hidden vent

[diovol]

hey guys Just a quick question but in my basement, which is finished with a hanging ceiling, i noticed that when you remove one of the ceilingtiles there is a rectangular shaped vent there that is still functional. Now it is almost directly over some recessed light but the vent also has an open and close flap on it.....

just wondering is there any reason this would be hidden by the tiles and need to be still functional or can i just close the flap on it.....

the crappy thing is it seems to be the vent in the basement that throws out the most air......

 

[AlbertaGuy]

Can you remove the boot (the rectangle piece) and extend the pipe so it is past, or before the lighting, and then drop it down to tile height and then attach the boot and grille? You can turn it off but there will still be leakage so you'll be heating the ceiling space a bit. The proper way to seal it would be with a plug and then it should force the unused air flow into into other registers.

 

[z28snksknr]

May have been added when the house was built as a "future use" option once the basement was finished. If you don't require it, cap it off. It's probably not doing any good blowing on the back side of a ceiling tile anyway.

 

[diovol]

im gonna re-route it but i was wondering if there was a practical reason that one would be hidden like that

 

[AlbertaGuy]

Maybe a poor mans 'in floor heat' for the room directly above. HA. My guess it was the standard ceiling heat vent that they put in the basement and whoever installed the drop ceiling couldn't be bothered to properly drop it down. If the basement is warm enough without it just plug it. I would hesitate to remove it completely until you are absolutely sure that you won't want it in the future.