Ductwork is the circulatory system of your home’s heating and cooling system. When ducts are leaking, lots of energy is wasted. Defective ducts can also circulate dirty air throughout your home, as well as allow potentially toxic or lethal gases inside. Find out how four problem situations with ductwork can contribute to poor indoor air quality in your home.
Defective Ductwork and Polluted Air
If your ductwork is plagued by faulty connections and seals or other gaps and holes, not only will you lose conditioned air before it arrives at its destination, but polluted air may also get into the ducts. This can happen if there’s negative air pressure within duct sections running through unconditioned areas such as crawl spaces, basements and attics. Once the contaminated air infiltrates the ducts, it ends up circulating with household air, threatening the health of home occupants.
Negative Air Pressure
Negative interior air pressure can suck in dirty air from outside. If conditioned air is lost from supply ducts as a result of air leaks, it lowers air pressure in the room where the air is delivered. When this happens, air rushes in from outside. If that air is coming from areas with dirty air, such as an attached garage or crawl space, indoor air quality takes a hit.
Backdrafting
Backdrafting can occur when exhaust from combustion appliances such as a furnace or water heater gets sucked back into the house through the ductwork as a result of negative air pressure. These exhaust fumes usually contain potentially lethal carbon monoxide (CO) and other toxic gases.
Leaky Ducts and Humidity Issues
Leaky ducts can also draw humid air back into a home’s air circulation from areas such as a muggy basement or crawl space. This forces your cooling system to work harder to dehumidify the air, and it may only succeed partially, leaving your home feeling damp and clammy.
For more information on how defective ductwork can contribute to poor indoor air quality in your Twin Cities home, contact us at Marsh Heating & Air Conditioning. We can put a plan together to repair your ducts.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about indoor air quality and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.
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