Are you getting high energy bills at the end of every month? Is your air conditioner incapable of cooling your indoor air? This can be because of leaking in your air duct. Due to leaky ductwork, it will take longer than expected to cool a hot room. There are several reasons behind air duct leaking. But, if you keep your air duct clean with ProAir duct cleaning equipment, your air duct is less likely to develop such a leak.
Reasons behind air leaks in your ductwork
- Old and deteriorating ductwork
With the passage of time, the segments of the ductwork become loose. Not only this, but the ductworks start to detach from each other. This long-term wear and tear give birth to leaking in your ductwork. The old ductworks get loose at the seams and create a big leak due to the pull of gravity. Old ductwork will develop multiple leaks due to its age. You can call an HVAC professional to take care of these leaks by sealing them.
- Animals inside your ductwork
The small animals of your home take shelter inside your air duct. These are mice, rats, insects, squirrels, lizards, and so on. When they move hurriedly from one part of the duct to another, due to their body weight, the ductwork loosens at the connection point. These little animals are responsible for creating big leaks in your ductwork to some extent.
- Pressure variation
Difference in the air pressure creates force and breaks the segments of your ductwork. If you have different air pressure in two connected rooms inside your house, there can be a leak in your ductwork due to this pressure variation. So, keep your windows open and maintain steady air pressure in all the rooms of your home.
- Material of ductwork
To manufacture the ductworks, the engineers use sheet metal, plastic, fiberglass tubing, and so on. All of them are pretty flexible in nature, and so, they are likely to bend at some points. At these points, you can see the leaks.
- Poor installation
During original ductwork installation, there can remain some gaps between two segments of ductwork. This is merely a fault of the HVAC system installers. The leak due to poor installation can be repaired by patching and sealing those ductwork parts.
How do you identify leaks in the ductwork?
To identify leaks in your ductwork, you will have to go for a thorough ductwork inspection. Check the joints of the ductworks with the torch if possible. You can do another thing to spot the leaks in your air duct. By turning your HVAC system to full blast, you can identify the leaks easily. If your ductwork has been repaired before, there will be duct tapes in multiple places. Please check whether these tapes are coming off or not.
Now that you know the reasons behind air leaks in your ductwork, you should focus on its maintenance and repairing more than ever. Also, thoroughly clean the air ducts with ProAir duct cleaning equipment so that you can spot the leaks easily and seal them.Â