If you look closely at the blower louver of your aircon, you’ll notice a black lever that, when toggled, will open or close a panel at the back of your air conditioner. This thing is called the aircon vent, and it can be opened or closed depending on your preference. But when should you toggle it, and why?
The aircon vent is meant to control the inflow of outdoor air into your room. Closing the aircon vent will prevent warm air from the outdoors from inside your room. If you are conscious about energy efficiency, you should keep the vent in the closed position for most of the time. Meanwhile, opening it will let warm air inside your room which will increase the temperature, with the trade off being an influx of fresh air to refresh the stale air inside your room.
In this article, we will discuss the purpose of the air vent and when and when not to open it.
What is an aircon vent for?
If you look closely at the blower louver of your aircon, you’ll notice a black lever that, when toggled, will open or close a panel at the back of your air conditioner. This thing is called the aircon vent, and it can be opened or closed depending on your preference. But when should you toggle it, and why?
The aircon vent is meant to control the inflow of outdoor air into your room. Closing the aircon vent will prevent warm air from the outdoors from inside your room. If you are conscious about energy efficiency, you should keep the vent in the closed position for most of the time. Meanwhile, opening it will let warm air inside your room which will increase the temperature, with the trade off being an influx of fresh air to refresh the stale air inside your room.
In this article, we will discuss the purpose of the air vent and when and when not to open it.
What is an aircon vent for?
The aircon vent is a small opening inside the air conditioner that lets fresh air from the outdoors come in and refresh the stale air in your room. This is also helpful when you want to remove any smoke or unpleasant odor from your room.
You can toggle the aircon vent open or closed depending on your situation. However, opening it may introduce warm air into your room, which can reduce its cooling efficiency. When using the aircon vent, you’ll have to balance your need for fresh air with a slightly less efficient unit.
Where can I find the aircon vent?
The vent can be seen mostly on window air conditioner models. While the vent itself is located at the back of the unit, the vent lever is usually protruding from the blower louver panel.
For newer models, the lever may not be present, instead of a button that says “EXHAUST” will replace it.
Does a split type have a vent?
Split Type ACs usually do not have an air vent. However, Japanese manufacturer Daikin does have a split type model series called the Urusura that has a built-in aircon vent on its outdoor unit that you can activate via remote control.
If your split type aircon does not have this feature, opening a few windows is a good alternative if you want to refresh the air in your room.
When to open the aircon vent
It may be counter-intuitive to open the vent during operation. After all, didn’t you just spend money to keep the cold air inside your room? But there are several reasons why you should open the aircon vent.
Replacing stale air
When the windows in your room are closed for an extended period, the air will get stale as it gets recycled on and on by your air conditioner.
While this may seem like a mild nuisance, it can cause you harm.
Stale air is full of microbial volatile organic compounds (MVOCs), which can cause headaches, coughing, fatigue, and ENT (eyes, nose, throat) irritation. They can also emit unpleasant odors at high volumes.
Thus, when you start to sense that your room has become stale, either open the aircon vent or open a few windows to let fresh air in.
Removing odors from a room
If you find that the air in your room smells funky, you should open the aircon vent to exhaust the odors out of your room.
You should also open the vents if smoke somehow finds its way to your room.
Alternatives to opening the aircon vent
Opening the air conditioner vent is not the only way to replace the stale air in your room. Here are some ways to introduce fresh air into your space:
1. Open your windows
One of the easiest way to remove stale air from your room is by opening a few windows. The best time to do this is when your air conditioner is turned off so as not to waste energy. When your unit is in use, you can still open the windows – but not for too long.
2. Use exhaust fans
Exhaust fans are for removing excess humidity and hot air indoors to the outside environment. This can reduce the stuffiness of the air in the room. However, it does not make the air inside fresh, and hence you’ll still need to open the windows or use ventilator fans to introduce fresh air into the room.
3. Use ventilation fans
If exhaust fans take stale air out of your room, ventilation fans take fresh air from outdoors into your room. This ensures that the occupants in the room will breath in fresh and oxygenated air instead of muggy and stale air.
Conclusion
In most cases, keeping the aircon vents closed is a good idea as it saves energy and keeps the cold air from escaping from your room. However, if you are in an office or a classroom where the windows are almost always closed, you should open the vents from time to time to supply you with fresh air.
Sources
- Bernstein, J., MD, Alexis, N., PhD, Bacchus, H., NP, Bernstein, I. L., MD, Fritz, P., BS, Horner, E., PhD, Li, N., PhD, Mason, S., PhD, Nel, A., MD, PhD, Oulette, J., PhD, Reijula, K., MD, Reponen, T., PhD, Seltzer, J., MD, Smith, A., PhD, & Tarlo, S., MBBS. (2008). The health effects of nonindustrial indoor air pollution. The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 121(3), 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaci.2007.10.045
- Poslusny, K. (2019, March 1). What is Stale Air? It’s Actually Chemicals Like CO2 and MVOCs. Molekule Blog. https://molekule.science/what-is-stale-air/
Miguel Mores worked for 5 years as a member of the product management team for a home appliance company in the Philippines. He started 101appliance to answer the most common customer questions that he has encountered during his time in the industry. He now works in the digital marketing field and manages a small online bookstore on the side.
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Thank you!
What a nice Idea vent close or open
Thank you for shedding light on this subject..
Just moved to an apartment with an ac and wondered about this vent control. My initial thought was that it should be open for more air flow. Thanks to this article, I now know better. I open my windows at night when the temperature drops below 74 so my space gets plenty of fresh air. Getting up to close that vent now.