How Conditioned Air is Distributed

Putting Comfort Where it Was Meant to Be

Improperly sized or designed ductwork is the most common reason people are not comfortable in their own homes. Imagine for a moment that your furnace is your lungs. Now imagine that you are running a 1-mile race. If you are in good shape you should have no problem. Now imagine that you have to run that same 1-mile race breathing through a cocktail straw. No matter how good of shape you are in, you will never run the race as fast and easily as if you could breath normally. This inability to breathe is what happens when your furnace is forced to operate through improperly sized ductwork.

By custom fabricating sheet metal ductwork, we can quickly and efficiently build any necessary parts of duct to modify and enhance the performance of your system. Even if your entire duct system needs replacement, we can design and fabricate a new system in less than a day.

How Conditioned Air is Distributed

Homes with central heating and air-conditioning systems rely on ductwork to distribute warmed or cooled air throughout the house.

Today’s ductwork consists of insulated flexible tubes that run across the attic floor or under the house. Unfortunately, heating ducts are out of sight and therefore out of mind. Homeowners wouldn’t put up with leaking water pipes. But ductwork — carrying air instead of water — can leak for years, without anyone knowing it.

Ducts can leak for reasons as simple as a protruding nail in the attic that snags and tears the duct when it’s being installed. Then, too, joints and junctions where two pieces of duct come together may separate over time, especially if it wasn’t sealed properly when it was installed.

Some contractors even forget to attach ductwork together or to connect it to the vent in the wall. As a result, an open duct wastefully pumps conditioned air into the attic or under the house, while the room it is supposed to serve never gets comfortable.

Problems also occur when ducts are blocked or kinked. Just as a pinched garden hose cuts down the flow of water, a kinked duct drastically reduces the flow of air. Kinking can happen when ducts are forced into tight places under the floor or in the attic. Make sure ducts are properly supported, don’t sag, twist or bend unnecessarily, and they have no gaps or breaks.

Design is important as well. Improperly designed systems may have ducts that are too small for the amount of air they are supposed to carry, or a duct that is too large in one room may siphon off conditioned air that should be going to another part of the house. The air conditioner or heater may be either undersized or too large for the duct system, providing too little or to much pressure than the air distribution system was designed for.

If its duct system is poorly designed or poorly installed, a house will waste energy, no matter how well insulated it may be, or how efficient its furnace and air conditioner are. That’s why it’s a good idea to have your duct system examined for leaks, blockages, and just poor design. You may be amazed at the monetary savings and the dramatic increase in comfort.

  AirOne is Certified Duct System Optimization Specialist by the National Comfort Institute(NCI).

  AirOne is Certified Residential Air Balancer Specialist by the National Comfort Institute(NCI).

  2021 San Marcos Green Business of the Year for providing our clients with options to improve the efficiency of their HVAC systems that can include but does not necessarily require the replacement of the equiptment.