When it comes to cooling and heating ducts, it’s what you can’t see that’s costing you. Hidden in the attic, in the crawl space under the house and inside wall voids, your ducts likely are quietly wasting money. Particularly if your house is over 10 years old, you may be losing up to 40 percent of the conditioned air distributed through ductwork, due to leakage. What’s leaking out is only part of the problem – leaky ductwork pulls contaminated air into the system, too, lowering indoor air quality. Cutting corners on duct materials and fabrication, as well as slipshod installation, are also common in residential ductwork. Your HVAC professional can test ductwork and visually inspect the system for defects. Here are some of the red flags he’ll be looking for:
- Leakage. Ductwork sealed with inexpensive tape that deteriorates with age or is fabricated from poor quality materials spills air out of joints and seams.
- Installation issues. Spans of ductwork that were press-fit or taped together instead of mechanically fastened with screws frequently disconnect over time. Flexible ductwork may sag if not properly supported, eventually closing off passage of air. Insulation inside ductwork may deteriorate and crumble, blocking free airflow.
- Supply/return shortfalls. Many homes are constructed with only one or two central return registers to accommodate the airflow from supply vents in multiple rooms. Anything that obstructs the air path from the supply to the return – such as a closed door or poorly placed furniture or boxes – can unbalance the entire system. Homes with single returns should have air pass-through grilles installed in the doors of individual rooms or jumper ducts in ceilings to maintain an air path from all supply vents to the central return.
Family owned since 1952, Hansberger Refrigeration & Electric Co. serves the Yuma area with HVAC and refrigeration sales and service. Ask us about a professional inspection of your ducts to make sure you’re receiving the energy efficiency and air quality your system was designed to provide.
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Our goal is to help educate our customers in Yuma, Arizona about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about air ducts and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.
Image courtesy of Shutterstock
