In any forced-air heating and cooling system, ductwork plays a key role in delivering conditioned air to rooms throughout the house. Without tight, securely sealed ducts, much of the air that you’re hoping will improve comfort in various rooms may be lost before it arrives at its destination. This can have negative impacts on energy use, home comfort and indoor air quality.
What Happens When You Have Faulty Ductwork
- Energy is wasted. If conditioned air is leaking into unconditioned areas such as crawlspaces, wall voids, the garage or attic, your HVAC system must work harder to compensate for that lost air. This raises energy bills and stresses heating and cooling equipment that’s working harder than necessary to condition your home.
- Comfort is lost. When air is escaping from ducts on the way to the rooms in your home, you’re likely to experience hot and cold spots in rooms and some rooms that are more difficult to heat and cool than others. Uncomfortable drafts may occur.
- Indoor air quality may be compromised. If air can leak out of ductwork, it can seep into ducts as well, when air pressure outside the duct exceeds that on the inside. In this way, dirty air from unconditioned areas can infiltrate ducts and get circulated into household air.
How Do You Find Air Leakage in Ducts?
While you can inspect accessible ducts and find some of the air leaks, a trained professional has the equipment and know-how to do a much more comprehensive job. They can find out how much air is leaking from ducts, as well as where it’s leaking and whether poor duct design or installation is contributing to the problem.
You can perform some of the repairs to faulty ducts yourself, using metal-backed tape and/or duct-mastic sealant, though a professional technician will be better equipped to effect the proper repairs, plus importantly, can access out-of-the-way ductwork easier than you can.
To discuss scheduling a comprehensive duct inspection in your Calgary area home, please contact us at Arpi’s Industries. We have a well-deserved reputation for quality HVAC work.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Calgary, Alberta about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about TOPIC and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Guide.
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