The air ducts are connected to your central air conditioner to deliver treated air to every corner of your home. This is supposed to occur in a uniform fashion to ensure that the cooling is even throughout the home. The air ducts are isolated from the usual accidents that can happen in a busy family home due to their location behind the walls and in the attic. Despite this, sometimes they can be damaged or breached due to external circumstances or because of work being carried out in the home. Here are five signs that you may have a breach or damage that needs to be repaired in your air ducts.
1. Increased Energy Bills:
If you have a firm grasp on what your energy bills are from month to month you can quickly discover if they have increased unexpectedly. A breach in your air ducts will allow the treated air to escape into the walls and attic space. This will reduce the efficiency of your air conditioning system and force it to work harder to compensate. This will increase the amount of energy used and introduce unnecessary strain on your system. As a result, your energy bill will be higher, a repair is more likely, and your level of indoor comfort will deteriorate.
2. Cold Spots on Walls:
If an air duct is breached behind a wall, it could create a cold spot there. This is easy to notice as that section of wall will feel very cold to the touch, and the level of cooling will be compromised. The air duct breach is probably pointing directly at the other side of the wall, and it will need to be repaired by an HVAC specialist.
3. Unusual Noises:
Sometimes a breach in the air ducts is accompanied by strange noise as the treated air escapes. This sound could be described as a groaning or humming noise caused by the air escaping. This is easy to confirm as the noises will start and stop in sync with when you operate the air conditioner.
4. A Lack of Air Flow:
A breach in an air duct will reduce the airflow in the system, and this will be noticeable at your air vents. If the air flow is lower than usual or has stopped altogether, this could indicate that there is a breach. Other causes could be a blockage in the air duct or a defective blower unit. No matter what the cause is, expert help will be needed to restore the air flow to normal.
5. The Air Feels Warm:
A breach in your air ducts will either pull warm air in or push cool air out of your system. In each of these situations, you will notice that the air from one or more vents is warmer than you require. The only way to fix this problem is to call a professional HVAC engineer; they can locate the breach and fix to restore normal operations.
Many breaches or damage to ductwork can easily be fixed by reconnecting loose sections, applying new duct mastic or fitting a new section of duct. An expert HVAC specialist will make this look easy, but this is not a job for a casual DIY enthusiast. Gaining access to ducts can be difficult, and you could easily cause more damage if you don’t know what you’re doing.