But can you really save energy by closing doors? Contrary to popular belief, closing your bedroom doors does not improve the efficiency of your HVAC system and may actually increase your utility bills.
In general, it's best to keep your interior doors open as often as possible in order to allow air to flow freely from room to room. This will avoid pressure problems in your home and will make it easier for your air conditioner to cool your home evenly and with less energy.
It's a common misconception that closing off some rooms in your home will reduce the amount of space you need to heat or cool, thus lowering your energy costs. In reality, closing doors and vents in unused rooms can actually increase your energy use.
The answer to this is yes, since it can limit air circulation in your home and require less rooms to be cooled or heated. However, air can still seep under closed doors, so it won't keep your rooms the same temperature for long.
People commonly suggest closing doors in unused rooms to make a room warmer, but this can harm your HVAC unit. Optimal airflow circulates throughout the entire home evenly, and closed doors act as a barrier. When you close off an entrance, much like blocking a vent, your system cannot do its job properly.
Research from UL's Firefighter Safety Research Institute (FRSI) shows that closing your bedroom door helps prevent a fire from spreading, lessens smoke damage and could even save lives.
It also significantly keeps carbon monoxide levels down. By limiting a fire's ability to spread, closing your bedroom door at night also gives you more time to react when the smoke alarm goes off. And these days, every second counts.
When the furnace is operating, it pushes conditioned air into each bedroom. If the bedroom doors are closed, there's no easy way for the air to get back to the return-air grille in the hallway. As a result, each bedroom becomes pressurized, forcing air into cracks in the bedroom walls and ceiling.
Closing a bedroom door reduces the air flow into the room and the air flow through the system. When the system puts air into a room and it gets trapped, it pressurizes the bedroom. This positive pressure forces the cooled, or conditioned, air out of the house through any opening in the room that the air can find.
Keep Doors and Vents Open
Especially with central air, closed doors and vents only obstruct the blower fan and ventilation, which leads to balmy, hot air. Closing a door unbalances the system, causing pressure changes and air leaks. Open vents and doorways help keep air flowing and your home cool.
In this case, one of the most powerful advantages of closing doors is that it simplifies your life. Fewer options can mean fewer decisions and less stress. Closing doors creates a clearer, brighter light down the hallway making for an easier journey.
Our Experts Say: Leave Doors Open For Better Warmth
Air needs to be able to move around freely in order to be the most efficient. A closed door is an obstruction to the natural flow of air in your home. With an open door, air can pass freely through the full opening of the door.
Improving the insulation of your home is the main way to battle heat loss through floors, doors, walls, windows and roofs. You can either install more insulation or ensure that there are no gaps in the existing insulation as adequate insulation will keep heat loss to a minimum.
Inward opening doors are generally regarded as safer because the hinges are on the inside, so no one can tamper with them. Exposed hinges are a security weak point and makes it harder for burglars to gain entry. If the hinges are easy to move, the room becomes less secure making you feel more vulnerable at night.
Keeping bedroom doors closed at night provides more protection in case of a house fire. That's right; it's actually safer for you and your entire family to keep your bedroom doors closed at night.
"Our study suggests that bedrooms should be ventilated with clean outdoor air." One good reason to keep that bedroom door closed is fire safety, though only 7.2% of respondents who sleep with the door closed give this as a reason.
Why do I sleep better in a cold room? A cold sleeping environment helps lower your body temperature, making it easier to experience deep sleep. This is why you usually feel well-rested after sleeping in a cold room. Plus, lower temperatures help with melatonin production and better sleep quality.
Clutter absorbs heat and restricts airflow, making any room feel hot and stagnant.
It causes the skin to react to cold temperatures, leading to areas of your body becoming puffy, red, and itchy. Sleeping in an ice-cold bedroom means your whole body is exposed to the cold, which can result in severe discomfort and, at worst, breathing difficulties.
Some people have a superstition that sleeping with your feet facing the door is bad for your health because dead bodies are taken out of a room feet first. Some people also have a superstitious fear of being dragged out feet first by ghosts and spirits.
When your bed is aligned with the door, it's also out of the “commanding position.” Ideally you want your bed in command, which means that you're in command of your life. This places you in the best position to receive positive energy, improving your success in the world.
OK, so why does sleeping with the door open help sleep? Well, when you open your door, you're providing more ventilation to the room, which might help some people drift off more easily.