Floor vents are vital. These are vital as they help you maintain the temperature of your house. Wall vents work more effectively than other room or floor heating options.
However, if you are wondering if you can put a bed over a floor vent, then you are at the right door. We are going to have a detailed discussion on whether you can put a bed on a floor vent or not. So, bear with us till the end to get rid of all your confusion.
Can you put a bed over a floor vent?
You cannot put a bed over a floor vent. Vents are usually made in the places where the air must flow out or in through the HVAC system. Therefore, if you place a bed over a floor vent, the air flow may get hampered or it can lead to other malfunctions.
Placing furniture over the floor vents is not recommended. It is considered a bad practice to cover your wall vents with furniture. The moisture can form molds and debris. Other than that, it can also end up drying your furniture and lead to damaging it.
It is not recommended to put large furniture like beds, bookshelves, and sofas in front of vents. However, sometimes you are bound to place your furniture on the vents if the vents are not placed in the right position.
The air vents are known to be a crucial part of the HVAC system. Therefore, when a vent is blocked the entire system needs to work harder to complete the entire air flow process in your house. This can later lead to causing some sort of damage to the system.
Is it safe to put a bed over a floor vent?
It is not safe to put a bed over a floor vent. However, if you do not have any other option, you can put the bed over a floor vent. Additionally, it can lead to causing various accidents like lighting up a fire due to overheating.
If you are blocking the vent using a piece of furniture or a bed, it will cause the furnace apparatus to overheat. This overheating can lead to causing a fire.
Additionally, placing the bed over the floor vent during the summer will create resistance and decrease the overall air flow from the central air-conditioning.
You can put a bed over the floor vent, but it is recommended not to have a spring setting right on top of it. Make sure you have a space clearance of a few inches at least.
Four reasons why you cannot put a bed over a floor vent
If you do not have any option rather than putting a bed over the vent, then you can place it there. However, there are multiple reasons why a bed should not be put over a floor vent.
Here are four reasons why you cannot put a bed over a floor vent:
It can imbalance air circulation:
When the HVAC system is installed, the technicians calculate and figure out the amount of air flow that is required to maintain the right temperature in your house. It is balanced delicately. This is the reason behind all the vents of your house needs to be uncovered and open.
However, whenever these vents get blocked, the air circulation
It can ruin beddings and furniture:
In case you didn’t know, wood is sensitive to excessively cold and musty situations. Especially when they are kept exposed for too long. Additionally, entering through the vents which cool downs your house, tends to have some amount of moisture in it.
When the bed or furniture comes in contact with moisture for a long time, it can get affected by debris and mold. In worse cases, you may need to change the bedding and bed itself.
Causing fire risk:
The issues of blocking a vent can cause problems to your furnace too. Furnaces usually have a heat exchanger installed in them. Therefore, the air flow needs to be smooth.
And blocked vents means the heat exchanger will receive less air. In severe cases, the heat exchanger may overheat, expand and crack. Therefore, to resist this type of situation, make sure you do not block the vent or place a bed over it.
Risk of growing of mold and debris:
As the bed and furniture will absorb moisture, there’s a high chance that it will lead to growing mold and debris. When the cold air meets with cotton, linen and other fabrics, a musty situation is created.
However, the scary part is you will never realize how bad things are until it’s too late. It will happen as the beddings tend to be hygroscopic, which means they are prone to absorbing moisture.
Additionally, you can stop all these if you choose not to cover your floor vents with your bed.
How much clearance does a floor vent need?
A flood vent requires at least 10-12 inches clearance. However, the more clearance, the better it is. If you are blocking the HVAC system with anything, then it’s time to rethink your interior. You may need to remove any rug, carpet and furniture that is blocking your floor vent.
You can also use short curtains to avoid the risk of a fire risk. Try and keep your couches, chairs, cabinets and wardrobes away from the floor vents. Make sure you are not covering them with anything. When the vents are free, this means your house will have proper air flow.
Therefore, to avoid all these unwanted accidents, the floor vents need a clearance of at least 10-12 inches. Additionally, if you can have more clearance than that, it is better for your home environment.
What happens when you put a bed over a floor vent?
Multiple things can happen when you put a bed over a floor vent. It can cause severe mold and debris growth, light up a sudden fire, cause malfunctions in the central air conditioning system etc.
Floor vents aren’t meant to be covered. So, when you put a bed over a floor vent, the very first thing that will happen is a sudden growth of mold and debris in the beddings. The beddings will absorb moisture from the air and capture it.
Over time, it will end up creating severe mold issues.
However, you will also not notice the abnormal growth of mold unless it’s way out of hand. In the worst cases, you will have to change the beddings along with the bed itself.
Apart from that, the entire air flow system can get affected. If the HVAC system malfunctions, it will result in giving you an excessively cold environment. Due to the lack of proper air flow in the house, it will be near to impossible to live there.
Can you block vents?
You cannot block vents. Moreover, you should not block vents. Floor vents are usually made, as floor heating takes much more potential than cooling. These vents are used to blow cold air into your house in order to heat the environment.
Floor vents are believed to offer superior heat delivery. These vents also help to keep the balance of air flow of the house. Blocking the vent would mean blocking the air flow.
As floor vents are usually made to heat up the room, blocking them would be risking an unexpected fire. However, which is very unlikely but it can happen. Other than that, there can be an imbalance of air flow, which can make your home space a bit suffocated.
Therefore, floor vents cannot be blocked, rather they shouldn’t be blocked.
Final Thoughts
You cannot put a bed over a floor vent. Floor vents are installed to maintain the proper air flow in your house. Covering it would mean restricting the air flow. Also, if you are putting a bed over the vent. It can lead to causing debris and mold on the beddings of the bed.