Quality ductwork design, expert installation and regular professional maintenance is essential to keeping your heating and cooling system operating at its peak. Your initial design considerations should account for your home's layout and size, as well as other building design concerns. Ideally, initial design plans will be in place before your home has been built, but because many building contractors don't consult with HVAC professionals, they build homes with poorly functioning ductwork that's more susceptible to leaks, fails to deliver air efficiently throughout the household, and/or has the potential to create hot and cold spots. Homeowners with these issues will often find a ductwork redesign necessary.
In designing well-functioning ductwork layouts, the priority is to minimize household energy loss. Your ductwork should transfer conditioned air—the air central equipment has filtered, heated, and/or cooled—from your main system to your living spaces as directly and quickly as possible. To achieve this, good ductwork design ought to include efficient configuration and balanced airflow.
Configuration
The main sections of ductwork within your home should be short enough to maintain good airflow control and stability while also integrating with the building's layout. Most homes utilize either a trunk-and-branch or radial ductwork design system.
Balanced Airflow
Optimal ductwork design includes more than what's simply connected to your air handler. Your home should have supply and return ducts well placed throughout the house to promote desirable and balanced airflow. Supply ducts are what release conditioned airflow, while return ducts are the part of the system in which stale air is guided back into the main ductwork system to be pushed to the central equipment for re-conditioning.
For more information about implementing quality ductwork design in your Massachusetts home, or to learn about other high quality HVAC products and solutions, contact your local HVAC experts at Rodenhiser Plumbing, Heating & Air Conditioning.
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