How To Repair A Hole In Drywall Over An Air Duct

Ducts Behind Walls? Here's How to Meliorate Airflow Anyway

floor vent with poor airflow from ductwork

Ducts are e'er easier to meliorate when you lot can get your hands on them. In many homes, the longest duct runs are readily accessible in attics, crawlspaces, or basements. Plenum boxes are usually there, besides. Any time nosotros need to repair or modify these ducts to improve airflow, they're at our immediate disposal.

Only other times, we but can't get our hands effectually your airflow problem. The misbehaving ducts are backside walls or between floors. To get at them, we'd have to tear your home apart! You don't want the states to do that. Neither do we.

The good news? In that location are still ways to better airflow when the problem ducts are sequestered behind drywall. Here are three ways to practise it.

1. Is i vent blowing too difficult? Install opposed blade dampers at the supply registers.

Even when nosotros can't access your ducts, we tin always admission your supply registers. These are the little vents scattered throughout your house where the HVAC arrangement sends the conditioned air.

When a room is getting more air than it needs, opposed bract dampers, aka "opposed dampers," tin can help yous residuum airflow at the register. They tin exist installed at the boot (just backside the visible function of the register) and, depending on your preferences, easily adapted to direct more or less air to a given room.

Installing these dampers should always be combined with a exam and balance process that optimizes airflow across your dwelling. Otherwise, y'all run the hazard of creating other airflow problems or increasing static pressure beyond a safe threshold.

To be clear, opposed dampers volition not fix a problem with your ducts.

Even so, they allow you to increase or decrease airflow to sure areas of your habitation in spite of a trouble with a subconscious duct. In many cases, opposed dampers are all you need to right a problem with excessive airflow.

ii. Use Aeroseal to seal ducts from the within.

When leaky ducts are in an attainable area, sealing them doesn't require any special equipment. Mastic or mastic tape nearly e'er does the trick. But how exercise you seal leaky ducts located behind walls?

The answer is Aeroseal. It's a duct-sealing product that only approved contractors can apply. After cleaning your ducts, a contractor uses specialized equipment to employ Aeroseal inside your ductwork - even the ducts behind walls! Following awarding, the Aeroseal product hardens within the gaps and cracks inside your ductwork, effectively sealing leaky areas that are otherwise inaccessible.

How does Aeroseal improve airflow? Past helping motility all the air inside your ducts to the supply registers.

When supply ducts leak, a lot of the air that would otherwise make information technology to a given room merely... doesn't. Aeroseal prevents the air from escaping until it arrives at its destination. If a room doesn't get enough air right now, it might afterward applying Aeroseal.

Annotation that Aeroseal helps seal relatively small gaps and holes. It tin't fill in large holes, seal disconnected ducts, or account for damaged or crushed ductwork behind walls.

And while the cumulative result of Aeroseal within a home'south entire duct system is to minimize leakage and increment airflow, it'due south unlikely to remainder the air amongst different rooms on its own. Information technology can increase airflow when there's likewise petty, simply it'due south not a comprehensive fix for an unbalanced system or faulty ductwork.

Bonus: When Aeroseal dramatically reduces duct leakage, it likewise helps your HVAC system operate more efficiently. Yous save money and amend airflow at the same time!

iii. Become a thermostat with room sensors.

When opposed dampers won't cutting downward on excess airflow or you're non ready to leap for Aeroseal when in that location's too picayune airflow, a different thermostat might fix your problem, hidden ducts or no.

To be more specific, a new thermostat with room sensors might prepare the problem.

If your abode has a single HVAC system, your thermostat just monitors temperature in the room where it's installed. Some thermostats, like the Ecobee Smart Thermostat and Ecobee3 lite, tin communicate with remote sensors. Just install the sensors in the rooms with airflow problems and ready them to your desired temperature. Done.

Instead of heating or cooling your habitation to the temperature in the room where the thermostat is located, you tin rut or cool your home to the temperature in the room where the sensor is located.

Typically, the sensor tells the organisation to run longer so that the room with the sensor gets more air. You lot can e'er program these sensors to your desired condolement level; depending on your settings, the arrangement will send a greater or lesser volume of air to a given infinite.

This method well-nigh ever works, but there's a downside.

When y'all're using the sensor to heat or absurd a room that commonly doesn't get enough airflow, you'll probably overcool or overheat other areas of your home. Your HVAC arrangement will also consume more energy since information technology's running for longer cycles.

If you lot're ok with that - and if you're not using the overcooled or overheated parts of your home when your thermostat prioritizes the sensor - switching to one of these thermostats can be a good solution.

Hidden ducts aren't always a dead terminate.

Problems with inaccessible ducts can definitely crusade airflow issues. Thankfully, there are ways to improve airflow fifty-fifty when you lot can't see or touch the problematic ducts.

Is it easier to set up ducts when you can admission them directly? Definitely. But that doesn't mean there aren't solutions.

Almost of the methods nosotros've discussed hither are reliable and will work for virtually homes. However, there are exceptions. When ducts are severely bent, crushed, or otherwise damaged, the only mode to amend airflow may be to replace the ducts themselves.

Proper airflow, of course, is important for staying comfortable in every room of your home at all times of year.

If yous're concerned almost airflow issues in your Atlanta home, give us a holler! Whether or not a hidden duct is to blame, we'll assist yous discover what'southward causing the problem and identify the all-time solution.