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If you’re like most homeowners, you’ve cussed at your HVAC system a time or two because it just seems so inconsistent. Maybe your living room feels perfectly cozy in the winter—but your nose is numb when you wake up in the morning. Or your kids complain about their room being sooooo hoooooot in July—but you’re walking around the rest of the house in a hoodie. Super frustrating, right? Fortunately, there’s a relatively quick solution: Simply adjust your HVAC dampers.

What is an HVAC Damper?

As you’re likely aware, each room of your home has at least one HVAC vent in the floor or ceiling. They’re usually covered by registers that have louvres you can adjust to control air flow. Many homeowners try to deal with their too-hot-too-cold situation by closing some registers. That’s an OK approach, but it’s not the most efficient way to balance airflow overall. Dampers are.

HVAC dampers, like this one, have an external lever that controls a metal plate inside the duct. By turning the lever, you rotate the plate, which allows more or less air to flow through that specific duct. Because dampers are located near your HVAC unit itself, rather than at the end of runs like registers are, they provide a more efficient way to redirect heated or cooled air to exactly where you want it.

Finding Your HVAC Dampers

Not all homes havedampers. If you have a premium HVAC system with “zoned heating and cooling,” your dampers are automatically controlled by your unit. (Score!) If you don’t have a premium system, that doesn’t necessarily mean you have them, though. Unfortunately, many new home builders opt out of installing dampers to save costs. (Boooooo!) 

There’s no way to know without looking, so head to your furnace and first locate the main ducts leaving the unit. If you have dampers, you’ll find them on those runs, within a few feet of the unit itself. If you don’t have them, as Calgary HVAC experts, we’d be happy to talk about how to reconfigure your system to add them. 

Adjusting Your HVAC Dampers

To properly adjust your HVAC dampers, follow these steps:

1. Turn your fan to the ON position: If you don’t have a fan setting, adjust your thermostat so the system runs constantly as you follow these steps.

2. Open every damper all the way: Usually, that means turning the lever so it’s pointed in the same direction as the duct.

3. Open every register in every room of your house: Now air is moving completely uninhibited through the entire system. 

4. Determine which duct serves which rooms: From your main unit, follow each duct as far as you can before it disappears. This will give you a general idea of which rooms it serves. Then, close the damper on each duct—one at a time—and verify which rooms are affected. (You’ll be able to tell because even with the registers wide open, there will be little to no airflow.) When you’re certain where each duct leads, label it.

5. Make initial adjustments: Now that you know which duct serves which rooms, it’s time to start adjusting your dampers. Remember, when the damper lever is pointing the same direction as the duct, it’s completely open. The closer the lever is to being perpendicular with the duct, the less air flows through. Since we’re heading into cold weather season, let’s adjust your dampers to maximize your heat.

As you may recall from second grade science lessons, hot air rises. So, you’ll want to adjust your dampers to provide less airflow upstairs and more airflow downstairs—because the warm air will naturally rise. In the summer, you’ll want to do the opposite. (If you have a one-story home, simply adjust the dampers to provide more warm/cool air to the rooms you use most often.)Once you have your initial adjustments made, turn your system back to auto, and let it do its thing.

6. Monitor and adjust again: Allow your system to work for a couple of days, and then check the comfort level of each room. Adjust the dampers again if necessary, wait for a couple of days, and assess your progress. Rinse and repeat until every room feels comfy. We should mention this: Make small adjustments.

You know how when some people come home to a coolish house in the winter, they crank their thermostat to 87 degrees, thinking somehow it’ll warm up faster? (It won’t.) Don’t be that guy. And don’t completely close any of your dampers or you’ll be disappointed with the results. Make more, small adjustments and you’ll save yourself some frustration in the long run.

7. Label the damper position: When you have your system balanced to your maximum comfort level, mark the position of the damper right on the duct. That way, you won’t have to go through this whole experiment again next year.

8. When you switch from heat to air conditioning, adjust your dampers again: Don’t give in to the temptation to just set your dampers opposite from where they are in cold weather and call it good. You might find you prefer a particular duct mostly closed in both the summer and winter. So, go through your initial adjustments, monitor, and adjust again-as many times as it takes to make you happy. Then, mark your summer damper position right on the duct.

It takes a bit of patience and time to adjust your dampers, but it’s worth it in the long run to maximize your unit’s efficiency and feel comfortable in your home year round. And if adjusting your dampers doesn’t solve your heating and cooling inconsistencies, schedule a service call. You deserve a comfy home. We can help!

