Where should basement hot air vents be placed?
Doug from Manilla, Ontario checked this site for basement heating systems: “I read the section? on cold air returns in the basement, however I could not find anything on where hot air vents should be placed. Do they need to be at the floor level or at the ceiling level?” In the house above the furnace, the hot air comes off of the floor under the windows, flows up and counters the cold air coming down from the window, and then floats across the room to the cold air return which is on the floor. That is for a heating climate. In air conditioning country, the ideal would be the opposite, with both the cold air and the return air on the ceiling. So generally in Canada we compromise in the summer, in Florida, they compromise in the winter. In the basement the hot air starts on the ceiling because that is where the basic heating plenum is located and the contractor left it as an unfinished basement. Usually, the cold air return is on the ceiling as well, or even without an opening in the ba
