venting and Return air distance from each other

[Fidel Gonzales]

Hi All,

Is there a rule mandating how far apart heat/ac vent needs to be from the return vent? ( Note=Both located in the same room)

Thank you in advance for any assistances

[Jack Feldmann]

Are you talking about return to combustion source distance?
Or return to supply distance?
Or exhaust vent? (exhaust vent should not be in the room BTW).

[Fidel Gonzales]

Hi Jack return to supply. Thx for quick response

[Jim Luttrall]

No rule that I know in the IRC. But if it does not do the job, it needs to be fixed. That said, sometimes a return could be located quite near the supply in a properly designed and functioning system depending on among other things the "throw" of the grill.

[Fidel Gonzales]

No rule that I know in the IRC. But if it does not do the job, it needs to be fixed. That said, sometimes a return could be located quite near the supply in a properly designed and functioning system depending on among other things the "throw" of the grill.

Hi Jim, Thanks for the response. My client had ask the seller to have the register and return duct fixed. He said there were too close to each other. So the Realtor called me for advise. I told her if the returned and register were doing there job there was no issue. The client insisted. So I was just covering my "SIX"

In my research I found this which supports your statement.

"ACCA Manual T says:
"The location of the return grille does not affect room air patterns which are controlled by the supply outlets and will not have a significant affect on pockets of stagnate air. Low returns do "pull" warm air down to the floor and high returns do not "pull" cool air up into the occupied zone."

Thanks again for your help. Warmest regards from the Windy City