Are Your Ducts To Blame For HVAC Issues?

No matter if it’s the hottest day of the summer or you’re trying to keep your home in Charlottesville warm in the winter, HVAC issues can be a real pain in the neck. Despite running your heating or cooling, you just can’t get the interior temperature of your home to feel comfortable. This is bad for two reasons as you’re either sweating or freezing and you’re wasting a whole lot of money on increased energy costs for little to no reason at all.

So what’s the problem? It might be your ductwork. Many HVAC systems rely on ducts to move climate-controlled air through your home into the rooms where you want it to go. When those ducts aren’t working properly, you can bet your warm or cool air won’t be able to regulate the temperature of your home.

How Ducts Work

If your home’s HVAC system uses ducts you won’t be able to see them as they have been designed to be hidden away. But they are there, in your attic or basement, inside the walls, along crawlspaces, basically throughout the inner workings of the home where you and your family are not often able to access. But if you are having some HVAC issues, these ducts may be the culprit.

Most homes have two types of ducts, return and supply. Return ducts steer air through the system and supply ducts distribute it throughout the home. Your issues could be in either or both.

Possible Symptoms of Ductwork Issues

In most every case, the main problem is a leak somewhere in the ducts, sending your costly air outside. It’s not doing you any good there. The way to determine this is by watching out for these various red flags:

Drafts

Does your home feel like it’s always drafty or maybe it’s just a bit stuffier than you like, there could be a leak somewhere in the ductwork that is contributing to the problem.

Uneven Temperatures

If you find yourself walking into one room from another and there is a distinct change in temperature, it’s very possible one of two things has occurred. The first is that the vents are not open, which is keeping air from getting into the room, or the second is that there is a leak somewhere preventing that air from getting through the vent.

Increased Energy Costs

This one’s a no-brainer. You find it harder and harder on save money on air conditioning and heating costs and that could probably be due to the fact that you’re blowing it all outdoors through the leaks in your ductwork.

Dust and Dirt

Sometimes it’s not a leak that stifling the air in your ducts but a dirty filter. If you’re having trouble with the air in your home, check the filter to see if it needs replacing. These need to be swapped out every two to three months in order for the HVAC system to work effectively. But after you check the filter you find you’re still having problems, there might be a leak in the ducts somewhere.