Winters here in North Central Florida are mostly pleasant, but we do have stretches of days when the temperature drops to the point where heating systems have to come on. Most people have heaters that use ductwork to move heat to the various rooms, such as furnaces (electric or gas) and heat pumps. Unfortunately, no matter how well your home’s heater works, you’ll run into trouble if the ductwork is leaky.
Duct Leaks Are Common
You can’t see most of the ductwork in your home (you wouldn’t want to), making it easy to forget that it’s there. This is why leaks in the ducts can escape notice for so long. Duct leaks are a frequently occurring problem. In Florida, our high humidity can cause damage to duct material. But often, duct leaks start simply because the ductwork wasn’t well-installed originally, leading to high air pressure that causes holes to burst along the ducts.
Duct Leaks Cause Multiple Problems
“How bad can it really be?” you might be thinking. The answer is: pretty bad. Up to 30% of the air moving through a ventilation system may be lost to these air leaks, and this creates several problems that will make your winter much less pleasant.
- Uneven heating: If you’ve noticed that some rooms are getting more warmth than others when the heater is running, one possible source is duct leaks. If too much air is escaping along a stretch of ducts, the comfort in the room will suffer.
- Generally poor heating: The airtight seal along the ducts is done to prevent a loss of air pressure inside the ventilation system. Leaks cause the air pressure to drop, and the airflow from the system will drop as well, leading to a decline in comfort around the house.
- High heating costs: One of the warning signs you have duct leaks is when the cost to heat your home starts to rise for no obvious reason. Losing 30% of the air in the ducts means that 30% of the energy you paid for to heat that air also goes to waste. Restoring the ducts will restore the heater’s energy efficiency. (And that applies to your AC as well.)
- Increased humidity: Holes along the ducts can allow more humid air to enter the ventilation system. If you have a dehumidifier installed, this can throw it off and ruin your indoor humidity balance.
- Shorter system lifespan: The heating system must make up for the heated air that goes to waste, so it will put much more strain on its components. This will lower the equipment lifespan and lead to more repair needs.
Call Professionals to Seal Your Ducts
The solution to leaky air ducts to arrange for duct sealing in Lake City, FL with our professionals. Only trained technicians with the right equipment can locate all the leaks and seal them up.
We take pride in our customer satisfaction and quality service delivered with reasonable prices. We give our customers a 100% guarantee on service work.