Rreturn Air Vents

[mills]

What are your ideas about blocking off one of the return air vents in a two return system? My downstairs is cold during the winter, so I close the hall door and isolate the den from the return vent which is in the ceiling of the hallway. I also put some long curtains at the bottom of the stairway to prevent warm air from going up the stairway. All this helps keep it a little warmer downstairs. Other posts talk about return vent locations (low or high), but I was wondering if I could block off the downstairs return (high) and let the upstairs return (low) do all the work during the winter? Its a newer house with lots of insulation, the downstairs is a walkout basement design and the thermostat is upstairs. 1800 sq/ft upstairs, 1000 sq/ft downstairs. Hope this gives enough info for a resonse. Jim

[Hube]

When in the HEATING season, its best to have Return Air on the Low levels, as cold air is heavy and it falls.. In the COOLING season, Return air is best high, because this is where the build-up of heat is.