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What is the condition of your home’s ductwork? You probably don’t have an answer to this question because you can’t see most of the ducts in the house. They’re hidden in walls, ceilings, and the attic. That makes it easy to not think about the ducts much at all, as if they won’t change over the years.
But ducts can suffer damage, sag with age, and have troubles due to poor installation. This can lead to the ducts having air leaks. These air leaks are how your ducts could become costly for you—seemingly small problems that turn into energy thieves. This isn’t a rare occurrence, either. Many homes unknowingly have leaky air ducts for years and don’t realize they’re paying more to heat or cool their homes than they should.
We want to help you stop leaky ducts from gobbling up money. Below we’ll look into the trouble with leaky ducts, how to detect them, and what to do about them.
The cost of leaking air ducts
You might think that a few air holes in the long lengths of ductwork in your house couldn’t be that much of a problem. You’d be surprised at how much even the smallest leaks can cost you! Air leaks can cause several problems, but there are two major ones:
- Air leaks cause air that has already been heated or cooled to escape into closed-off regions of the house. This means you’re paying money to heat and cool places like the attic. Up to 30% of the air in the ducts can escape this way, leading to higher comfort costs.
- The pressure inside the ductwork drops because of air leaks, which inhibits the HVAC system overall from doing its job. This forces the HVAC system to work even harder to overcome the pressure drop.
How to tell you have duct leaks
You can’t see most of the ductwork, but you can see the effects of air leaks in them in several ways. Here are signs to watch for that can warn that you have duct leaks.
- A noticeable rise in your heating and cooling costs over time.
- The ductwork makes a rattling sound each time the HVAC system turns on.
- There’s a dusty or moldy odor coming from the vents. This is the smell of stale air from places like the attic or between the walls getting into the ducts.
- Airflow coming from the vents is weaker than usual.
- There are hot and cold spots in certain rooms in the house.
How to solve duct leaks
Don’t worry: you won’t have to get a roll of duct tape and track down the leaks yourself. In fact, duct tape isn’t useful for ducts at all!
To make your ductwork airtight once more, you must call on HVAC professionals for duct sealing services. Our technicians can locate all the leaks and then use special mastic sealant and metallic tapes to restore the ductwork’s airtight integrity once more. When you have doubts about your ducts, call us for duct services in Conyers, GA.
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