HELP: Central heating intake clearance

Hi,

I really need some help / advice from you home renovation experts!

We already have a central heating system in our roughly 35 square home. We have the return vent (cold air intake?) for the central heating system in the corner of the lounge / dining room. We really want to stick a low side-board / tall boy over it, but I wanted to know how much clearance you think we should leave to the bottom of the tall boy. Is just two or three inches enough?

More importantly, what are the risks if we dont have enough clearance? What is the worst that can happen? Will it just be that the heating works inefficiently?

Any help / advice is much welcome as we really want to cover what is an ugly corner of the lounge.

Thanks!

Stuart Sharman (stuartsharman@telstra.com)

Stuart,

The return air grille or register shouldn't be restricted for the following reasons:

The air flow through the grille and duct relates to the air pressure that "loads" the fan. If you restrict it severely, the fan has to work harder to do its job, possibly wearing it out sooner.

The return air grille often has a removable filter which has to be maintained by cleaning it periodically. If you place your tallboy hard up against it, you will not be able to see if any household fluff or lint is building up on it.

Also, restricting the airflow at the return air grille may affect the response by the thermostat on the wall, possibly driving up the use of gas, costing you more to run the heater.

Finally, if you absolutely have to place the tallboy in front of the return air grille, then aim for something like 200mm and see how the system responds.

Sid.