DeHart Plumbing, Heating, and Air Inc. Blog: Posts Tagged ‘Duct Sealing’

How Do Duct Leaks Start in the First Place?

Monday, August 23rd, 2021
Inside-an-Air-Duct

Our top concern with our customers is helping them enjoy the best energy efficiency for their home so they can “Live Green, Save Green!” One of the major sources of energy loss in homes comes from ductwork leaks in the HVAC system, and unfortunately, this is a problem that’s easy to escape homeowners’ notice for a long time. 

We’ve previously written about how you can detect duct leakage in your home, and in this post, we’ll address another question about this problem: Why do duct leaks start in the first place? 

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How We Can Improve Ventilation in Your Home

Monday, July 12th, 2021
airflow-diagram

Proper home ventilation is on people’s minds more. Too many houses today have limited ventilation to allow for the proper movement of air and to allow fresh air to circulate. This poor ventilation is one of the main causes of bad indoor air quality, which has been on the rise over the past few decades. 

At Greenhart, our goal is to help our customers enjoy the best quality of living in their homes thanks to better indoor air quality—and helping their homes achieve energy efficiency at the same time. There are steps you can take to help with better fresh air ventilation, such as opening multiple doors and windows and remembering to use exhaust fans in the kitchen and bathrooms. But we have several ways to better your ventilation and improve your home’s indoor air quality in Modesto, CA.

Energy and Heat Recovery Ventilators

These devices allow for fresh air circulation through a home without also causing heat loss or heat gain that will affect energy efficiency. Opening up windows and doors brings the outside temperatures with it, but energy recovery ventilators (ERVs) and heat recovery ventilators (HRVs) solve this problem. They draw fresh air into the HVAC system and use the air from indoors to either pre-heat or pre-cool it. This can recover 80% of the energy that would otherwise be lost to opening up windows and doors. There are differences between the two types, and we’ll help determine which one is best for your home.

Duct Sealing

Your house may have problems with leaky air ducts without you even knowing it. Duct leaks are common issues, and they can throw off air circulation for the whole house as well as cause the AC and heater to waste power. We recommend you schedule duct testing with our team if you aren’t certain about the condition of your ducts. We’ll discover if you have duct leaks and how extensive the problem is, then use advanced techniques to make the ventilation system airtight once more. 

Duct Cleaning

After three to five years, the ducts in your home will have picked up enough dust, lint, and other debris on the walls that it will interfere with proper airflow and ventilation. Professional duct cleaning can restore the ducts—just make sure you have actual professionals like our team to do the job. There are many low-cost “duct cleaning” services that do next to nothing at all. You can expect the best from us. 

Air Filters

You already have an air filter on your HVAC system, but it isn’t there to help with the indoor air quality; it protects the interior of the cabinet. If you want to have healthier air circulating through the house, you’ll need to have professionals install powerful pleated or media filters into the ductwork. These filters will remove dust, lint, dander, dust mites, and more. You will need to change the filters every few months or else they will start to block proper airflow. 

Talk to our experts today for great IAQ solutions. At Greenhart, we help you “Live Green, Save Green!”

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Why Your Cooling Costs Have Spiked and How We Can Help

Monday, June 28th, 2021
air-conditioner-money-saver

At Greenhart, our motto is “Live Green, Save Green!” We’re more than a company offering standard service for air conditioners, heaters, insulation, and water heaters. We specialize in finding ways to help customers save money with equipment that also helps the environment thanks to high energy efficiency. We can help you solve problems you may have with inefficient home equipment performance.

And since it’s now officially summer, the time is right to address troubles with rising home cooling costs. You may not realize it, but the air conditioner in your house consumes more electricity than any other appliance (unless you have an electric water heater). The average AC uses 3,500 watts per hour to run. A clothes dryer uses 3,000 watts per hour and a ceiling fan a mere 100 watts. When you see your electricity bills start to go through the roof in summer, the likely culprit is the air conditioner. 

Let’s take a look at why those costs may be skyrocketing and what we can do to help.

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Ways We Can Improve Your Home’s Ventilation System

Monday, October 19th, 2020
vent-cover-in-ceiling

The ventilation system in the walls and ceilings of your house is often neglected as part of the overall comfort system. People focus on the heating and air conditioning, but ventilation misses out on the upgrades, tests, and repairs it needs.  A poor ventilation system can ruin the best AC or heater, create massive energy waste, and harm indoor air quality. 

What can you do about it? In fact, is there anything wrong with your ventilation system?

We can answer the second question easily with duct testing services. This will give us the data about the state of your ventilation system we need to know so we can decide what else needs to be done. Below are three major services we offer to improve your ventilation system.

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How Can I Tell If I Have Leaking Air Ducts?

