Heat Register Cleaning And Maintenance

Give them space and keep them clean

Cleaning and maintaining your heat registers should really be part of an overall home maintenance plan. This can mean a simple wiping down with soap and water as you clean your house, or more detailed maintenance as you prepare your home for seasonal changes or make an annual inspection of your furnace and heating ducts.

Heat register maintenance also means being aware of how to make the best use of your heat registers to prevent wastage of heat and energy.

Make room for heat

Heat registers, like writers and astronauts, work best when they have plenty of space. Avoid covering or blocking your heat registers, whether it's with drapes, furniture, or hanging decorative items. Vacuum and dust around your heat registers regularly to prevent the buildup of dust which could then be spread throughout a room.

If it is absolutely necessary to block a heat register due to size or decorating constraints, we recommend purchasing an air deflector. Air deflectors magnetically attach to heat registers and prevent warm air from being blocked by diverting it to the side rather than directly into the back of your sofa.

Ducts

Keeping your heat registers clean and free of obstacles shouldn't be the extent of your home heating system maintenance. Check your furnace filter every month to see if it needs to be cleaned or replaced.

Heat registers are only the tail end of your home's heating system. An annual inspection or tune-up of your furnace can help prevent minor problems from developing into more significant ones.

Duct cleaning may also be a good idea, particularly if you or your family members suffer from allergies or you have a number of house pets. Professional duct cleaners will not only clean your pipes and ducts, they'll also clean your heat registers and check your furnace and blower motor.

However, annual duct cleaning is likely unnecessary. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommends duct cleaning only if any of the following occur:

There is substantial visible mold growth inside hard surface ducts or on other components of your heating and cooling system.

Ducts are infested with rodents or insects.

Ducts are clogged with excessive amounts of dust and debris and/or particles are actually released into the home from your heat registers.

Closed or open?

A question commonly asked about heat registers is whether there is any benefit obtained from keeping heat registers closed in unused rooms. The answer depends on what type of home heating system you have.

If you have a forced-air furnace, closing unused heat registers not only won't provide much of a benefit, it could actually create problems. Forced-air furnaces can't sense when a specific heat register is closed or open.

Your furnace will continue working as before, but as cold air from the rooms with closed registers seep into the rest of the house, your furnace might even have to work harder to heat less space than before.

More information on heat registers