How to Test Your Heating & AC Ducts for Leakages

Developing a home that's energy-efficient has numerous benefits. It'll lower your carbon footprint, therefore making your house more eco-friendly. It'll make your house more energy-efficient, therefore costing you less every single month in your energy bill. There are many areas within your home that you should pay attention to in order to find air leaks that wreak havoc on efficiency and your wallet. Certainly one of the individual areas is the air conditioning (heating, ventilating, and ac) unit's ductwork. Even when your house is new, but particularly if it's old, air leaks can exist through the system.

Checking and repairing any air conditioning leaks within the ductwork is crucial to keeping the system, as well as your home, efficient. A lot of the ductwork inside a house send either heated or cooled air in to the different spaces of the house. Usually, there's one large duct that functions as the return to the heating/cooling unit itself. Each one of these ductwork should be correctly sealed from air leaks to be able to function correctly and effectively. Many houses, however, frequently have significant problems like shredded insulation, damaged duct junctions, even holes chewed with the insulation and ductwork by rats and/or rodents.

Air conditioning ductwork are pressurized, so leaks which exist could be far worse and much more pricey than other air leaks around your home. The quantity of air that escapes via a leak inside a duct is magnified due to that pressurization.

Being able to access all your ductwork could possibly be the trickiest part, although fixing the leaks could be relatively easy. Leaks many times can be seen with just a flashlight. You may also make use of the "wet hands" technique - turn the air conditioning unit on therefore the ductwork become pressurized and ready: a wet hand may lead you directly to the leak. If you have trouble finding the leaks yourself then I suggest calling a qualified HVAC specialist to come out check the ducts for you. If you were able to find the leaks yourself then continue on with how to repair the leaks.

Hardware stores carry various kinds of sealing kits for ductwork. Prior to going towards the store, though, you will need to have the ability to tell the sales representative assisting you what material your ductwork are, and just how they're suspended to be able to find the appropriate repair package.

Duct tape can be used for  a lot of things, however this is somewhere the title states everything! Easily repair rips or tears in ductwork with duct tape. Take this into account when you use duct tape - it doesn't adhere well to dusty surfaces. When the surface where your leak is provides extensive dust (also it most likely will), then you've two options:

1. Clean off the dust (much more difficult than you think)

2. Wrap the duct tape around and round the section in which the leak is and just hide the dust - much simpler than the first option!

If while you are checking the ductwork you see the insulation appears thin, it is simple to add more to the surface of the existing insulation.

Caulk works effectively to seal the air leaks that are commonly found at the junctions between ducts and the registers where the air is pushed out into your home.