Fix Leaky Ducts Before It Gets Hot and It Costs You Money

If you’re proactive about preparing your home for the summer, you probably already schedule air conditioning maintenance. This is a very good thing however, there are a few preventive home services that are more effective than a typical inspection and tune-up for an HVAC system. You probably have not considered services for your ducts to prepare them for the summer. Ducts are easy to forget about, since you can’t see most of them because their hidden in the walls at attics, out of sight, out of mind. But professional duct sealing may be the most important in certain homes.

Leaking Ducts Cause Problems
Most homes use a network of metal and duct board ducts to carry air from the air handler to the different registers in rooms. These ducts are designed to be airtight so the air pressure inside won’t drop this keeps air flowing. Unfortunately, if the seal on the ducts is broken by leaks and gaps, even small ones it can have larger consequences for comfort, energy savings, and longevity of an HVAC system.

Air Loss through Leaky Ducts Means Money Lost
When you turn on your HVAC system, it draw electrical power to run the compressor that allows for it to move heat out of your house and cool down the air or vice versa with a heat pump system. This is the air that’s then sent via blower into the duct work. If this air escapes out through duct leaks, it doesn’t end up reaching the rooms which means that the electrical power you paid for has gone to waste.
How much of this cooled air can go to waste? A lot more than you may believe. Duct leaks can allow around 30% of the cooled air moving through the ducts to slip away, and that means paying 30% more to run the system to make up the difference. This also puts stress over all on the whole system.

Air Duct Leakage Will Reduce Comfort
Air pressure inside the duct work plummets because of leaks, and this will have a large effect on how well your house is cooled. Weak airflow from the vents will result in rooms that won’t cool down no matter how much you run the system. One of the first warning signs of leaky air ducts is hot spots around the house especially in rooms furthest from the indoor unit location.

Damaged Ducts Will Shorten an HVAC Systems Life
All the extra strain put on an air conditioning system as it tries to make up for the loss of cooled air and the decline in pressure means the AC’s components will wear down faster. This not only means additional repair needs, it also means the AC will age quicker and need to be replaced years ahead of time.

Duct Sealing is For the Professionals
Think you might need duct sealing? It’s a simple job at least, it is if you call us to handle it for you. Amateurs cannot do the job properly, and DIY attempts using duct tape will not work. It is kind of ironic duct tape is good for everything except ducts. At Browning we will do the dirty work and get up in those attics to ensure your system is working in peak performance when that Florida heat arrives.