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brandywine1949 Asked October 2011

What will happen to the furnace if all the vents are shut all the time? My mother with dementia keeps closing them.

My elderly mother still lives alone even if she has dementia. She wants to stay in her own home. She has a nice newer home all paid for. The home has forced air heat with vents in all the rooms. She closes all the vents and then turns the heat up HIGH. When I go to visit her, I have been opening the vents but she caught me doing that and yelled at me. I told her that the furnace would have a problem if she continued to close the vents, but she still yelled at me. Said well its her house and she could do as she pleases. So now I just leave the vents alone and let go and let God. My question is what will happen to the furnace if all the vents are shut all the time? I would hope that the furnace would not blow up, but you never know.

EXPERT Carol Bradley Bursack, CDSGF Oct 2011
Closing forced air room vents will only keep keep the room cooler as she won't get as much heat. There's no danger if it's just room vents. They are made to open and close so that you can regulate rooms for temperature. The furnace should be vented outside. That is the safety feature. If you are still worried, just check with a company who services her type of furnace. Then you can rest in peace. If she gets cold from closing the vents, you can ask how to prop them open a bit, but there's always some air that escapes. Are these folks ingenious?
Take care,
Carol

NancyH Oct 2011
If it's electric forced air, I don't see how it will blow up. We used to have electric forced air when I was teenager. Even when closing the vents it wasn't air proof. With her dementia, does she think she's saving electricity when she does this? There's no reasoning with her at this point probably, so you might have to put a screw or a bolt into the vents to prop them open just a little. Pick a time when someone takes her out and do it.

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