AEROSEAL DUCT SEALING

5 Signs of Leaky Ducts

  1. Uncomfortably hot or cold rooms – Unsealed gaps and leaks in your duct system allow treated air to escape into crawlspaces, attics and walls, preventing the air from being delivered to it’s intended destination.
  2. Excessive dust – Leaky ducts pull mold, dust and other pollutants into your home, presenting indoor air quality issues and aggravating existing asthma allergy problems.
  3. High energy bills – On average, 30 cents of every $1 you spend on heating and cooling your home or building disappears into thin air due to leaky ducts.
  4. Excessive humidity – Small gaps and holes in your ductwork draw humid air from outside into your home, creating humidity and comfort issues.
  5. Musty odor or fume smells – Leaky ducts contribute to safety issues in residential homes due to potential backdrafting of gas appliance fumes, auto exhaust and radon gas into your living space.

What Is Aeroseal?

Ask This Old House feat. Aeroseal

Aeroseal is a duct sealing process developed & patented by the US Dept. Of Energy & Environmental Protection Agency to combat wasted energy, poor air distribution & indoor air quality (IAQ) problems caused by air duct leakage.  These problem are typically blind to most homeowners who have come to accept excess dust, uneven cooling or heating of rooms, & IAQ symptoms associated with “sick home syndrome” as normal, not connecting these problems as the result of leaky ducts. Because most duct work is concealed in walls & other hard to get places until Aeroseal there was no cost effective way to seal existing duct work in homes. Aeroseal works from the inside using a non-toxic aerosol process that seals only the gaps & cracks reducing leakage, in many cases, over 90%. Duct Kings is a licensed dealer of Aeroseal and was the first Aeroseal dealer in New England.

How Leaky Are My Ducts?

The US Dept. of Energy and the Electric Power Research Institute determined that 25% to 40% of heating and cooling energy put out by heating, ventilating and cooling air in the average home is lost by leaky duct work.

Stop the Main Source of Dust in Your Home’s Ducts

Your duct system has 2 sides, supply & return. The supply side pushes conditioned air, (heated or cooled), into your rooms. The return side pulls air back into your HVAC system where it is reconditioned & recirculated through your home (see the pic below). Leaks in the return side pull air into your air ducts from unwanted places (attics, basements, crawl spaces, garages). This air from unwanted places is then circulated into your home bringing with it dust, dirt, & other pollutants. By sealing leaks, (made up of gaps at the connections, seams, intersections & corners in the duct work), from the inside stops unwanted air infiltration & with it, dust, dirt, etc.

Reduce Leaks and Save Money

Money Magazine reported that sealing leakage is one of the easiest ways to cut your energy bills by up to 50% & the New York Times reports that fixing leaky duct work gives homeowners the best return in energy saving (see chart at the bottom).

How Aeroseal Works?

Step 1. The inspection and pre leakage test. We will temporarily block all supply and returns and run the pretest.  This will tell us how leaky the duct work is in square inches and in CFM (cubic feet per minute).

Step 2.  The sealing.  We will then begin sealing the duct work with the computer operated Aeroseal patented aerosol mist.  The ducts are put under positive pressure and where air leaks from the duct work the mist seals the leak from the inside (does not coat the duct, just fills the leak).

Step 3. The post leakage test. With the supplies and returns still block we will run a post leakage test that will tell us how muck of a reduction in leakage there was and your projected energy savings.

Step 4.  The printed report.  We will then print the report with the pre-leakage results, the post leakage results and your projected energy savings.

Frequently Asked Questions

What amount of leakage reduction is expected? We have seen leakage reduction up to 90%.

My ducts are wrapped in insulation, doesn’t that keep them tight? Air ducts are not sealed by the insulation wrap and often this insulation only hides poor metal work assembly or disconnections that are discovered during our leak testing.

Does Aeroseal coat the duct work? No it only fills the leaks in the duct from the inside.

Is Aeroseal harmful in any way? Aeroseal has a zero OSHA maximum exposure limit, & is made of the same materials used to make baby pacifiers so it is non-toxic.

How long does it take to do the sealing?  Depending on the size of the home but usually in one day. Once we are done the system can be used.

Do you need to open walls? No!  We are able to reach all of the duct work with out opening walls, cutting holes in ceilings and any other areas that are concealed.

What is the warranty? The product has a ten year warranty for residential properties and at the end of each Aeroseal a certificate of completion is generated certifying the amount of leakage before and after the process along with the equivalent size hole in inches and percentage. See The Actual Aeroseal Waranty Here.

Duct Leakage & Aeroseal Technology

Aeroseal Process

Aeroseal on the Today Show

Aeroseal on the Marliyn Show

Further Information

Billions In Lost Energy Leaking Out of Home Heating & Cooling Ducts.

Energy Star- Duct Sealing

Energy Star Brochure PDF – Duct Sealing

Breakthrough Berkeley Mist Sealant Technology: Potential to Save Americans $5B Per Year