Vent in Stairs

[55 SS]

Does anybody know the purpose of the vents in the stairs? Is it to circulate air or....

Just wondering if I can get some closeable vents to replace them with.

[Garyl53]

I think they are the return vents for the furnace blower.

[mhs4771]

Yes, they are the cold air return for the Furnace, and yes you can get closeable vents and replace them when in warm to hot areas that don't need the furnace. If you get into cold climates, just open them before firing off the furnace.
We also replaced all our floor registers with closeable ones, as we try to stay out of cold climates. But if it gets chilly, we run the fireplace or the heat pumps, depending on temps.

[55 SS]

Thank you for the replies. Now my next question is what are the two pipes on the outside of the furnace for? I know one is exhaust. Is the other an intake? What's the difference between an intake and cold air return? Why couldn't they put the vents into the basement?

[mhs4771]

The burner need Air, so one is the air intake and the other is the exhaust and you don't want the exhaust venting into the RW.

[proteus]

just looked at the stair vent cover also, removed cover and vacuumed all the dust and lint out of that opening under stairs and cleaned it and yes put all new louvered floor register covers on also they were showing there age and vacuumed cleaned with Mr. Clean spray ,look into floor duct as far back as possible clean dirt out hair etc.as far as i could reach and used foil tape to reseal seams that were coming apart that i could reach too

2 of the 3 new floor registers jr products were slightly larger dia. and wouldnt fit in floor cutout had to adjust cutout with a cutter and redrill holes 3rd one exact match dropped in look nice not curved and bent scratched up from use and being stepped on.

[atom ant]

The furnace are direct vent type, combustion air is drawn in from the outside through one of those pipes and vented directly back to the outside through the other of those two pipes. The combustion chamber is sealed to anything inside the coach, so house air just passes over the heated chamber and out through the supply, then back into the return.

You should have some more return air vents. I just don't remember where they were in our 36RL. I seem to remember something in the kickboard of the bedroom dresser, and maybe something in the island.

[piper guy]

In the RL there is also a vent under the entry closet. Besides return air, this is where the basement gets the heat for the plumbing and the tanks.
If you put in closeable vents, just understand that if you are running the furnace they MUST be open