Your HVAC system’s ductwork plays a key role in the health and comfort of your home in Mesa, AZ. Its effectiveness, however, depends on how well you seal it. These 12 common signs can indicate your ducts need sealing.
1. Age
Age can negatively impact the sealing of your HVAC system’s ductwork. Old sealing can crack and break, allowing in air and moisture.
Once these elements get into your home, they can compromise the inside temperature and the comfort of your home’s environment. Likewise, if you buy a home and have no idea of how old the sealing on the ductwork is, you may find it helpful to reseal the ducts for your own peace of mind.
2. Lower Quality Craftsmanship
Your home’s ductwork can also need to be resealed if the seals on it right now show signs of less-than-ideal craftsmanship. This scenario could occur if you buy and move into a new house, only to find the ducts are not properly sealed. Before you turn on and use the home’s HVAC system, you can hire an HVAC technician in Mesa to apply new duct sealing.
3. Uneven Temperatures
Uneven temperatures in your home can point to the need to have your ductwork sealed. Some parts of your house may feel colder or hotter than others, despite you having the air conditioner or furnace running. You can better maintain your home’s inside temperatures and get even heating or cooling throughout it by sealing your HVAC system’s ductwork.
4. Lack of Airflow
Poorly sealed ducts can compromise the airflow in your home. Your home might feel stuffy even with your HVAC system running. The air may also feel humid and uncomfortable.
Poor airflow can also trap odors in your home. Odors from cigarettes, cooking or garbage might linger for several days. New sealing around the ducts can minimize odors getting trapped in the air and making your home smell unpleasant.
5. Dustiness
If you find yourself having to dust your furniture more often than usual, you could have reason to blame the ductwork sealing. Damage like holes, cracks and punctures can let in dust and dirt from the outside.
As these elements flow in the air, they can land on surfaces like your table, shelves and windowsills. Dust and dirt can also land on your upholstery and carpeting, causing you to have to clean them more often than usual.
6. Poor Indoor Air Quality
When you and others in your home suffer frequently from symptoms like headaches, poor sleep or fatigue, you should inspect the ductwork sealing and replace it, if needed. When the ducts let in contaminants like car exhaust fumes from nearby traffic or pesticides used in landscaping, you could experience these types of symptoms more frequently.
7. Allergy Flare-Ups
Frequent allergy flare-ups can occur because of ineffective duct sealing. Dust, dirt, pet dander and other contaminants that fly around and get trapped in the air can contribute to you suffering from indoor allergy symptoms like skin rashes, itchy eyes, sneezing and sinus congestion.
You may also find yourself having to visit the doctor more often or buy over-the-counter medications for relief. Rather than suffer from such symptoms every day, you can hire an HVAC technician to redo the sealing around your ductwork.
8. Noisy Ducts
Poorly sealed ducts can make a variety of noises. For example, you might hear yours make whistling noises, indicating the sealing has a small gap or leak somewhere in it that lets in air from the outside.
You might also hear your ducts make popping noise, which occurs when air gets in through large gaps in the seals, creating a sudden change in air pressure. Rattling noises hint at parts of the sealing and ductwork coming loose and banging against each other or the outside of your house.
9. Musty Odors
If you notice your home smells like mildew or rot, you may need to reseal the ducts. Poor sealing around them lets in moisture that can make your house smell dank and unpleasant.
This moisture can also create ideal conditions for fungus to grow around the ducts and inside on your walls and floors. Mildewy odors are often difficult to mask, even when you use air sprays or light scented candles. You likewise may have to spend money on heavy-duty cleaning products to remove the fungus that grows in your house because of poor duct sealing.
10. Frequent HVAC Repairs
Bad duct sealing can cause your HVAC system to work harder to keep your home comfortable. This excessive wear and tear can lead to the system breaking down and needing frequent repairs.
The costs of the repairs can quickly add up to a sum that you find difficult to afford. You can spare your budget and prevent your system from overworking itself to keep your home comfortable with better duct sealing.
11. Higher Heating and Cooling Bills
Ineffective duct sealing can cause you to spend more money than usual keeping your home comfortable year-round. When heat, humidity or cold gets in through cracks and holes in the sealing, it can force your HVAC system to use more energy to maintain the thermostat temperature.
This increase in energy use can significantly raise your heating and cooling bills. It also increases your home’s carbon footprint.
12. Visible Damage
When you can see damage like punctures, cracks and loose ductwork, you should redo the sealing. A variety of factors, such as pests, age, foundation settling and air pressure, can damage it. It can also get damaged during windstorms and periods of heavy rain.
Replacing it immediately can play a key role in keeping your home’s indoor environment comfortable and safe. Some of the materials you can use to seal your ducts and prevent leaks include mastic tape, aeroseal and latex duct sealant.
Let Us Help With Your Ductwork Sealing
Our goal at Honest Air Conditioning is to provide homeowners in the Mesa area with the highest level of customer service. Our experienced HVAC technicians earn an hourly wage and not a commission. The company leader also oversees our business’s repair and maintenance services and installations and offers all of our customers a 100% satisfaction guarantee. We have an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau and favorable customer reviews on home service websites like Angi’s List. We also have a 4.8-star rating on Google. Our locally owned business also has Better Business Bureau accreditation.
You can trust us to provide you with a free estimate before you hire us for your air quality services. You can also get a free estimate for any HVAC equipment you want to buy for your home. In addition to offering customers premium air quality systems and services, our team also works on furnaces, air conditioners and heat pumps. We additionally provide a link on our website to schedule any of our services to fit your schedule. Our team at Honest Air Conditioning in Mesa offers reliable HVAC duct sealing services. Contact us today to learn more!