How To Improve Your Heating Airflow
Your HVAC system is not going to be effective it has poor airflow. No matter how powerful and efficient your furnace is, your airflow will not be 100% if your ducts and air registers are clogged or leaky. You don't even need to spend a lot of money to increase the efficiency of your ducts. This article explains how to tune up your ducts and air registers to get them in top working order.
Taping and Sealing your Ducts
Sealing your ducts with tape is quite simple. Here is what you need for the job:
- Aluminum foil tape: This works much better than cloth duct tape that is so common. Aluminum foil tape has peel-away paper backing because it is much stickier than normal duct tape. Also, it is perfectly air tight, so works the best.
- Scissors for cutting the tape
- Damp cloth to wipe down the duct seems before you tape them
You obviously cannot tape the seams of every duct piece in your home. The majority of the ducting is within the walls, so it is only accessible if your remove your drywall. However, there are plenty of spots of the ducting system that are accessible. These are also the spots that are most likely to need taping because they can get knocked loose. This is why it is always important to keep the area around your exposed ducts free of clutter. The exposed ducts need to be cleaned with a wet rag before taping them.
When taping, you should be liberal with the tape. It is probably a good idea to double wrap the tape. This not only increase the air-tight hold, it also strengthens the duct connections and prevents them from getting knocked loose.
Adding or Changing the Hose Clamp
The ducts are connected to the furnace with a splice collar. However, this collar needs to be secured with a hose clamp. Some collars are improperly attached to the furnace without a clamp. If this is the case with your furnace, you should definitely tighten it with a hose clamp. You can further reinforce the hose clamp with tape. This will help ensure that air is not leaking at this critical juncture where air is blowing very strongly.
Try to tape off all the duct seams that you can access. With a little bit of foil tape and proper application, you can increase the airflow of your furnace.
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