HVAC Ducts
and
Indoor Air Quality

HVAC ducts are used to transport heating, cooling and ventilation throughout a building.

These transport systems can be both a blessing and a curse.

Lets look at the curse

Ducts that are located in attics, damp basements and wet crawl spaces can bring undesirable contaminants such as mold , moisture, either unwanted cold or warm air (depending on your region) and even carbon monoxide.

Locating the hvac ducts in these areas does not necessarily create a problem if the ducts are properly installed.

Unfortunately most air ducts that are not sealed (many are not) will draw poor quality air into the living space.

The air ducts can become a perfect environment for mold .

Uninsulated HVAC ducts that are installed in unheated or uncooled areas can cause moisture build up in the duct system as well as increasing your heating or cooling bills significantly.

One should expect to have approximately 90% of the heating or cooling energy that is produced by the appliance to be delivered to the living space.

Some ducts that are tested have shown to deliver only 25%, this is even after an older inefficient heating or cooling appliance with a modern, high efficient unit.

Duct systems that under-perform will not properly heat a house in winter or cool it in the summer.

Other poor results can be a drier house in the winter.

Rather than fix the real problem, quite a few professionals will sell a humidifier to add on to the system.

This approach can actually cause other problems.

A wetter house will result in summer (especially in high humidity areas) because the system is not performing at it's rated capacity. It's ability to remove moisture is greatly impaired.

You may have heard the saying "it's not the heat, it's the humidity."

How true this is!

Now the good news

Bad ducts can be fixed as good as new.

They can also be cleaned by a competent air duct cleaning company.

Sealing and insulating ducts should be performed by a certifed HVAC duct balancing company that has the required diagnostic tools and the knowledge to conduct the proper testing after the repairs are made to be sure the system has the proper airflow.

Failing to do this testing can be dangerous and also cause damage to the equipment that is attached to it.

You could end up with more problems that you started with.

After the above , adding a high quality filtration and/or purifier to the air ducts can make your place an oasis.

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