How To Save Money On Your HVAC

Adam's Air Systems • December 22, 2017

 

If you are the owner of an older home, you may be struggling with your home's heating and air conditioning costs. One of the major problems in older homes is the HVAC ductwork that moves the air from your equipment to the individual rooms of your house. Many older homes have a duct efficiency as low as 60%. This means that almost half of the conditioned air in your ducts is lost to leakage or thermal loss or gain.

What can you do?

 

Check Your Ducts
Are any of your ducts in zones that are not conditioned? As much of the ductwork as possible should be located inside the home’s conditioned areas. Ducts routed through unconditioned zones (attics, crawl spaces, or inside exterior walls) are exposed to summer and winter temperatures. Thermal gain or loss and diminished efficiency can result.

Are your ducts fabricated properly?
All the ducts should be fabricated of approved permanent materials such as metal or fiberglass. Money-saving methods of the past included simply enclosing wall voids or the channels between ceiling joists to convey conditioned air, instead of installing the correctly fabricated ducts in those spaces. These methods are not approved for standards for energy efficiency today.

Are there dampers for each room?
Each room branch duct should have a damper where it joins the central trunk duct. This will allow you to customize air flow to individual rooms.

Are your ducts leaking?
Your ducts should be mechanically fastened together with sheet metal screws, and joints should be sealed with mastic, metal foil tape or both. Leakage is a major cause of inefficiency.

At Adam’s Air we are experienced in designing and installing energy efficient air channels for your HVAC system. We know our Southern Ontario customers demand high quality, cost efficient products and manufacturing solutions, and service professionals that can tackle just about any custom fabrication problem! From small homes to large ones, our licensed HVAC contractors have been ensuring homeowners comfort and peace-of-mind since 2006. With great rates and low monthly payments, contact us today!

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