I don't care what anyone says about appliance insulation, that much heat is going to make the freezers less efficient and the heat will eventually lessen their life as well. I'd vent.

I'm having the same issue except I live in an apartment building with central air. Depending on what, where, how, when, why --- your apartment could be surrounded by other apartments, with other people and their living habits. Typically an apartment is separated by a sheet rock wall... there could be small cracks or gaps at the base of those walls, thru flooring possibly and or other possibilities. (They are often built *cheap* for the lack of a better more beautiful word that someone won't be offended by... *usually the builder or the apt. owner*) I say this because we might draw a builder into this conversation. LOL. (fine dining, fine accommodations, contractual obligations don't spell anything good for apartment owners.) When AC / Heat turns on in your apt. as well as other apts near yours the rooms of such are blown up like balloons and in some cases sucked into a vacuum drawing air anywhere from whence it can get it. If one apt is blowing and another apt is sucking? GIGO. Garbage In / Garbage Out... the net result is more or less smells collide among other things like odd noises. This is yet another reason why apartment living isn't for everyone. Not to knock you, but to give you context as to WHY?

Thanks for the advice. The mystery was solved this afternoon on a service call by a pro. The builder connected the vent in the bedroom to the vent in the hallway, but neither to the main trunk line. It was never noticed previously because that particular bedroom was not used by the previous tenant. Now I'm wondering if the builder shouldn't pay. The builder gave a one year warranty (the house is 20 months old), but this was done wrong from the start and just discovered. Do I have a complaint, or am I s.o.l.?

I completely close the dampers to the basement during the cooling season, so it doesnt get uncomfortably cold down there with the AC running. During heating season I open up everything and if a room gets too hot I close the damper halfway. Sure, some locations this probably works pretty well. But for my climate a home owner is driven insane just having to switch from heat to cool on the thermostat in what seems like a continual battle for 2-4 months in my climate. (Katy, Texas) We don't have basements here... the Gulf of Mexico would probably find a way in.... What is a shoulder season? Climates are not the same nation wide. Say what? In my location (Katy, Texas) winter is often times short, can last two weeks and then go back to summer like conditions. Can you imagine having to readjust manual dampers every two weeks, two days, 24 hours as the weather changes? Realize many times I post things as they relate to MY climate. This forum board is a nation wide board so it really pays no dividends to make blanket statements that probably will only work for you. A shoulder season is the season of my climate in between the dire hot of summer and between the dire cold of winter. (winter here [Katy, Texas] is typically very short, can last a few days, a few hours, only to turn hot again for a short time then repeat this process over and over for 2-4 months.)