HVAC floor vents

[garrett_reukauf]

Does anyone have any suggestion or know of a product I could put on my floor vents in my home to keep foreign objects from falling down in the vent. I have 2 young boys, and we all know boys will be boys. I want to get this nipped earlier before they get the ingenius idea of putting stuff down the vents. I need something that will keep the stuff out, but still alow plenty of airflow. Any ideas? Wal-mart sells vent filters, you can cut to fit your vent, but the only bad thing with those is that you have to take them out about once a month and change them cuz of the dust and dirt.
Thanks ya'll, love the site!

[Yanita]

Hi

I would use a very porous (loose weave) filter material. I would think that anything you use in these would need to be either changed or cleaned regularly for the reasons you mentioned. Do not forget to change your furnace filter regularly as well.

Happy Holidays,

Yanita

[Guest]

You could also use hardware cloth, which is metal netting with square openings about 1/4"-1/2" wide. In the old days people used to use it on their wood storm doors over the screens to prevent punctures. It is sold in various lengths at most hardware stores. Cut to fit the size of your vents, it would prevent objects from dropping down in there and would not restrict the air flow.

[Manitoba Bill]

Be careful when cutting hardware cloth, very sharp points and stings from the coating.

Another option is Gutter guards. But comes in a 5-pack.
It comes with hooks that may come in handy.

http://www.amerimax.com/productdetail.a ... ubCatID=14

(I used one to cover my Fit grille to keep bugs out of the rad.)

[Brenda (OH)]

I know what I would consider trying because of the price and because you could easily remove it....

Nylon netting is very cheap by the yard. buy the one with the biggest holes to minimize cutting down air flow.\

cut a piece 2 inches bigger around on each side than the vent, remove the vent cover. put the sheet over the top of the vent, push it over the edge, maybe tape it around the part that sticks into the hole, and put back in the hole.

this puts the barrier on the top side, and could catch cat fur also....
The handfuls of legos, pennies, and crayons that i pulled out of every heat duct below the registers in the MH I rehabbed suggests that you are doing well to plan ahead!

Brenda (OH

[Darrell]

We use recycled dryer sheets ... after using them for a few loads in the dryer ... they seem to work fine as far as airflow is concerned and keeping out the kids junk, toys, etc. And when the furnace kicks in you get a faint clean scent throughout the place javascript:emoticon('').

Darrell

[flcruising]

Be carefull how thick of material you use, because it will put undue stress on your HVAC system the more vents you do.

We used some vent inserts to help balance our system like these:

http://www.achooallergy.com/webventfilt ... tm_id=1200

[garrett_reukauf]

I bought some vent filters at Wal-Mart, put them in the kids' bathroom and in their bedrooms and the kitchen, since it's vinyl and you have to sweep. So far so good, and I think I got my point across to the kids pretty well this time. LOL! Last Thanksgiving we were at my sisters house and our youngest poured her kool-aid down her upstairs bathroom vent. Didnt do any damage, but sure made a mess in the unit downstairs. I am really impressed with my unit in my MH, its a heat pump but keeps the unit very warm and comfy. Just trying to get a question answered about my unit in the "Nordyne Service and Repair" section on the Heating and Cooling Forum on here, not having much luck tho on that one...
Thanks for the suggestions and such, have a great day.

[Yanita]

Your welcome,

Just remember to keep those filters changed at the minimum of once every 30 days, and if in traffic areas maybe every other week.

Yanita

[DaveFromColorado]

Howdy!

Hopefully I'm not too late in answering this ..

I recently had to replace some of the screen in my windows, with the leftover screen material I just cut some rectangles big enough to go under the vents, and it works perfectly, to keep my 3 year old from putting things down in the HVAC system. Very inexpensive, and easy to clean.

--Dave.

[garrett_reukauf]

Why didn't I think of that.... LOL!!!
Thanks Dave