Bigger is Better!

Before any guys out there get frustrated with me, hear me out! I’m talking about the ductwork associated with your home's heating and cooling system. While everyone likes to get excited about the latest and greatest technology that gets thrown into thermostats and air conditioners, the truth is, your boring duct system is just as important as that shiny new furnace.

Let’s draw a comparison we can all relate to; our body! Our heart is critical to our survival, and for that reason we try to take care of it by eating well and trying to exercise. But how often do we talk about the health of our veins? Our veins play an equally important role in our life and well being as our heart. Yet I do not hear anyone saying I'm going on a walk for my vein health. Without the veins in our body, our heart is nothing. The same applies to the ductwork system in our homes. Without it, the latest and greatest technology Google Nest and Honeywell have to offer means little to nothing.

If you take a look at the evolution of home building over the last decade, you tend to see a decrease in true quality craftsmanship, and an increase in speed to complete the project. Unless being built by a custom builder, most homes built in the last 20 years are built as fast as possible to maximize financial profits. Many homes have complete heating and cooling systems installed in less than a day. With the need for such speed, quality and workmanship oftentimes takes a back seat. Proper designs are not done, best practices are not followed, and substandard materials are often used. And the end result, a system that does not live up to its efficiency standards, and a home that suffers from reduced comfort.

At this point, you're probably asking yourself why I titled the article the way I did, when I have yet to mention duct size! Well that is because I get long winded on subjects such as this and it's hard for me to keep it short! But I’ll get off my soap box about reduced quality and come full circle and explain why bigger is usually better for ducts. But first, I need you to go grab two straws and a balloon. A coffee stirrer straw and a regular straw. Now I need you to blow the balloon up using each straw. Okay so you don’t have straws and a balloon but I’m sure you get the illustration. It's much harder to blow the balloon up with the small straw. Now replace your lungs with a furnace fan, and the straw with your duct work. And to think your system is doing this up to 50 times a day! How much harder is your system working with those small ducts?

Now let's talk about noise. By a show of hands, who here loves listening to their heating and cooling system kick on, run, and kick off? If your fan sounds like a Falcon 9 space launch, then Houston we have a problem. When we size duct systems, we typically have target air speeds in mind, and given those speeds, we know what size duct we need to accommodate that speed. So what happens when we use a duct that is a few sizes smaller? Well, our fan is still trying to move the same amount of air, so in order to move the same amount of air through the smaller duct, that means the air has to move faster through the duct. Question, what makes more noise, a nice calm summer breeze, or a wind storm with 60 mph winds? Of course the 60 mph wind storm is much more audible. The same applies for the higher velocity duct. You can quite literally hear the air moving through the duct. So if you find yourself turning the TV up when your HVAC system comes on, you might have a duct problem!

So you have a hot/cold room? Chances are you have a duct problem! Shocking I know right! Let me give you a quick example of how some production based companies size and run duct! “Well all these rooms are close to the same size, so let's just run a 6” duct to each room and that should be good!” Now let's take a look at why that corner room, that is in fact close in size to the room next to it, is always cold. For starters, it's the corner room so it has 2 outside walls, and likely 2 windows. The room next to it has 1 of each. 2 outside walls and windows versus 1 probably means it needs twice as much heat. The corner room is a little further from the furnace than the room next to it therefore has a shorter duct run. Try this, find a wall that is really long. Put your entire body against the wall, and then run halfway down the wall. Now do it again but run all the way down the wall. When you run the full distance, by the time you get to the end you're a little more worn out and lost some of your vigor. The air in your duct has done the same thing.

Another problem we see more times than we would ever like to, is what I love to call the cheesy octopus living in the attic. If you live in a home built by one of the large home builders, you may just have one of those scary octopus living in your house. Here is how it works: In the interest of time, material, and money, why invest in a nice trunk line? Instead, let's whip together a triangle made of fiberglass duct board. Once we have that made, let's bring a 12 or 14 inch supply duct into one side of the cheese wedge, and then pull about 10 6” duct runs from the other sides of the cheese wedge. Lets then run those ducts over the river through the woods down the valley to grandmother's house. Wait that doesn't sound right. What I meant to say was run the flex duct in the most haphazard way we can, including hard bends, up and down over trusses, and smashing it between objects if needed to get the piece to its final destination. The results? If you said a completely uncomfortable 2nd floor compared to the first, then you my friend are the winner! We will be drawing names for prizes soon!

So how do we solve this problem. The first step is to stop allowing companies that have no business sizing and install ducts to keep doing what they're doing. And maybe that requires intervention from the code enforcement officials. Second would be to hire reputable HVAC contractors that understand air flow dynamics and best practices. And third, be willing to pay those contractors, because quality is not cheap up front, but will pay for itself over the life of the home!

If you would like more information about duct work, or would like to have someone from our company take a look at your existing ductwork, please feel free to reach out to us!

Ben Haws

JBH Heating and Air

937/681-5547

jbhenergy@gmail.com