Most homeowners don’t often think about how important their ductwork is for either of their Fort Lauderdale, FL HVAC systems, whether it’s their forced air central air conditioner or heat pump system. After all, this component of your cooling and heating system is out of sight, hiding in walls, floors, ceilings, and crawlspaces.
But if you had your ductwork installed by an amateur or if you haven’t had your ductwork checked in a while, it could be damaged. And if you have air ducts that are affected by leaks, bad connections, or poor construction, you can be experiencing issues that lead to poor HVAC efficiency and potential HVAC repair needs, too. One of the most common problems we see in regards to shoddy ductwork is that it wasn’t properly sized for the home and HVAC system.
What’s Wrong with Poorly Sized Air Ducts?
First off, if your air ducts are improperly sized, you’ll likely notice soon after a new system installation since the system will make noise due to the restriction of air flow. Unfortunately, a homeowner might hear a lot of noise and assume it’s just a noisy system, but this should really never be the case.
When ducts are too large for your HVAC system, they’ll cause low airflow, and this will result in uneven temperatures throughout your home, since conditioned air will not reach all of your vents. Studies have proven that improper air duct design can result in as much as a 60% loss in cooling and heating efficiency.
This isn’t just bad news for your wallet but bad news for your HVAC system too, as it will struggle to reach the temperature set for it, and as a result, start to degrade and age rapidly. This means more repairs to components such as motors, fan belts, and compressors—plus you may find yourself facing an early replacement for your HVAC system, and the sudden expense of purchasing a new one.
Other Types of Ductwork Problems
Whether your ducts are poorly sized or have bad connections, improperly installed ductwork might not be connected the right way, and therefore will experience leaks. As a result, you’ll notice a reduction in cooling power for your AC, and heating power from your heater.
As we mentioned above, damaged ductwork will also result in lower efficiency. Your HVAC system is forced to work harder, and this puts extra strain on it. Warm, humid air (something that is very familiar to us Floridians!) can start to enter the ducts, making it even harder for your air conditioner to reach its target temperature without straining.
Dust and dirt infiltration, in addition to mold growth, are additional problems to be aware of. Breaches along your air ducts often open into closed-in portions of your home like between walls and within crawlspaces. This allows dirt, dust, sawdust, and other debris to be drawn in. Plus, with that humid air we just mentioned, mold development is a very real threat, too.
Before you assume that you can just repair the problem with duct tape, it’s important for us to mention that duct tape is actually not properly named, and not intended for use on your ductwork. Instead, you need an experienced and qualified team to provide professional duct cleaning, repair, or sealing services.
At Envirotech Air Quality Services, we are one of the very few HVAC companies in south Florida who are also licensed duct cleaners, in addition to mold assessors and mold remediators. Contact us today to learn more!
