Your Duct Leaks are Costing You This Summer

The temperature isn’t the only thing soaring this summer — and energy bills are high enough without costly duct leaks. If your energy bill is higher than usual this summer, it could be a sign that your ducts are losing cold air almost as fast as your AC can crank it out.

In a typical home, 20 to 40 percent of the cooled air that moves through the duct system is lost through leaks, holes, and poorly connected tubes. Not only does this leakage make the bills higher, but it is also difficult to keep the house comfortable, no matter how low you set the thermostat.

If you have any of the following in your home, they could be contributing to the problem:

• Uninsulated ducts in unconditioned spaces
• Disconnected, torn, or damaged ducts
• Blind-alley ducts
• Inadequate return-side duct-work
• Other evidence of supply and return-side leakage

Your duct system is a series of tubes that connects and distributes your cold air to different rooms. This means that an issue that originates in the ducts, affects the entire home. The air quality in your home can be easily contaminated with pollution through faulty ducts. Residents are especially at risk of poor indoor air quality during the humid summer months.

Moisture in the air can easily fester in uninsulated or leaky ducts and lead to mold growth and mildew. This can put the health of everyone in your home at risk. Exposure to mold can lead to respiratory issues, allergies, and asthma.

The best way to deal with leaking ducts is by sealing and insulating them. This process can eliminate moisture and mold growth and create a strong, sealed system for your cooled air to travel through. Residents of Central Virginia trust Bradley Mechanical to seal their ducts with patented Aeroseal technology.

We use Aeroseal to create an air-tight barrier along the ductwork that keeps cool air from escaping, and humid air and other pollutants from entering. Every home has those hot rooms that just never seem to get cool. Sealing the ductwork can create a better pathway for ventilation so that every room in your home is the same, cool temperature. Humidity levels will also be much easier to control.

Bradley Mechanical has helped many homes in Richmond, Glen Allen, and Henrico achieve great performance and healthy indoor air. The Aeroseal product has been endorsed by the EPA, DOE, and the Building Performance Institute. It works well to get the hard-to-reach places between floors and inaccessible space. Bradley Mechanical can inject the airborne sealant into ductwork to close holes 5/8 inches and smaller.

Give us a call today at 804-748-6728 to make an investment in your home performance, and reducing energy bills not just this summer — but year round.