Air Ducts In Attic Problems

Throw duct leakage into the mix and the problems are even worse.

Air ducts in attic problems.

If you have insulated flexible ductwork check to make sure that is not kinked crushed torn or twisted. Whats up in the attic the ducting for your air and cooling heating. Nothing hvac should be outside the home envelope ducting plenum etc if so you have a problem. Always insulate the duct to prevent condensation problems as the warm air will be potentially running through cold ductwork.

Going up into an attic and seeing ductwork running every which way is not an uncommon sight. Homes of the future won t have ducts in hostile spaces like this. It also means that the air in those ducts is continually exposed to the ambient temperature in the attic. So ridge vents or static vents with soffett vents are best not the combination of soffett and gable and ridge vents is recommended.

According to nrel researchers david roberts and jon winkler moving the ducts from a vented attic to a new location inside the conditioned space will reduce electricity used for cooling by 15 to 20 and will reduce the size of the needed air conditioning equipment by 0 5 to 1 ton. Duct cleaning is a service that most hvac companies offer. Flexible plastic air ducts are now common in many homes and are often found in your attic. And conditioned air inside a duct is about 58 f.

Twisted kinked crushed or torn insulated flexible plastic air ducts. With hundreds of square feet of ductwork surface area in the attic and a δt of 75 f the air coming out of the vents in your home will be significantly higher than 55 f. Most houston residents choose to get their air ducts cleaned because they have old ducts that have been sitting in their attic or inside their walls and accumulating. And another method is to spray foam the duct to air seal and insulate them together or additional duct insulation could be added.

So the delta ts would be. The result is that air your furnace or ac has already treated is losing energy back into the attic. Attic temperatures are about 120 f. Ducts in attics are one of the things that are going to need attention in your home for your home to be as energy efficient as it could be.

Damaged air conditioning ducts or heating ducts if you are diagnosing weak heating air flow such as ducts which have been improperly routed and are crimped crushed or have excessive bends can reduce cool air flow in an otherwise properly functioning system. Duct cleaning can do more harm to your ducts than good.