How To Install Heating Ducts Yourself

The Art and Science of Designing and Installing Home Ductwork

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I am the Install managing director at Fire & Ice, since 2022. I have spent 28 years in this business organisation and take experienced nearly every aspect of HVAC from Industrial, commercial, and residential buildings. From blueprint, install, service, or sales, if it moves air, I've worked on information technology.

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Ductwork tin make or break your abode HVAC system. In this article, nosotros discuss best practices for designing and installing proper ductwork in a home.

We educate our customers on a lot of HVAC topics, but the 1 where we find the almost misconceptions exist is with ductwork.

Why is this? The answer seems obvious: when people think of HVAC service, they think of the main equipment. The air conditioner, oestrus pump or furnace. They're not thinking about ductwork.

You need lungs to breathe, merely as well an entire network in your body to conduct oxygen to your torso's cells. Forgetting to consider ductwork is kind of like thinking the lungs are doing all of the work on their own to oxygenate your body.

That comparing may seem dramatic, but I think it's more advisable than some people realize. Improper ductwork is responsible for many more comfort issues than people realize. In fact, I'd guess about ix out of 10 jobs nosotros complete include some form of ductwork modification, considering the existing ductwork is rarely without flaws that touch a home'south airflow and, ultimately, its condolement.

This article is the "why" and "how" behind that stat. Agreement why ductwork matters volition assistance you make the right long-term decisions for your dwelling house.

Why Yous May Demand New Ductwork

None of this matters if it doesn't affect your domicile. But a lot of times when you are tackling a new HVAC project, it will affect you. What are the reasons for this? It depends on the household, but some common reasons are below:

1. The previous system was improperly sized. Nosotros'll talk more than about sizing a system beneath, only often the calculation is done incorrectly that determines how much power your organization needs to adequately heat and cool your home.
2. Yous take added a room or area to the home since the last organization was installed. Your HVAC organisation could be every bit much as 20-30 years old. Since then, perchance you  (or the previous owner) added a covered patio that receives air, or perchance yous installed a new four-seasons room. Some houses have had unabridged wings added in previous decades! In these cases, the ductwork will not be able to handle the needs of this new configuration.
3. You lot lack ductwork (baseboard, window or alternative heating/cooling). This is the largest job of the bunch, but we've handled many jobs like this. If you accept never had a ducted HVAC system in your home, an entire system of ductwork will need to exist designed and installed.
4. You have issues in specific rooms. Is your upstairs too hot? Is i area consistently colder than the rest of the home? Often, this isn't an air conditioner or furnace issue. It's a trouble with ductwork.

RELATED: Why Is My Upstairs And so Hot? Solutions for Your 2d Flooring

Sizing Your Arrangement

There's an (unfortunate) norm in the HVAC industry. It goes like this:

• Cheque the foursquare footage of a home
• Decide what size air conditioner or furnace you need.

This is wrong. And it frequently includes ignoring ductwork.

For reference, when I talk nigh "size," what I'yard really talking about is how powerful your system is. And when we talk about the power of a system, it's usually in tonnage (which relates to airflow and pressure). So a 1-ton organization is less powerful than a four-ton organization, but will also cost less. A larger habitation will require more ability to estrus and absurd than a smaller one. But it'due south not ONLY business firm size that matters.

For starters, the number, size and quality of the windows matter. Old, single-pane windows will leak air, for example.

Insulation too matters. So does ceiling size, and how many stories your home has. And many others.

The other matter this affects is ductwork. Permit'south say you take a ii-ton system, but what your house really needs is a 2.5-ton system. The ductwork will be sized for a 2-ton organisation. And if either the organization or the ductwork are improperly sized, you won't get the necessary airflow to efficiently heat and cool your home.

This is the crux of the problem with sizing. It's the problem I see the almost in homes, and the next most mutual problem isn't even close. And so the lesson is clear: make sure you're working with someone who is checking ductwork and doing a full load calculation to make up one's mind proper sizing.

