With the better part of spring behind us and summer well on its way, now is the perfect time to take care of any air conditioning maintenance needs. This is the best way to ensure your cooling system will work without fault over the summer and won’t cost more to run than it should.
During your maintenance appointment, our technicians will thoroughly inspect your entire system for any signs of repair needs. Among the things we find may be the need for duct repair in Lawrenceville, GA. Breached or broken ductwork is one of the biggest “energy thieves” in homes, since it allows conditioned air to leak out into unoccupied spaces, such as your crawlspace or attic, instead of your living space.
Keep Your Ducts in Good Condition
Ductwork that is properly installed and cared for can keep your AC system from losing 20-30% of the air moving through it. That’s air you pay to cool in the summer and heat in the winter that would otherwise just go to waste. With your breached ducts sealed or repaired, however, you can see significant savings on your monthly energy bills.
Leave Air Duct Repairs and Sealing to the Pros
What is this about duct sealing? Can’t you just accomplish this on your own with a bit of duct tape? Well, that would be a problem, because even though duct tape is useful for many household jobs and DIY crafts, it’s not actually appropriate for duct sealing, or ductwork repairs of any kind.
Wait, But Then Why Is It Called Duct Tape?
Duct tape, when used to refer to the consumer-grade tape found in most hardware stores, is a cloth-backed adhesive tape first developed around the same time as the first World War. It’s purpose then was to seal up ammo boxes—and it was actually called duck tape. There’s two potential explanations for this name—it was either because it was backed with duck cloth, or because its water resistance properties reminded people of how water washed off a duck’s oiled back.
Later, in the 1950s, that duck turned into duct, due to the mistaken assumption that it may work to repair and seal air conditioning ducts. And sure, this may work as a temporary fix. However, tests have shown it’s not a long term solution. This is because duct tape reacts poorly to heat and temperature fluctuations, which is naturally pretty common in ductwork. The adhesive of duct tape turns brittle and the tape fails. In over 90% of the cases where duct tape was tested for this purpose, the tape failed in about a month.
A Case for Professional Duct Repair and Sealing
Professional duct repair and sealing utilizes special equipment, like resin-based mastic sealant and metallic tapes, to ensure that the ductwork is made airtight again. However, it takes more than just professional equipment to do the job. HVAC technicians must locate where the leaks are happening and access them—and this just isn’t something an amateur can do on their own.
Contact Wall Heating & Air Conditioning, Inc. for reliable indoor air quality and HVAC services!