Help tracking ductwork leak (floor, how much, AC, ceiling)
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Ok..quickly now. I bought a house...hvac guy checked the hvac unit and works great. The inside will read 81 degrees. After turning on the ac I put a inside/outside temperature monitor on (one in crawlspace, one on the thermostat)..After 10 minutes inside reads 80 deg from 81 deg, and crawlspace went from 80 deg to 70 deg. Major leak in ductwork.. I tried using an infrared thermal gun to detect change..also checked temp at each vent in house...All around 60 deg...Any thoughts...I'm a DIY guy...so I reserve calling HVAC back out as last option..thanks citizens!
thanks so much, exactly what I was looking for...I tried searching for smoke candle on ebay, but the product you have looks better. Is it okay to have this placed at the return between the filter and the return duct or does it need to be on the delivery side of the duct fan? thanks
...you want to place this the plenum after the fan. (duct cleaning guys cut a little access panel in my ductwork)
That way the fan pressurized the supply with the "smoke" and you can find the leak FAST.
It gets more diffuse in the return ducts.
Quote:
Originally Posted by andreythedon
thanks so much, exactly what I was looking for...I tried searching for smoke candle on ebay, but the product you have looks better. Is it okay to have this placed at the return between the filter and the return duct or does it need to be on the delivery side of the duct fan? thanks
... but even if you are an experienced DIY type this is one of those projects that having at least a couple handy pals help with can be a literal lifesaver. Get a couple of walkie talkies and if the smoke starts to overwhelm the crawl space the person manning the fan control on the thermostat can cut the power and the third helper can shine the flashlight into the smoke so you can get to fresh air safely. The stuff used in these things is gnerally nontoxic but if whoop get a face full of it that can really be disorienting!
It's your air handler and all seams I garundamnteeya!
Get you some Shurtape and a few rags. Clean all surfaces well before you apply the tape and then coat with mastic liberally. Then do your duct leak test. There's no point in doing it before hand unless you want to try and chase down possibly hundreds of leaks.
Ok..quickly now. I bought a house...hvac guy checked the hvac unit and works great. The inside will read 81 degrees. After turning on the ac I put a inside/outside temperature monitor on (one in crawlspace, one on the thermostat)..After 10 minutes inside reads 80 deg from 81 deg, and crawlspace went from 80 deg to 70 deg. Major leak in ductwork.. I tried using an infrared thermal gun to detect change..also checked temp at each vent in house...All around 60 deg...Any thoughts...I'm a DIY guy...so I reserve calling HVAC back out as last option..thanks citizens!
Well - if you think you have duct work leaks - why not call in the HVAC people now to track down the leaks and fix them? What are you going to do if you find 3 leaks - tell the HVAC to fix 3 - and then find out you have 6 more?
FWIW - we took an energy conservation course before we built our house. At least here in Florida - the #1 cause of energy waste is duct work in attic space that isn't sealed correctly (at the time - in the mid-1990's - sealing duct work correctly was a 3 step process - I don't know what things are like today). We went up in the attic after the duct work was done - and satisfied ourselves that all of the duct work was good. It's not something I'd do at my age now .
But you're talking about crawl space - not the attic. Crawl space is under the house - not over the house - right?
So maybe it's not duct work. My memory banks tell me cold air falls - and hot air rises. So a failure to get cold air from under the house into the house could perhaps be the result of something other than bad duct work (I'm just guessing here - but if your duct work is under your house - you need more "oomph" to get cold air up and into the house because cold air - unless pushed - will fall - not rise). Also - you said your vent temp is about 60 (are the vents on the floor or in the ceiling?). So there's definitely cold air there. Perhaps not just enough of it. Robyn
Hmmm. thanks guys/gals...gonna tray to take a look at the air handler connection first..sounds logical. There is a lot of sag in the ductwork...so I'm thinking it mostly got blockage somewhere.. I will upload pics of the sag
It's your air handler and all seams I garundamnteeya!
Get you some Shurtape and a few rags. Clean all surfaces well before you apply the tape and then coat with mastic liberally. Then do your duct leak test. There's no point in doing it before hand unless you want to try and chase down possibly hundreds of leaks.
Thanks to all who have posted....I think the above poster had the solution to my problem...Tracked the primary leak in the crawlspace to where the duct enters the crawlspace..Took it a bit further to the air handler and wallaaa..The metal frame that the duct is "taped/glued" to was bolted at top not at bottom so just kinda hanging (no seal)....in the corners of the metal frame (above mentioned)were big gaping holes air was flowing through...and the duct was not glued very well to the metal frame anyway....Thanks everybody!
Not to mention the serious kink in the duct...I can't imagine how much that slows the air flow...but I can..because it doesn't blow hard at all...I wish I knew who did this install...it was terrible.
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Ideally...
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