Next time your air conditioning comes on, feel the air at a vent. Is it instantly cool, or does it take a few minutes to drop in temperature? Then go to the vent farthest from your A/C. Does the air have as much force there as at other vents in your home?

If your conditioned air takes awhile to cool or isn’t forceful enough, your home’s ductwork might have been poorly designed or installed.

If you have warm air coming through your vents after your A/C cycles on, the air in your ducts might be absorbing heat — particularly if you have ductwork in a hot attic. That’s a sign of poor or no insulation surrounding your ductwork. Ducts that are insulated against our Southwest Florida heat stay cooler longer.

If the cool air comes out less forcefully at certain registers or vents, your home is being cooled unevenly. Your ducts could be improperly sized; they could be bent or twisted, slowing the airflow; or your ducts may simply be too long. In an efficient and comfortable cooling system, outgoing air should be roughly equal to the air that enters your system. Otherwise, your A/C has to work harder than it should, potentially shortening its life span and boosting your utility bills.

Poor ductwork design and installation may be causing your HVAC system to use more energy than it needs to. Oftentimes, homes in Naples and Ft. Myers have been built with ductwork as a low priority, leading to contorted turns, longer runs than necessary, leaking joints and poor connections. A home must have ductwork design and installation that suits the home’s HVAC equipment and floor plan.

If you believe your ductwork might need improvements, please contact us at Conditioned Air. We can evaluate your situation and explore options that might better suit your home.

Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about ductwork and other HVAC topics, click here to download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

Conditioned Air services Southwest Florida including cities Marco Island, Ft. Myers or anywhere in between.  To get started, check out our website or see our special offers.