What Factors Affect the Cost of Air Duct Replacement?
What Factors Affect the Cost of Air Duct Replacement?
Without air ducts, your HVAC system would never be able to make your Sacramento home comfortable. Although ducts are necessary, their use does come with some drawbacks. One of these drawbacks is that ducts eventually require replacing. The problem is that many Sacramento homeowners see their home’s ducts as a lifetime investment, ultimately resulting in wasted energy and uncomfortable rooms. If you want to improve your HVAC system’s efficiency and ensure your home is as comfortable as possible, it’s important to consider air duct replacement. Understanding the costs involved in this project is the focus of this article from Crystal Blue Plumbing Heating & Air.
Why Ducts Deteriorate
Ducts don’t sit outside or in direct sunlight. That’s why many homeowners are surprised that ducts can deteriorate at all. Although air ducts have some protection because they’re inside your home, ducts continuously experience harsh conditions. One condition that’s hard on ducts is constant temperature changes. Since air ducts largely reside in spaces that lack insulation, they tend to get much warmer or colder than the rest of your home. Then, when conditioned air blows through the ducts, their temperatures change quickly, wearing down the metal over time. Ducts also have to face attics with high humidity, curious animals that make their nests in unseen spaces of your home, and other challenges. This is why it’s important to have Crystal Blue Plumbing Heating & Air inspect your ducts every few years to make sure these factors aren’t negatively affecting your home’s ducts.
Expected Lifespan of Air Ducts
Despite the harsh conditions that air ducts face, you can still expect them to last between 20 and 25 years. Of course, if your ducts have proper insulation around them and were properly installed, this lifespan could be much longer. Another variable that determines the lifespan of your ducts is the material they’re made from. Flexible ducts tend to be less robust than rigid metal ducts, especially if there are curious critters in your attic or crawl space. Under certain circumstances, you might only get ten years from flexible ducts, meaning you need to try and avoid flexible ducts if you’re changing small sections of ductwork in your home.
Cost to Replace Air Ducts
A variety of factors influence the final cost of air duct replacement. Assuming there are no major roadblocks, you can expect to pay between $1,000 and $6,000. Again, these numbers are just rough estimates and can only be confirmed after evaluating your home’s particular needs. One factor that contributes to the cost of ductwork replacement is that there is a lot of custom work that goes into every duct system. Although the ducts themselves are often mass-produced, the joints between the ducts and the precise measurements to ensure everything fits correctly are different from home to home. At Crystal Blue Plumbing Heating & Air, we are happy to provide free estimates for duct replacement to help you understand the feasibility of this project.
Other Factors
Beyond customization concerns, an important component affecting the cost of your project will be the size of your house. Larger homes naturally require more extensive ductwork systems, meaning that more materials and labor will go into a ductwork replacement project for a larger house. The complexity of the system is another important concern. If your home has separate HVAC systems for different levels of your home, the time required to properly replace the ductwork for these systems will increase. Additionally, if you have a zoned system that uses dampers to accurately control the flow of air to individual rooms, the cost of your project will likely go up. Fortunately, an experienced company like Crystal Blue Plumbing Heating & Air can quickly complete even complex projects to minimize the time you can’t use your HVAC system.
Potential Air Duct Issues
Ignoring your air ducts will only lead to problems. At Crystal Blue Plumbing Heating & Air, we always tell our customers to opt for air duct replacement before a major issue causes loss of comfort and efficiency. The most serious problem with damaged ducts is that air can leak out of the ducts before it reaches the vents. This means that your ducts will be heating and cooling gaps between walls, attics, and crawl spaces instead of the living areas throughout your home. Even if there are no holes in the ducts themselves, the joints between the ducts can separate, leading to large leaks and further complications down the road. Additionally, leaky ducts can allow excess moisture and dust to enter the ducts. If the dust becomes trapped in the ducts, moisture can get caught in the dust and lead to mold growth, causing unhealthy air conditions in your home.
Signs of Air Duct Problems
It’s always important to pay attention to your HVAC system so that you can catch potential problems early. Even though you can’t see your home’s air ducts, you can still notice signs that indicate it might be time to replace them. One sign of trouble is when different rooms in your home are frequently at vastly different temperatures. When air leaks out of the air ducts, the intended volume of air won’t reach rooms that are further away from the central components of your HVAC system, leading to uncomfortable temperatures in these rooms. In some situations, you may notice rattling noises coming from your ducts. If your ducts have a substantial leak, the different air pressure levels at different points in the ductwork can cause major vibrations. If you have rattling ducts, it’s a good idea to call Crystal Blue Plumbing Heating & Air as soon as possible for a free evaluation to determine what’s going on.
Duct Sealing
If duct replacement sounds like too much of an involved project, there is another option if you have leaking ducts in your home. Duct sealing uses special sticky sealant that sticks to holes in your ductwork as the sealant is drawn through the ducts under negative pressure. The sealant builds on itself, creating large masses of sealant that prevent air from escaping just as if the duct was new. Overall, this process is faster, easier, and typically less expensive than complete duct replacement. Even new duct systems can benefit from duct sealing to help seal gaps between pieces of ductwork. A technician from Crystal Blue Plumbing Heating & Air will be able to determine if your ducts are a good candidate for sealing.
Taking Pride in Air Ducts
At Crystal Blue Plumbing Heating & Air, we take pride in taking care of your entire HVAC system. We provide a complete lineup of HVAC services, including air conditioner repair, furnace replacement, duct repair and replacement. We also offer other services including: water heater installation, sump pump repair, drain cleaning, thermostat upgrades, and much more. This all-in approach to home care is one reason why our customers frequently leave us five-star reviews. To learn more about taking care of your home’s ducts, contact us at Crystal Blue Plumbing Heating & Air today.