Whether your ducts are made of rigid metal or a more flexible material, they transport heated or cooled air from your HVAC system to the rooms in your home. Because of this, it’s important that there are no leaks. Leaks make the system inefficient. They also raise your energy bill because your system has to work harder to make your rooms as warm or as cool as you’d like. This is a big deal because your heating and cooling system makes up more than half of your energy bill. Here’s how to tell if your ducts are leaking and how an HVAC professional can seal them.

How to Tell if Your Ducts Are Leaking

Your ductwork is almost certainly in a place that you don’t see every day, like your basement, attic, crawl space, or behind a wall. Accessing them can be a dirty and uncomfortable job. Still, there are signs that your ductwork is leaking that won’t require you to go and take a look at it. Here are some of them.

• There’s a lot of dust, and the dust keeps coming back no matter how much you clean. This dust is being pulled into the ductwork, which then sends it through the vents in your rooms. When your HVAC professional opens up one of the ducts, they may find it choked with dust and debris.
• One or more rooms are always hot or cold, no matter how high or low you set your thermostat. This is another sign that the ducts to the rooms are leaking or have even come apart.
• Spiking energy bills when you know that none of your appliances or electrical fixtures is problematic.

Another way to check for leaks without going to your ductwork is to crack open a window and then turn on the blower of your furnace or air conditioner. If air rushes into the room, it’s another sign that your ducts are leaking.

What Your HVAC Pro Can Do

An HVAC professional will go to where your ductwork is located and test it section by section. They’ll have you turn on the system so that air can start to flow through the ducts. What happens next is simple. The professional might use something as flimsy as a piece of toilet paper to check for smaller leaks. Larger leaks can usually be felt. The professional will fix leaks with mastic sealant or foil tape that’s then painted with mastic. They may also use high-tech machinery to access places that are hard to reach.

Call Us for Problems With Your Ductwork

Since you don’t see it every day, it may be hard for you to notice leaks in your ductwork that are raising your energy bills. If your ductwork needs repair, don’t hesitate to call our HVAC specialists at Sky Heating, AC, Plumbing & Electrical in Tualatin, OR.