HVAC return vents in Our homes
 

Question for those in the know. We have a 10 year old Designer. The Return vents in the ceiling seem to have no filters.

Do newer or older homes here have any? The only filter we have is directly in the Air Handler.

The return vents between living areas are designed for balance of airflow and comfort

This is correct, one filter in the air handler, change every 6 months.

Ok, My old previous house I put intake vent filters in ceiling (down flow system) when I had my ducts cleaned. (they were lot bigger than 1 foot square return vents in my house in villages which I don’t think go back to furnace but back to air distribution box in attic? On new designs.). That filtered the air before it entered the furnace. That was older system and hand no extra return ducts.

IMO the problem with adding them plus the in furnace filter it MAY? restrict air flow (only why to know check with Anemometer ) Which you might have to speed fan to push more air which put more stress and may cause motor to fail prematurely? Or it may not? If you do it I would check air at vents. Last time I check requires around 350 feet per minute (Ft/min) air flow per ton rated unit? At vents?

Besides my house here the return vents in each room are small, if you’re are same? I doubt you can get one to fit in small hole?

You only need one filter for the house located at the air handling unit. Some of the manufactured houses have the ducts located under the floor with an outside packaged air handling unit. These systems have the filter in the wall where the return air duct is located. It would not be efficient to have more than one filter unless you had multiple zones or multiple HVAC systems.

I used a filter in my return vent (1") in the hallway between the bedrooms until I had a complete
new HVAC.
The installer said use the 4" filter on the new unit and Never use the one in the return vent

From OP. Great. Thanks all. I was concerned that the build of our home HVAC was wrong. A couple Sales guys for equipment said it was odd that our house did not have additional filters in the returns.

Just shows what they -don't- know. Now I know. Thanks again for the clarity.

Feel good there is only 1 main filter. Costs to remove and/or clean multiple filters would be 3-4X higher

Once a year is fine with a high quality filter.

As Keefelane66 posted, those are not return vents. They are to balance the air between areas that might be closed off such as a bedroom if you shut the door and the rest of the house. We have a yearly maintenance contract on our A/C and I asked the guy one visit why we had two vents in our bedrooms. He said he ran across a house that did not have them and the people's bedroom got very warm if they shut the door. He installed the balancing vent and the problem was solved. Cool air can't get in if the warm air can't get out.

Only one filter in the air handler, change every 6 months.

Only one main filter, none in individual vents.

Keep the doors open to all rooms for proper airflow.

They are return ducts
 

You are correct that these are in fact return ducts. They comments about not being returns and are for balancing air flow are both correct and incorrect. They are individual returns that go to a main trunk line return that will go to your air handler. They also are individual returns to allow conditioned air to enter and exit a closed off room. This would be my preferred way to have a system designed and installed by the way.
I like to replace filters quarterly myself. Although they do look like they could easily go 6 months. I figure filters are cheaper than a coil cleaning. Recently we switched to a washable type of filter. I will clean it on a quarterly basis also.

The filtration is set up near the air handler unit. The interior return vents help the air flow. No need for filters.