For central heating and cooling systems, the ductwork that delivers hot and cold air to the vents in your home can be looked at like an economic supply chain: even small leaks or interruptions in the chain will create issues all the way down the line, reducing the effectiveness of the entire system.
So if you are looking into hiring a duct sealing company to seal the ductwork in your Nassau or Suffolk County home, and are wondering if it is worth the expense, we can sum up our emphatic “yes” with one simple statistic from the Department of Energy:
Why Ductwork Loses Energy
The primary reason duct sealing is worth the cost is because of the money saved in reducing this energy loss — but how is it that ductwork can lose all this energy in the first place?
There are multiple ways ducts can lose energy:
Leaks
The most impactful issue with ductwork is the fact that they are particularly leak-prone. Air leaks in ductwork reduce the overall pressure coming out of the air vents, allow outside contaminants to infiltrate your breathing air, and similar to conduction will reduce how cold your AC air will be in the summer and how hot your furnace air will be in the winter.
Conduction
When the hot or cold air from your furnace, heat pump, or air conditioner hit the surfaces inside of your ducts, heat will begin to move in and out of the ducts through the aluminum they are constructed with. This can be hot air in the attic or basement that then warms up the cold air from the air conditioner, or the hot air from your furnace cooling down as it makes its way to the vents. Many factors can affect the condition of your ductwork, like the location of the ducts and how insulated your home is.
Design Flaws
How your ductwork is designed can affect ductwork energy loss — through excessive turns, long runs, or incorrect duct sizing. Solving design flaws can mean an entire ductwork overhaul, and is relatively expensive.
Benefits of Professional Duct Sealing
When your ducts are made airtight, you will notice a number of benefits to your home and even your wallet:
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Healthier indoor air quality
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Improved home comfort
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More consistent temperatures throughout the home
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Reduced energy use
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Less wear and tear on your heating and cooling system
Duct Sealing with Home Efficiency Experts
The first step in sealing up ductwork is to determine how much leakage is present. At Home Efficiency Experts, we start with a visual inspection and then use specialized diagnostic equipment to locate the leaks that aren’t visible to the naked eye. This is all a part of a larger home energy audit, which is an assessment of the efficiency of your entire home and where else you might be losing energy.
Once any odd-ball holes are filed, problematic junctures are resealed tightly using a mastic which is painted on and then dries into a rubber seal. We then re-paint the seal again after we marry the ductwork back together and tie-wrap the ductwork seams to ensure a tight seal. It’s extremely important to then balance the duct system to optimize proper airflow moving forward.
