As a homeowner, maintaining a comfortable home during the winter months is important. However, if your heating duct design is not correct, you will not be as comfortable as you would otherwise. In addition to comfort, you might find that your energy bills are higher, as well. Paying too much for heating is not something that most people want to do. You can check the design of your heating ducts, though, to help ensure that they are designed and sized properly for your home.
The First Step
The first step in checking your HVAC duct design actually has nothing to do with the heating duct design at all. Instead, you need to check for loose connections, fallen insulation and crimping. All of these things will affect the temperature of your home. For instance, if you have loose duct connections or joints, then the warm air that should be channeled throughout your home is going either under your house or into your attic (depending on your home’s design and ductwork placement).
Fallen insulation will make it hard to maintain air temperature within the ducts. Warm air will become cooler in sections where there is no insulation or where layers of it have fallen off. You can easily fix this problem by simply reattaching or buying new insulation for the place in question.
Crimps are a bit harder to detect and are also less common. Even a small crimp in the ductwork can reduce the airflow through the system, though.
The Right Size
Another consideration with your HVAC system is to make sure that your ductwork is the right size for your home and for your unit. If it is either too large or too small, you can experience problems maintaining temperature throughout your home. However, checking for sizing is a complicated matter, and is not something that the average homeowner can do on their own. You’ll need to contact a professional HVAC service to do this.
The service person will inspect your home, take measurements and perform what is called a “manual J heat-gain/loss calculation”. They will also check static pressure within your system and the operating feet per minute velocity, as well.
Hire a Professional
In most instances, it’s best to hire a professional when you are experiencing issues with your HVAC system. These are complex devices, and a myriad of different factors can impact your home’s temperature during different times of year.