A Comparison to Roads

Everyone hates a traffic jam. Or if someone likes them, I have nonetheless to meet that person.

Ductwork that is too pocket-size is like a traffic jam.

How practice you fix traffic jams? I mode is to increase the number of lanes on a route. A major city needs gigantic, vii-lane highways. A small-scale, rural town out in the country probably needs a single iv-lane road at the town's heart, but the rest of the roads are single-lane.

Ductwork is the same. And, for case, having a 3-ton air conditioner and furnace pushing air through a two-ton ductwork organisation is similar closing down the highways in a major city. The cars (and air) need more room to travel smoothly.

And what'southward the outcome if you lot ignore this? Increased utility bills costs, and your system will run for a lot longer, and you all the same won't go great airflow to sure parts of your dwelling house.

The Science of Ductwork Pattern

We don't get to proper ductwork sizing by accident.

Let me innovate you to SMACNA! This rather funny-sounding acronym stands for the Sheet Metal & Air conditioning Contractors' National Association. They create and examination standards for ductwork design that help to inform installation processes across the industry.

SMACNA even provides various tools and apps to help with these tasks, since the calculations can become very intense.

This is similar to the load calculation standards created by ACCA (Air Conditioning Contractors of America). This is how the proper size is adamant for your HVAC system.

In practice, what kinds of considerations practice these standards include? I'll requite you a few examples:

1. If a room is a particular size, it will demand a sure amount of airflow running to it, which then relates back to the air being moved through the whole arrangement and that individual room's duct line.
2. The trunk line is the main duct line running off of your furnace. To stick with the tree analogy, the "branches" are the smaller duct lines that run to private rooms and ventilation grates. A trunk line must be able to house the necessary airflow, simply information technology also has to stay within certain height and width parameters. The maximum acceptable elevation-to-width ratio for the trunk line is 4:1 (for example, 8 inches tall, 32 inches wide), but usually it's safer to get closer to a two:ane or 3:1 ratio. A 24x8 inch torso line is typical in many homes, for example.
3. Turns and bends need to be handled with care. Yous generally can't run straight into a T-shaped xc-degree turn, for example, or you'll mess with the internal pressures that the system has to maintain. Depending on the rate of airflow, turns have specific recommended parameters to ensure proper airflow is maintained at all times.

RELATED: HVAC Ductwork: Best Practices for Cleaning, Modifying and Care

The Importance of Return Air

And then far nosotros've but talked about air going from the blower fan in your furnace and into your abode. Just what well-nigh the air that returns to the system?

This is often forgotten in ductwork design. The key idea is that heating and cooling isn't but nearly sending air into the home, but about creating a circulating airflow pattern that removes untreated air in your home and returns it to the central unit to be heated or cooled. If this circulation doesn't happen, you'll never be fully comfortable.

If a room lacks a render air duct, for example, it doesn't matter how much cool air y'all pump into it during the summertime. It'due south going to struggle to stay cool, and will often be muggy and uncomfortable.

So a lot of times, the ductwork running from the furnace to the home is fine, but it'south the return air ducts that are severely lacking. The unmarried most common ductwork modification we make is to install a larger render air drib (the main return line connected dorsum to your furnace) and so that proper circulation can accept place in a home.

The Art of Ductwork Pattern

Homes aren't built the same, so why should ductwork all exist the aforementioned? This is where the science meets art.

Let's say x years ago a room was added to the habitation, and now you're replacing the HVAC system. Proper ductwork is rarely installed in such cases, and then nosotros're often having to work effectually the existing construction to effigy out how to go the proper ductwork to the new surface area.

Those standards and recommended parameters I mentioned earlier notwithstanding apply, but we're oftentimes having to work in tight, cramped spaces that weren't constructed with ductwork in mind.

In that location'south always a solution, but sometimes information technology's not obvious. So a slapdash chore that doesn't take the fourth dimension to carefully blueprint your ductwork system will, in the end, be a lot less efficient and a lot less comfy.

