Latest / Shafer Heating and Cooling Service Repair Podcast / 🌬️ Is Proper Ductwork Sealing Important?

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🌬️ Is Proper Ductwork Sealing Important? · Shafer Heating and Cooling Service Repair Podcast

• 0:01
  My hvac expert nathan shaffer how are you i'm doing phenomenal how are you i
• 0:08
  am living the dream and of course i'm phenomenal as well uh hey a question's
• 0:12
  come in from one of our listeners roger and he's asking how important is the
• 0:18
  proper sealing of my duct work he's talking about hvac,
• 0:23
  Yeah, absolutely. That's a great question, Roger. And so it's one of those things
• 0:26
  that's kind of out of sight, out of mind, right?
• 0:28
  We see the equipment, oftentimes we don't until there's a problem,
• 0:31
  but we see that, we talk about that, unfortunately, even as an industry as a whole.
• 0:35
  And oftentimes the things that are overlooked, which is ultimately probably
• 0:39
  the most important and most of the all problems tie back to, and that is airflow.
• 0:44
  And so airflow comes through the ductwork. So every house, right,
• 0:46
  that has a forced air system where you have air heating or cooling blowing on
• 0:50
  your vents is tied to a duct system, as in D-U-C-T, right?
• 0:55
  Not D-U-C-K, not a duct system, but a duct system.
• 0:58
  And so all the air is being dispersed out. That duct system is being pulled
• 1:01
  back through it, back to the equipment, and dispersed back out.
• 1:04
  So it's just circulating back and forth. So what happens a lot of times is,
• 1:07
  you know, and I think to answer Roger's question correctly, there are a lot
• 1:10
  of systems that are missized or undersized in the ductwork.
• 1:13
  So, number one, it's very important to make sure that your HVAC contractor is
• 1:17
  doing a proper calculation and load sizing, not only for the equipment,
• 1:21
  but also, too, to make sure that the ductwork matches the equipment,
• 1:23
  especially with new equipment in today's market.
• 1:26
  Just like vehicles, the old vehicles, I know I relate to vehicles a lot,
• 1:28
  but we all drive a car, and so I think it's common, easy for us to relate to.
• 1:32
  The old vehicles you can fix very simply with a, or simpler,
• 1:35
  I guess maybe I couldn't, but it's a wrench, right? A couple hand tools.
• 1:40
  Now today, you've got to have the computers or so many safety switches and sensors
• 1:42
  and all these different things.
• 1:44
  HVAC and everything else is no different. And so because there's so much electronics
• 1:48
  now in the new systems, even the base model systems and safety switches,
• 1:51
  it's extremely important.
• 1:52
  They will not work on improperly sized duct work.
• 1:56
  But to Roger's point, I think that the big part of that too is making sure that it's sealed correctly.
• 2:01
  And so, you know, if you look at it, I've actually, you know,
• 2:05
  something we talk about all the time in the homes with our clients,
• 2:08
  you know, is the ceiling of the ductwork.
• 2:11
  According to like the Department of Energy, you know, it's 95% likely to have
• 2:17
  leaks in your ductwork, right? And so, and that's across the United States,
• 2:21
  not just right here in our market, but that's everywhere.
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  Where 95% have leaks in the ductwork. It's coming from the connections.
• 2:27
  It's coming from the little holes. It's coming from the seams, right?
• 2:30
  And so whether that's in your attic, whether that's in your crawl space,
• 2:33
  whether that's in your walls, that means you're sucking air from those places
• 2:36
  and the returns, which could be tying into your air quality,
• 2:39
  your allergies, the dust, et cetera, in your home, and or the hot and cold temperatures,
• 2:44
  as well as you're putting heating or cooling into those places that you don't want to.
• 2:48
  So we want all that air to be circulating in the living space and not all those other areas.
• 2:54
  And with that, you know, they also show, according to the Department of Energy,
• 2:58
  they've done studies, and they say that the air that that system is making,
• 3:02
  25 to 40 percent on the average duct system is being leaked out of the ductwork
• 3:08
  and not going into that living space.
• 3:10
  25 to 40 percent in 95 percent of the systems out there.
• 3:14
  Staggering numbers, right? So what happens is, let's say we're going into summer
• 3:18
  right now and you're thinking, heck, I mean, I want to make sure either A,
• 3:21
  my existing system is good and everything I'm getting out of it,
• 3:24
  I'm getting into my house, and or B, you're looking at a new system.
• 3:27
  I'm going to buy a new high-efficient system and we'll just pick a SEER rating.
