High utility bills are not just an insulation issue.
Your heating and cooling ductwork may be wasting a lot of your energy dollars. Your home's duct system carries the air from your home's furnace and central air conditioner to each room. Unfortunately, many duct systems are poorly insulated or not insulated properly.
Ducts that leak heated air into unheated spaces can add hundreds of dollars each year to your heating and cooling bills. Insulating ducts that are in unconditioned spaces is usually very cost effective.
Sealing your ducts to prevent leaks is even more important if the ducts are located in an unconditioned area such as an attic or vented crawl space. If the supply ducts are leaking, heated or cooled air can be forced out unsealed joints and lost. Duct leakage as high as 15% to 25% requires the need for 1 ton of air conditioning to overcome the leakage. as you can imagine this dramatically drops the overall efficiency of the HVAC unit.
In addition, unconditioned air can also be drawn into return ducts through unsealed joints. In the summer, hot attic air can be drawn in, increasing the load on the air conditioner. In the winter, your furnace will have to work longer to keep your house confortable. Either way, your energy losses cost you money.
EXAMPLE: a 25% duct leakage (average home tested) could logically cause a 50 to 75% in-efficiency because of the pressure differentials drawing in uncoditioned air simultaneous to the unit working to create conditioned air. Ductwork is YOUR #1 priority and the major cause of higher utilities, lower confort, and air-borne contaminats brought into the conditioned space.
Weatherization Experts Inc. 3071 South East 37th Street, Norman, OK 73072 (405) 392-3764