And then when we say we build custom solutions for homes, that's not only a tagline. HVAC isn't "one size fits all," and so why should your organization be similar everyone else's?

A Comparison to Tires

Where practice yous look to come across what pressure your car's tires should be at?

Many will answer "on the tires themselves," and aye, a recommended or maximum PSI (pounds per square inch) will be listed

Merely this is wrong. Or rather, it has the potential to be wrong. Those tires were created for a agglomeration of unlike brands and models of cars, which all have unlike weight and sizing requirements. So the correct place to look is normally on a sticker that's on the inside of your driver-side door. And it's correct because it'due south specific to your car.

Companies that offer the same solutions for everyone are but looking at the tires to gauge pressure level, and so to speak.

Things similar air pressure, static pressure, the cubic anxiety per minute (CFM) that are moved through your ductwork...all of this should be different for you than information technology is for your neighbor.

With your machine, the long-term risks include your alignment being thrown out of whack, or your car slowly becoming less reliable because it wobbles slightly or isn't properly balanced across years and 10s of thousands of miles.

With your HVAC system, it's pretty much the same. That repair yous'll accept in yr 10 is probably preventable, but only if you've had a carefully calibrated system for the last 10 years.

Ductwork Expertise vs. "Good Enough"

At that place'southward a trick I like to do when I'm in a home. I cheque out the ductwork to make sure I understand exactly how it'south functioning. Then, I ask questions: Does this room always seem to be humid in the summer? Is this room hotter than the rest of the dwelling house in the summertime and colder in the wintertime?

The respond is usually "yep," and many homeowners marvel at my ability to predict their problems.

But it's not magic. Information technology's merely having a skilful agreement of how airflow works, and what kind of bug it tin lead to when the ductwork is insufficient.

Nosotros railroad train our sales squad to look out for these issues too. This is important, because information technology means when nosotros inform you of the piece of work that nosotros recommend, it's taking the entire organization into account. We want you lot to beloved your domicile HVAC arrangement. Ductwork is a necessary part of that.

The downside, of grade, is that if another contractor skips this footstep, their quote will be cheaper. So a lot of homeowners look at the cost tag and decide that their existing ductwork is fine.

And yes, it's fine. It's good enough to function. But if y'all take issues with your ductwork, your HVAC system will never be great. This means less comfort. Higher energy costs. And a shorter lifespan for your equipment, leading to things similar expensive repairs in the first v-ten years.

The Cost of Home Ductwork

We similar providing price ranges in our articles here at Burn down & Ice. Nosotros believe in transparency. But this is a difficult one, because "ductwork modification" can be very small-scale, very large, or somewhere in between.

At the low cease, yous have the replacement of your return air drib. Including installation fees, you lot're looking at somewhere betwixt $200-$400.

A new or heavily modified torso line can range between $ane,000-$i,500.

And if you are adding brand new ductwork throughout your entire home (either to supercede the old ductwork or because yous don't currently have ductwork), in a typical home information technology can range as much as $ten,000-$12,000.

That final range is rare, only if yous're going from cypher to a full system, it'south a reasonable expectation when accounting for parts, blueprint and labor.

Next Steps

If you need new or modified ductwork, y'all probably know it. Or at to the lowest degree you suspect that it may be a trouble. Maybe it'southward considering your airflow is noticeably lower in some rooms. Maybe it'due south because you've added a new room.

Regardless, skilful ductwork will assist.

We've trained our entire team to be able to assess your ductwork and make recommendations that will get yous the almost for your investment. If yous're prepare for that assessment, at that place's no fourth dimension similar the nowadays. Give us a call or blazon in your zipcode below to go started, and go your free in-home estimate.

Offset working toward optimal comfort today! We're looking forward to helping yous reach that.

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Source: https://indoortemp.com/resources/designing-and-installing-home-ductwork

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