I have had two opinions from two different heating companies and don't know which is correct. (Not that it matters but the furnace is 2 years old.)

The company that did the installation said that I should close the vents to the rooms I don't use (2 of the 4 bedrooms) in the Winter, close the doors, to force the heat into the other rooms and save some money. Same with the central air - close the vents.

The company that just did the annual check up said, no, leave all the vents and doors open or else the furnace recycles cold air from the rooms that are (basically) not heated and has to work harder. Same with the central air - open the vents.

Anyone have any thoughts?

I'm in no way qualified to answer but I can tell you we've been closing the vents and doors in unused rooms for 8 years and had no problems. Whether it saves money I don't know but it does seem to keep the other areas of the house warmer. We have electric heat BTW.
Ber

I'm in no way qualified to answer but I can tell you we've been closing the vents and doors in unused rooms for 8 years and had no problems. Whether it saves money I don't know but it does seem to keep the other areas of the house warmer. We have electric heat BTW.
Ber



Maybe I should have said gas forced air and the furnace recycles through the return vents?

On some high static systems like mobile homes closing vents can actually have a very bad effect. In a normal stick built home the static pressure in the ducts is normally not near as high as in a mobile home. So since you have a regular style home closing a vent or two should not harm the furnace. The most important thing you can do as a home owner is change the air filter on a regular basis.

Additionally, if you have a central return as opposed to individual room returns then recycling cool air really won't be an issue.

On some high static systems like mobile homes closing vents can actually have a very bad effect. In a normal stick built home the static pressure in the ducts is normally not near as high as in a mobile home. So since you have a regular style home closing a vent or two should not harm the furnace. The most important thing you can do as a home owner is change the air filter on a regular basis.



It's a regular house - so it's not a causing the furnace to run more often if the cold air from the closed off rooms is being recirculated?

And I have a separate add on filter which gets changed every 6 months, when the furnace company does the Spring check up and the Fall check up.

What you could do to improve efficiency and comfort is to install hot and cold returns in whatever rooms you can easily.
Then close the top (near ceiling) ones in the winter and open the bottom (near floor) and vice versa in the summer.