When I was learning about energy efficiency, I saw many photos, slides and videos of leaky and crushed ducts. Many home performance contractors also said that it is common that ducts in homes are leaky, crushed, broken apart or constricted.
I’ve heard about them. I’ve seen many evidence of them. Now it hits close to home.
One winter day I was chatting with my daughter and she mentioned that her house she bought six months ago in New Orleans is very cold. It is only 50 degrees F in her room even with the furnace on. There was no warm air coming in. She used two space heaters to keep warm. She did not get much cool air in summer either. Her room is an addition to the original house that was rebuilt after Katrina. She thought she might need a bigger heating and cooling system. I told her the heating and cooling system is usually sized larger than it is needed. She should go to the attic to check if there is a leak in the air ducts. She did not think that would be the case because the house was just renovated three years ago. But she went up the attic to check anyway.
She sent a picture showing the fairly new ducts nicely insulated. But what a BIG leak! The duct was totally disconnected. She has been cooling the attic for the whole summer and now heating the attic in the winter. She used Gorilla tape to fix it for the time being. There is warm air coming in from the vents in her room but not enough. She will try to find a good HVAC guy to check the ducts some more.
If you experience a cold room in your home in winter or insufficient cooling in summer, you may want to check the ducts. Leaky ducts waste energy and money. It can also bring attic or crawlspace pollutants into the house.
Hello: I notice the hot and cold water lines are not insulated. Might be good to cover up both to prevent heat loss/gain and prevent the possibility of condensation. :~)
Thanks for spotting the problem. I’ll email my daughter about insulating the hot and cold water lines.