air returns & furniture placement

[bolsen]

Is it ok to place furniture in front of air returns. I was told that as long as you leave air space (i.e. a sufficient gap between the wall and the furniture), performance will not be affected but I'm not so sure.

[spunkmeyer]

You should leave as much net free area as the return has. For example, I have a 20x20 return (400 sq inches) on my 1srt flr. You should leave at least the equivalent of that in free space for the air to get to the return. In my case, that means pulling the bookcase off the wall by 5 inches or so to make sure there are 400 sq inches of clearance.