Office: 949 716-0934 Cell: 949 981-6558 E-mail: seay@cox.net

What are the benefits of duct sealing?

Health
Air may leak into your duct system if it is not sealed properly. This can be harmful to your health because air leaks in the return duct may contain fumes from household and garden chemicals, insulation particles, and dust. These items can aggravate existing asthma and allergy problems. Why take the risk? By simply upgrading the energy efficiency of your duct system, you can avoid potential health problems.
Safety
Safety in your home should be your number one priority. Duct leaks can cause equipment to backdraft (i.e., when combustion gases flow back into your home, instead of out the vents). If fireplaces, wood stoves, water heaters, furnaces, clothes dryers or other combustion devices are in these depressurized areas, invisible gases, such as carbon monoxide (CO), can backdraft into your home instead of going up the chimney. Make the smart choice and choose to seal your ducts.
Comfort
Duct leaks and improper duct sizing can affect the comfort level in your home by keeping some places cooler or warmer than others. The source of discomfort in your home may be leaky ducts or improper sizing. Sealing your ducts can help you breathe easier by improving your indoor air quality, reducing the risk of pollutants entering and circulating through your home. They also save energy and money.
Save Money
Leaking ducts can decrease the overall efficiency of your heating and cooling system by as much as 20%. Duct sealing increases efficiency and lowers your energy bills. The typical family could save up to $150 annually.
Protect the Environment
Energy generation and use is the single largest contributor to air pollution. If you're wasting up to 20% of your heating and cooling systems' performance through leaky ducts, your home is using more energy to get the same job done. By sealing your ducts and reducing the amount of energy necessary to comfortably heat or cool your home, you will reduce the amount of air pollution generated.

Common Duct Problems

Poor Design – A well designed duct system minimizes the length of ducts and number of bends, is sized correctly and places ducts within conditioned spaces. A poorly designed duct system means your furnace or air conditioner has to work harder and use more energy to get air to every room to keep you comfortable. If the duct system installed in your house was poorly designed or your house has changed from the original design your duct system may need to be modified to correct the problem.

Poor Duct Installation – Sometimes the duct system is designed well, but it is not installed well. Most duct systems leak air because the installer did not seal the leaks. The more air that leaks out the more energy it takes to heat and cool your home. Another common problem is ducts in an attic or crawl space that are not insulated. Overtime, duct insulation may fall off if not properly installed. Flexible ducts come with insulation and make the installation easier, but kinks in the duct will restrict air flow, and if connections are not sealed air leaks out.

Unbalanced Ducts – An unbalanced duct system doesn't sound good and its not. Most duct systems have never been balanced and others have been improperly adjusted. The result is that the right amount of air is not going to each room and it takes more energy to keep you comfortable. A heating and cooling contractor can modify or adjust your ducts to evenly heat and cool every room in your home.

Not Enough Air Returns – A common design in many homes is a centrally located air return. Unfortunately, closing doors to rooms can cut off the supply of air to the return and create a pressure imbalance. A better design is to install a return duct in every room that has a supply duct.

Many of these problems can cause pressure differences between rooms or the inside and outside of your house that cause air leakage from the outside that your feel as cold drafts in the winter. A heating and cooling contractor that specializes in duct repairs can recommend solutions to solve many of these common duct problems. The contractor will use special diagnostic equipment to determine duct pressures; air flow and leakage that help determine the efficiency of your duct system and prescribe improvements.

HOME