Serving Calgary, AB and surrounding areas

We take immense pride in providing Calgary, AB and surrounding areas with top-notch plumbing, heating, and cooling services, ensuring every home and business operates smoothly year-round. Our team’s expertise and dedication shine through in every project, earning the trust and satisfaction of our valued customers across the city. Serving you isn’t just a job for us; it’s a commitment to excellence and a testament to our passion for keeping our community comfortable and thriving.

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A job well done.

Can’t say enough about the great service I received from Heinz regarding some concerning alerts we got on our Ecobee Smart Thermostat yesterday. I felt cared for and trusted that he was focused on the necessary followup to assure our safety. Heinz is very good at his job.

Kim Koch

I felt the company is oriented on quality of customer service , they send me the track link when dispatch the plumber, and the plumber is super on time too . I really appreciate Richard , he is supper patient to help me find out what is the best solution, focus on customer’s interest . Thank you again , I will definitely use your service again when I having plumbing problems, which I hope it will never happen.

Jing Huang

John came out to review our heating and AC set-up. He was very knowledgeable and patient as he walked us through the various units and proposed maintenance program. Would highly recommend.

Lucus Tomei

Drake Ahern did an awesome job cleaning the ducts. Was very friendly and professional. Worked hard and paid attention to all the details. I’d definitely have him back next time.

David Dickinson

Our hot water tank blew and fortunately we noticed right away. We called Clearview Services late in the evening and we were answered right away. We were kept in the loop throughout the entire experience and Gabe Colpitts was the service technician who visited the next morning. He was very professional and spent the time to explain and educate the different options that were available. We were up and running with hot water the very next day.

Mike Mario

Barry was fantastic. Explained the steps that would be required to detect the leak and then proceeded with the work. He was professional and managed to fix our issue same day. He left our home clean and tidy before leaving. Overall very happy.

Jonathan Wilson

Clearview was excellent to deal with. Very professional in their approach and the picture sent of the plumber before hand is an excellent idea. Richard was great to deal with. He gave me different options to resolve the problem.

Rick Pultz

Thank you! Your service has always been reliable, professional,and friendly.
Rural folks can depend on you, as We have for more than 30 years, for both our property and others.
If you say you’re coming – you show up- or you promptly let us know of any delays! AND do a fantastic job. We’d asked for certain day & hours, as our neighbour has a B&B, didn’t want to cause issues with septic removal smells for them. YOU DELIVERED! Thank you. The Jackson’s.

Robert Jackson

Had them update and install our infloor heating two zones, and add tank less hot water on demand and install a water softener. Our technician was very professional kept his work area tidy, cleaned up after himself. He also wiped down all the equipment used including piping and tubing. He was friendly, kept us informed on his progress. You could tell he enjoys what he does… great job Thank you so much.

Carol Hill

Arrived on time and did a quick and efficient replacement of my kitchen sink faucet. Also took the time to further explain the operation of the water softener installed on the last visit.
Richard was friendly and knowledgeable. Great service!

Marybeth Marrow

We could not do the water valve replacement because the city could not shut the water off. I was warned ahead of time that this might happen so was not worried. Yamil was courteous and professional and I look forward to his return when the city can fulfill there end of the job. Justin and Sean were great with the furnace install. It went smoothly and Justin explained the new thermostat fully. The walk through on the furnace was useful and timely. Justin and Sean were friendly and professional and great to work with. John who came out for the initial inspection…

Paul Palardy

The appointment to come to check my boiler was prompt and early I’m the day so I didn’t have to wait the whole day. I received a call 15mins before the arrival. An email and a text was sent earlier. Gerry introduced himself and told me his purpose. He checked my boiler for a while then explained clear to me what the problem was, it was relief to know that it is nit necessarily a serious one. He made further checks and made some recommendations for change of some worn out parts, the re-glycol – 10yrs overdue and some leak that…

Roland B.

Jon was on time and dispatch team did their best to get him to the property to do an inspection on leaking pipes and backup sewer system. Jon then immediately got another job into the system to have a deeper inspection of the entire system to determine where the blockage was.

David Crawford

Barry did a great job in replacing a leaking Hot Water tank. Just a bit shocked at how much the cost of a new tank has increased over the years. We would certainly use ClearView for future jobs.

Ken Stowell

I had furnace venting replaced. This company is efficient and very professional. You know who is coming to do the work and given notice of when they’ll arrive. Heinz was very knowledgeable, professional, was not bothered by all my questions. He gave full explanations, reasons why, and great advice on maintenance care. He showed that he cared about what he was doing and was very efficient in getting the work done quickly. I highly recommend this company and Heinz.

Elsa Krienke

Heinz was professional and honest. He gave me options and the price. The price was the price and there were no extra charges. He worked on a boiler system that was having issues. He flushed and cleaned system and everything is back up and running. When he was finished he asked if I had any question. I look forward to him coming back to service this system again.

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