Monday, October 5th, 2020
duct-sealing-with-caulking

Leaks in the ductwork of a home are a major problem, and they are unfortunately one of those problems that often goes unnoticed or unrepaired for far too long. The consequences of leaking air ducts can be extremely high, so it’s important to know if your house has duct leakage. You can then arrange for a professional to seal the ducts and restore the integrity of the ventilation system.

Of course, that leads to the question of how to detect if you have duct leakage in the first place. The ducts are well-hidden within a home, so you can’t visually inspect them. But there are other signs you can watch for:

A drop in airflow from the vents

One of the immediate effects of leaks in the ductwork is that it lowers the air pressure in the ventilation system. Ducts must be kept airtight to maintain air pressure, and the consequence of a drop in air pressure is that the airflow from the vents will also drop. If you put your hand to the room vents and notice the airflow is weaker than normal, it may be duct leaks.

Uneven comfort around the house

Lower airflow will also mean rooms cool down/heat up slower, which will lower comfort around the house. This will happen unevenly: certain rooms will still feel normal, while hot and cold spots will appear in others. Duct leaks aren’t the only cause of uneven comfort, but it’s a serious problem no matter what the source.

Odd odors from the vents

Leaks in the ducts will allow air from closed-in spots of the home to infiltrate the ventilation system, such as between walls and from the attic. This will carry a musty and sometimes moldy odor to the rooms.

A rise in energy costs

The biggest chronic effect that duct leaks have on an HVAC system is that they place more stress on the blower, heater, and air conditioner. Around 30% of the air moving through the ductwork can disappear through leaks, and this is air you’ve already paid to heat/cool and push into the ventilation system. The HVAC system will need to put in extra work to overcome this deficit—and that means energy bills will rise. If you see steeper bills to heat and cool your house and you can’t account for the change, you probably have duct leaks.

Solving the Problem

If you suspect duct leaks, the next step is to contact our professionals. We will test the ventilation system to find out if it has leaks and how extensive they are. If you do have leaky ducts, the next step for us is to seal the leaks. We use a range of methods to ensure your ducts will be restored to airtight condition once more. (By the way, store-bought duct tape isn’t a method we use. This “duct tape” is not actually useful for ducts.)

To schedule duct testing and duct sealing in Modesto, CA, call our professionals. We’ll help you live green and save green.

Greenhart serves Modesto, CA and offers duct repair services for leaking air ducts. Live Green, Save Green!

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How Duct Sealing Can Help Your Home

Monday, June 29th, 2020
Inside-an-Air-Duct

It’s our job to help homeowners live green and save green. We’re one of the fastest-growing companies for helping people in Modesto enjoy healthier indoor lives while improving energy efficiency. That’s what going green is all about.

“So what does any of that have to do with duct sealing?” you might ask. Plenty! People often take their ductwork for granted when it comes to making green improvements on their homes, instead of focusing on the installation of air purifiers, energy recovery ventilators, and insulation improvements. But sealing leaky ducts is an essential step toward making an energy-inefficient house into a super-green money-saving machine.

The Problem With Leaky Ducts

Because you can’t see most of the ductwork in your house (nor do you want to), you won’t know how easy it is for the ducts to begin to leak air. Age, corrosion, insects, high air-pressure, objects moved around in the attic … all of these can lead to small air leaks starting in the ducts. And small leaks can create big problems:

  • Air loss: You can lose around 30% of the air moving through the ventilation system to these leaks. This means that air you’ve already paid to heat or cool is going to waste in closed-off sections of the house. Do you want to spend 30% of the money you use for the air conditioner to cool down the attic? Probably not, but you may be doing just that if you have leaky air ducts.
  • Extra wear and tear: Losing that much air from the ductwork means the heater and AC must put in extra work to replace it. Yes, that’s expensive; but it’s also extra strain placed in the HVAC system. The additional wear and tear will take years off the system’s lifespan and lead to additional repairs.
  • Weak airflow: The air pressure inside the ducts drops because of leaks, and this means low airflow coming from the vents. You’ll notice hot and cold spots around the home and a noteworthy decline in comfort because of compromised ducts.
  • Dirty air: Plenty of dust and debris can enter the ducts through these leaks, leading to a drop in air quality. The leaks also allow more humid air into the ventilation system, which not only affects comfort, it can lead to mold and mildew growth.

Duct Sealing to the Rescue!

You can see from the list how much trouble you’ll stop with sealed ducts. You’ll have healthier air, more energy-efficient HVAC equipment, and better comfort. Leaking air ducts are one of the principal problems our experts look for when we conduct a home energy audit—there are few places where a house wastes energy faster than through a leaky air duct system.

We offer duct sealing in Modesto, CA using the best tools. We can test your ducts and use special video camera inspection equipment to ensure we locate all the leaks and have them sealed up. Ask about a full energy audit for your house, and we’ll find the best ways that you can live green and save green.

Call Greenhart for duct sealing and a No-Charge Home Comfort Profile. Live Green, Save Green!

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