Hack Your HVAC: Booster Fan for AC or Heater

Here’s a great idea for a gift that will provide comfort control for a home all year long. This Booster Fan for your AC or heater is a simple, inexpensive way to improve the cooling or heating airflow in just about any home. Quickly boost the amount of cool or warm air that flows into the rooms you use most to improve the efficiency of a heating/cooling unit. This is super easy to install (it literally took me less than 10 minutes to set up in two rooms), and temperature improvements happen in minutes! They are available in white or bronze.

So how does it work?

This register insert contains booster fans that increase the air flow into a room. They work by “pulling” more of the cool or warm air that is flowing through the HVAC system. In other words, you can increase the percentage of conditioned air that goes into a given room.

Say you have your AC set to turn on when the thermostat hits 75 degrees. That will keep the room with the thermostat pretty close to 75. A room on the other side of the house might be 77. An upstairs bedroom might be 82, and a basement rec room might be 68! A booster fan placed in that upstairs bedroom can increase the percentage of cool air that goes into that room when the AC is turned on, helping that room stay much close to the 75 degree target.

In the winter, switch it up! Moving the register booster into the basement can help keep that cold basement a little warmer. No need to crank up the heat for the whole home.

Fully programmable booster fan

One of the nice things about this booster fan for your AC or heater is that you can control the feature. You set the speed of the fans and the temperature “trigger” level for when they turn on. You can even control what shows on the display.

Something to keep in mind about the temperature level on the booster is that you are not setting the temperature for the room. This doesn’t replace your thermostat. Instead, you are setting the temperature level for when the booster fans turn on. This product is all about efficient air circulation and home comfort enhancement. Here’s how it works. If you are using this to boost cool air for a room, you might set the temperature level at 68. That won’t make the room 68 degrees. What it will do, though, is kick on the booster fans whenever the air temperature in the vent system is 68 degrees or lower.

If the A/C is running, the air temperature in the vents is likely below 55 degrees. So, those booster fans will be spinning and helping that cool air really flow into the room. After the A/C cuts off, there will be a period when the air in the vents is still pretty cool, and the booster fans will continue to run as long as it can push out air that is below your setting. Once the air warms above your setting, the fans cut off and wait for the A/C to come on again.

Some things to consider

While the product is great, there are some things to consider before purchase.

1. Make sure the size is right. These AC Infinity Register Boosters come in 4 x 10, 4 x 12 and 6 x12 sizes. These are the most common vent sizes, but you’ll want to check first.
2. These do need to be plugged into an outlet. The boosters come with a 6-foot cord, and they can work with an extension cord, but think about whether that will work for a given room.
3. The booster fans are intended to replace floor or wall vents, but not ceiling vents. The product includes hardware for a wall mount, and with a floor vent it will pop right in. (If you look through the Q&A on Amazon, you can find anecdotes about successful ceiling mounts, but those are not referenced in the product’s instructions.)
4. There is some noise when the fans are running, and everyone’s noise tolerance is different. We set ours at 5 (mid range), and the sound is less than the sound of the HVAC system when it’s running. When the fans are running without the HVAC, it is audible but not really noticeable.

Related Gift Ideas for the Home

Be sure to check out our Home & Office or Kitchen Gifts ideas!