Configurable Vents

[RolanDecoy]

Ran into problems where an airvent let heat bleed out (after room being compromised...don't want to talk about it), and replacing them all with conditioners just seems wildly over expensive. Can we have the option to open / close the slats in the vents?

I'm thinking reducing, but not completely stopping the heat exchange (unless you'll want to add a rubber or some such to properly insulate, but that would overly complicate the suggestion).

[Thyme]

The mars colony mod has vents that can be turned on/off*, so it's definitely doable. Would like to see that implemented.

*meaning the heat-flow, not electricity.

[RolanDecoy]

Vents don't use electricity. Think of the slats in the dashboard of your car (if you have a car) or just above a window (well, some windows). It's just mechanical, nothing electric, so there's no need to power them.

A vent is just a frame with a series of slats in them to guide the air flowing out of them or prevent unwanted access into the vent (irl). It doesn't include a fan (although the argument could be made that some vents include a fan). The slats on most vents can be turned 90 degrees to partially / completely seal the vent.

The reason I suggested this is because I've had a colony in a temperate zone, where during the winter I would just use the outside temperature through a vent to cool the freezer, so I won't have to run an AC unit. But during the summer, when I do have to run that unit I'll also be cooling the outside air and the freezer (naturally) never drops below 0. Seems a simple and effective solution that doesn't work because the darn thing doesn't have a close button ;-)

[dv]

A closed vent would still represent a not-very-good insulator. I could see a "closed" vent being, say, 0.1x effective. But not suddenly the same as a block of marble.

[Thyme]

I know how vents work and understand your idea, to avoid misinterpretation about turning on/off I wrote that electricity thing. Seems like I failed ;)

[RolanDecoy]

Had a feeling, just wanted to make sure, since I never tried any mods (no reason to at this time).
But ya, the idea wasn't to make a an completely insulated block, just to have some control added to it. 1% inefficiency is perfectly fine for most cases where one would use it.