Your ducts can contribute to inefficiency in your HVAC system for a couple of reasons. In fact, your ducts can account for approximately 20 percent of your energy usage when you run your heating and cooling systems. Poor insulation, leaks, disconnected segments, and excessive dirt or other blockages can cause problems with airflow, leading to greater energy use and higher bills.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, a build-up of .042 inches of dirt on a heating or cooling coil can result in a decrease of a heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) system’s efficiency by 21 percent. To put that into perspective, .042 inches of dirt is about the same thickness as a ring or even your fingernail. This thin layer of particles decreases the HVAC system’s ability to properly cool down or heat up space. As a result, utility costs for both heating and cooling will be much higher.
In another study conducted by the National Air Duct Cleaners Association (NADCA), cleaning even lightly-fouled heating and cooling systems can result in energy savings of 11 percent, and cleaning heavily-fouled systems can yield even greater results.
Air return duct systems can be configured in two ways: each room can have a return duct that sends air back to the heating and cooling equipment, or return grills can be located in central locations on each floor.
It takes a lot of energy to heat and cool your home or business. Studies show that heating, ventilating and air conditioning account for 30 percent of the energy used in the average home or small business.
You can perform a simple check for adequate return air capacity by doing the following:
Close all exterior doors and windows
Close all interior room doors
Turn on the central air handler
"Crack" interior doors one by one and observe if the door closes or further opens "on its own." (Whether it closes or opens will depend on the direction of the air handler-driven air flow.) Rooms served by air-moved doors have restricted return air flow and need pressure relief as described above.
Blue River Restoration is your friends to help you once chaos has happened. Take pride in your property and remove variables that can cause chaos. HVAC systems are something to take care of. In larger buildings, heating and air conditioning can account for almost half of the monthly energy bill.
