Home and building owners don’t normally need to know the difference between, grilles, air registers and air returns. In some spaces, you may have the option of installing a register or decorative grilles interchangeably.
Many heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems are made up of traditional duct work that runs between the furnace and the individual rooms of a house.
Heat registers are vent covers that cover the hole in the wall or floor where the duct enters the room. Louvres, or dampers, are often attached to the back of a heat register. These adjustable louvers/dampers can open or close the register to open and close the flow of air. Many of our grilles have an added custom damper or louver option and all registers include a damper.
A supply vent cover comes with a louver/damper to control air flow. These are only used for vents that supply air and are optional.
A grille is a vent cover through which air is blown into or out of a room for circulation back to the central heating or cooling unit. These are commonly found if you have heating or central air conditioning. A grille has no damper to control air flow, so air is left to flow freely. Grilles do not have the damper normally found on registers.
An air return is a vent grille that is usually located either in a hallway or in the ceiling, and its purpose is to extract air from a room and recycle it through the system to further condition it by cooling or heating. Air returns don't have a damper as they need to allow free flow of air into the vent.
A typical Return is a vent cover without the damper/ louver on it.
A Return Air Filter Grille or Return Filter Frame contains a vent cover that attaches to a filter frame assembly. All of our filter frame grilles include a washable filter.