• Wall FoamDuct Sealing
Did you know that you could be losing up to 50% of your heating or cooling through leaks in your attic air ducts, resulting in overly high energy bills and possible damage from ice dams, mold growth, etc. ?
- Why is sealing ductwork important?
- Leaky ductwork can account up to 30 percent of total heating and cooling costs. For an average home, leaky ducts can waste hundreds of dollars each year. While the increased energy costs and green house gas emissions are significant, health and safety are also a concern.
- Why is duct leakage so common?
- Most connections are simply not sealed. Those that are, may have been sealed with a poor quality material such as duct tape. Yes, ironically enough, duct tape is just about the worst material you could use to seal your ducts. If a tape is to be used, foil tape is a better choice. Even better is to use a mastic. Another reason is damage often occurs to the duct work from 3rd parties doing work in the attic as well as separation from when the house has settled over the years.
- The problem is metal ductwork?
- If you have high energy bills or comfort issues, the air duct system is a likely source of these problems. Insulation and Heating System upgrades are only part of the solution. As much as half the conditioned air you purchase every month could be ending up in the attic, basement or crawlspace. If your home has metal ducts, RetroFit can seal them and significantly reduce the air loss and bring the thermal resistance (R-value) to within code limitations.
- How do I know if my ducts leak?
- If you have metal ducts in original condition - then they leak air. The only question is how much. During our energy audits we closely examine the ducts by pulling back the insulation wrap in various locations and using a smoke puffer with visual assessment to determine how bad your ducts are performing. Most of the time you can clearly see the leak points once the wrap has been removed. In other homes a full Duct Blaster air leakage test is required to determine the extent of the leakage. On homes with old metal rigid ducts the leakage is typically over 40-50%.
- What are the most important areas to seal?
- In order of priority, these are:
- Disconnected components
- Connections between the air handling unit and the plenums
- All seams in the air handling units and plenums, takeoffs, boots, and other connections, especially site-built items.
- What Does All This Mean?
- What this means is that if you have metal ducts, then you are blowing conditioned air that you pay for each month into the attic/crawlspace and you are also pulling unconditioned air from these areas into your return ducts. When the ducts are sealed and insulated with the spray foam, energy usage often drops 20-40% or more. Your home feels more comfortable and dust/odor is greatly reduced after eliminating the negative pressure from the duct leaks (which constantly draws air in through all the cracks).