• 3:31
  We'll just say it's a 20 SEER system or 16 doesn't make a difference.
• 3:38
  And you go to put that in, Department of Energy has done studies on this.
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  So if you think you're buying, let's say a 20 sear system, you know,
• 3:45
  on average, you're going to be getting anywhere from 10 to 16 sear out of it.
• 3:49
  Because of the air leakage, right?
• 3:51
  Or 16 sear system, you're getting eight to 13 sear rating out of it.
• 3:56
  So I just said to say, you want to protect your investment and you want to make
• 4:00
  whether it's existing system and or new and make sure that those ducts are sealed.
• 4:04
  Um, now another common question we'll get when it comes as a,
• 4:07
  well, geez, Nathan, that sounds great.
• 4:09
  And all my duct works, it's in the walls, right? It's above the drywall ceiling in the basement.
• 4:14
  That sounds good. And I want to fix that, but man, I don't, I'm not looking
• 4:17
  for a whole demolition, project.
• 4:20
  And the cool thing is, in years past, yes, you would have had to tear all that
• 4:24
  out and try to seal it with a mastic seal or proper duct seal or tape, et cetera.
• 4:29
  But that's not the case now. We have state-of-the-art aero seal technology where
• 4:34
  we can actually seal all of that ductwork from inside the ductwork.
• 4:37
  We can access it right from your equipment and from each of the registers.
• 4:41
  And we run through, we go do a test beforehand, so we can show you exactly how
• 4:45
  much air is leaking out of that system.
• 4:46
  We go through, we clean it, we sanitize it from the inside and then we seal it from the inside.
• 4:52
  We can get every inch of ductwork throughout your entire house,
• 4:54
  no matter the size or how far away it is or what it's covered up by.
• 4:57
  And then we'll do a test afterwards and give you a printout and you'll know
• 5:00
  exactly what's leaking or not leaking afterwards and how airtight that system
• 5:04
  is. So you can see that energy savings difference.
• 5:07
  So once again, one of those things that's completely in the dark,
• 5:11
  you don't see it, but it's crucial when it comes to efficiency,
• 5:14
  comfort, and healthier system.
• 5:16
  Nathan, it's really important. It's kind of like if you have a really good...
• 5:21
  Amplifier for your music. Back in the day, people had AMFM amplifiers, right?
• 5:26
  You'd start with that, then there would be, and some people still do use these,
• 5:31
  and have speaker cord going to your speaker.
• 5:36
  Well, the AMFM amplifier, as it was called, was like the HVAC unit.
• 5:43
  It's great, but it's only as good as the speakers. If you have lousy speakers,
• 5:48
  it's not going to sound really good.
• 5:51
  Actually, I'd rather have better speakers and a lesser quality amplifier bringing the music through.
• 5:57
  It's the same thing here, isn't it? You could have the best Sear HVAC system, brand new,
• 6:03
  super high efficiency, but if the air isn't going in properly and going out
• 6:10
  through the supply properly, it's like bad speakers.
• 6:14
  Absolutely. You're 100% correct.
• 6:17
  Another cool thing I've seen here recently was the New York Times, right?
• 6:23
  They had the McKinney and company do a study of different types of home improvements
• 6:28
  and what makes the biggest difference when it comes to efficiencies and savings inside the home.
• 6:33
  You think of the normal things, right? Like insulation, definitely high on the list.
• 6:37
  You think about things like sealing the overall home for leaks and insulating
• 6:41
  your basement or There's different things like that, right?
• 6:43
  But the number one thing on there, and by far, was sealing your ductwork.
• 6:48
  And so once again, one of those things that unfortunately does not get talked
• 6:51
  about much and it kind of gets forgotten, and we go to the initial things,
• 6:54
  which are very important, your windows and insulation, everything else, 100%.
• 6:58
  But sealing the ductwork can have oftentimes, in the average of homes, even a bigger impact.
• 7:04
  And so you start compiling all those things together, now you can start putting
• 7:08
  money back in your pocket instead of the utility companies, living more comfortably,
• 7:12
  prolong the life of your equipment and cleaning healthier air.
• 7:15
  So, or breathing healthy, breathing healthy air, not cleaning,
• 7:18
  healthy, breathing, healthy air.
• 7:20
  Perfect. Awesome. I really appreciate you coming on the program.
• 7:24
  All of Nathan's information is located in the description of this podcast.
• 7:28
  It's just one click away.
• 7:29
  Thank you, my friend. Good to see you. See you later.