Your duct system has an important job: distributing air that has been "conditioned" (heated or cooled) by your HVAC system throughout the house so that your living space is at the right temperature. Supply Ducts transport conditioned air from your furnace or air handler to different rooms or hallways. A separate system of Return Ductwork brings air back to the furnace or air handler to be reconditioned.
In theory, a ductwork system sounds fairly basic, but there are several problems that shouldn't be allowed to persist because of their adverse effects on your comfort, health and utility costs.
Attic ductwork. Many ductwork systems combine flexible ducts with rigid sheet metal ductwork, as shown here. The uninsulated sheet metal duct has no protection from extreme attic temperatures that make the HVAC system work harder and longer than necessary.
Leaky ducts are common and can diminish the efficiency of your HVAC system by as much as 40%. Homeowners pay for the air that is heated or cooled, and letting it leak into an attic, basement, or crawl space through a cracked or broken supply duct is wasteful. It’s also not healthy to breathe crawl space or attic air that escapes from a leaky duct. Fortunately, these problems can easily be corrected by sealing your ductwork system.
Uninsulated or poorly insulated ducts waste a tremendous amount of energy. Just think about what happens in the winter, when your HVAC system is blowing heated air through uninsulated ducts located in a frigid attic! Before your HVAC system can heat your living space, it must first heat up the attic ductwork. In the summer, you're blowing chilled air through the same uninsulated ductwork, that's been heated to about 120 degrees.
Imbalanced ductwork wastes energy while also creating areas in your house that are too hot or too cold. Balance problems occur when the amount of air delivered through supply ducts doesn't match the amount of air drawn in through your return ducts. This typically occurs because of improper location and size of supply and return ducts.
Safety Pressure imbalances caused by air duct leakage can lead to back drafting in combustion appliances such as furnaces, wood stoves, and gas ranges. When this happens, you risk exposure to carbon monoxide.
Up to 40% of the energy usage of your HVAC system could be wasted by duct leakage. It's extremely important that you include ductwork testing and evaluation in your home energy checkup.
For a Free Ductwork Estimate to assess your home's ductwork energy efficiency and to see if air duct sealing will work for you, call or contact us online. We offer a full range of services certified by the Dr. Energy Saver network that can help keep your home comfortable and keep your HVAC systems running efficiently.
GSM Services provides HVAC and ductwork services in Charlotte, Mount Holly, Fort Mill, Huntersville, Gastonia and surrounding areas such as Denver, Matthews, Shelby, Clover, Lincolnton, and the surrounding areas. We also offer free home energy audits and heating and cooling estimates!