Tuesday, August 28, 2012

That Giant Return Air Vent, Part II

     I have heard from my PM regarding the giant return air vent in the house. (See the post here) I am not sure if I am remembering everything he said about it, but here are the (paraphrased) highlights:

1. The filter is required for energy star requirements. (Now that I know this, I can't imagine it was causing my system to work harder. Right? I mean energy star requirements are so you use less energy, right? Please correct me if you know something different. This is my understanding.)
2. The big downstairs filter should not be causing trouble for my son's bedroom. Maybe if it's super dirty, but otherwise, no. (This makes sense too, because really? That big filter managed to target my son's room? Why did I allow myself to find this as a logical explanation?) 

So, Ryan Homes probably doesn't want ya'll reading my blog and taking out all of your filters willy-nilly, messing up your heating and air systems, and causing problems. 

That's all I know for now. I'll keep you updated if I learn anything else. 


  1. The Energy Star thing makes sense, but it doesn't explain the dirt issue. Did he give any ideas on that?

    Also thanks for posting on this blog, we're just starting our build and there's a lot of good info on here!

  2. You're welcome! I had helpful information from other blogs, so I wanted to be helpful as well. I tried to answer the questions I couldn't find answers to as I was going through the process.

    I hope you enjoy this process and pay attention to everything you can. It's a chance to get to really know about your own house. Pretty neat. Good luck! Have fun!

    Oh, the filter gets dirty because it's doing it's job. He suggested it was likely due to construction debris and the grading. I'm going to pop a new filter in there and expect less filth because my house isn't that filthy. At least I don't think so.

  3. OMG! of course the filter gets dirty, thats its job, what do u think any kind of filter is for? u are confusing me.