace Registers

Conduct a tour of your home to determine which rooms seem too cold, too hot or appropriately comfortable. Your goal is to achieve that comfortable feeling in all rooms simultaneously. You'll need to make changes in the rooms that are too hot or too cold.

Check for physical blockages behind register vents. Verify that all registers are blowing air at relatively the same flow rate. If they are not, invite an HVAC (heating, ventilating, and air conditioning) specialist to come into your home to discuss and examine possible blockages that may be restricting airflow to a particular vent. It is crucial that all rooms have equal airflow when the vents are all completely open to balance out heat in your home.

Adjust the dampers on each register to close off airflow in overly warm rooms and open airflow in cold rooms. Most registers come equipped with metal sliders that control the amount of airflow into the room. Use this slider to open or close the metal flaps in the register that control airflow. Do not close any vent completely. Air should always be allowed to circulate within each room for better heat dispersion.

Attach plastic airflow guides to your registers to redirect airflow. If your register is located on the ceiling of a room, the rising hot air will circulate poorly. Adding a plastic guide, which can be purchased at a home improvement or hardware store, forces the air downward into the room, where it can circulate and heat before rising again.

Make sure your house is insulated properly. Caulk windows with cracks that allow cold air to find its way into your house in winter. This air causes the internal house temperature to drop, meaning that your furnace has to compensate by working harder.