Why Your Air Ducts Are Possibly Ruining Your Home’s Air Quality (And Health)

November 11, 2014

Your home’s air quality is important. Think about it. You’re at home almost 16 hours each day. So you better make sure the air there is worth breathing.

But it may not be.

Not if your air duct system (the tubes carrying air around your home) has leaks or holes.

They can cause your air to contain copious amounts of dust, mold and other nasty particles.

Basically—it’s an asthma and allergy sufferer’s worst nightmare.

“What are the chances my home has a leaky air duct system?”

The chances are pretty high, actually

According to ENERGY STAR, the average home’s air ducts lose 20% of the air that passes through them due to:

  • Holes
  • Leaks
  • Poorly connected ducts

Learn the signs that your air ducts are leaky.

So how do these leaks and poor connection translate into poor air quality?

Here’s how:

3 ways leaky ducts are causing air quality issues in your home

1) Leaky ducts pull in nasty stuff into your ductwork and blow it into your home

When the duct leaks are located in unconditioned areas—like your attic or a crawl space— it pulls in all the surrounding unfiltered air (air you probably don’t want to breathe). The dirty air then gets distributed into your home.

2) Leaky ducts can cause outside air to infiltrate your home

If you have leaks in your supply side ducts (the ones responsible for delivering the air), this can cause your air ducts system to pull in air from outside your home.

Why?

Well, if your supply ducts have leaks in an unconditioned space, your home’s living space is losing air. This causes your home to have “negative pressure.” That just means there’s less pressure inside your home than outside your home.

When your home has negative pressure, outside air infiltrates your home to make up the pressure difference. And if you’re not a fan of pollen, you don’t want outside air creeping into your home.

3) Leaky ducts increase humidity in your home—possibly leading to mold growth

To grow, mold needs the right amount of moisture. Duct leaks pull in extra moisture from unconditioned spaces—giving mold the conditions it needs to grow in your ductwork.

Want your air ducts checked for leaks?

Advanced Air can easily discover if your home’s ducts have leaks and then seal them. We also offer duct cleaning if you need it.

Schedule online and you can save 10%.

Advanced Air has been serving Fort Myers and Naples, Florida, and the surrounding areas for over 25 years.