How An Air Diffuser Works in Your Home’s HVAC System

by on

air diffuserAdding an HVAC air diffuser to one or more rooms helps enhance heating and cooling performance and may even reduce costs, as air circulation is more effective and efficient.  While it may sound like a complex mechanism or technology, a home air diffuser is usually a simple metal or plastic grille designed to easily snap over the existing HVAC supply vent in an individual room.

What’s Wrong With a Basic Air Grille?

The existing grille covering the vent outlet that supplies heating and cooling to a room is usually a simple design that directs incoming air in limited directions and quantity.  Depending on the size and layout of the space, the standard grille may not direct sufficient air volume into all areas of the room where it’s needed. This can cause noticeably hot and/or overly chilly zones within the same room. Also, standard grilles often generate more noise as conditioned air enters the room from the supply duct.

Advantages of an Air Diffuser

  • A diffuser incorporates adjustable louvers and grilles in an arrangement designed to allow customized airflow direction. The diffuser may direct airflow in a variety of adjustable directions to aim heating and cooling to specific parts of the room that are more likely to be inhabited, or in a 360-degree pattern that covers the entire room. The fins of a diffuser may also direct air upward to help disrupt heat that typically accumulates near the ceiling and circulate it back down into the living space of the room.
  • Making airflow more adjustable and directional also spreads out the velocity of conditioned air entering a room. This has the effect of reducing the distracting “whooshing” sound that often results when all the incoming air velocity is flowing in only one direction.
  • Most diffusers are available in an assortment of colors and design styles that blend in with the existing decor instead of standing out conspicuously.

Talk to the professionals at Hansberger Refrigeration and Electric Company for more information about how an air diffuser can help improve indoor air circulation and comfort.