Designing ductwork for your new home or renovation isn’t something a homeowner should do on his own. To design HVAC ducts properly, professional know-how is necessary. Otherwise, you’ll risk having inefficient, non-effective ductwork in your home, and once ductwork has been designed and installed, it’s tough to fix if the design is faulty.
What Is the Function of Ductwork?
Ducts play an essential role in any forced-air heating or cooling system. They’re the arteries and veins of your air circulation system, delivering conditioned air to all the rooms in your house, and then bringing air back to the HVAC equipment to be heated or cooled again.
Components of Successful Duct Design
- Supply registers (the ones that issue conditioned air) should be located in each room where heating and cooling is desired. Ideally, return registers also should be located in each room, though sometimes that’s not practical. With fewer return registers, there should be an effective way for air to move between rooms.
- Duct sections should be as straight as possible without sharp curves and sections that are so lengthy the air velocity will peter out before making its destination.
- Ducts should be routed between joists in the basement, or if that’s not practical, over them. They should be placed on top of joists in ceilings or attics. Avoid any hot appliances or elements, such as water heaters, hot exhaust and water pipes.
- Ducts should decrease in diameter as they get closer to their destinations, since they’ll be carrying a lower volume of air, and a narrower duct will allow for greater air velocity.
- Avoid using wall cavities in lieu of actual ducts. This is a recipe for inefficiency and lost energy, as conditioned air escapes into wall and ceiling voids.
- As much as possible, ducts should be routed through conditioned areas. If ducts must go in unconditioned areas, they should be well insulated.
Find a trusted, skilled professional to design HVAC ducts in your new home or renovation. Contact us today at Donald P. Dick Air Conditioning. We specialize in custom sheet metal fabrication for your ducts and other needs.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in the greater Fresno, California area about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about ducts and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.
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