Ac Ducts In Attic

If ducts are located in a crawlspace underneath your house cover the soil to reduce moisture.

Ac ducts in attic.

The air ducts for a central hvac systems are typically located above a home in the attic or upper crawl space or underneath a home in the space between the foundation and the floor so you don t see them unless you have cause to replace them. Install ductwork so that it is in direct contact with i e laying on the ceiling and or truss lower cords. So if the thermostat is sitting at 74 degrees the air being pushed into the duct system is going to be right around 54 degrees. When hvac ducts are installed in a vented attic in a dry climate bury the ducts in attic insulation to protect them from temperature extremes in the unconditioned attic space.

Attics and heat the condenser in your air conditioner works hard to get rid of heat and pressurize refrigerant for the return trip through your house. Heaping insulation over the ducts is fine in dry climates but can cause condensation on the duct insulation jacket in humid climates. If you have central heating and or air conditioning in your home the warm or cool air is delivered to each room through a system of connected ducts and vents. In more cases than not a 3 ton ac with the ducts in the attic has a ton or so of load that s just from the location of the ducts in the attic and the associated duct gains leakage etc.

Why is this a problem. So water is condensing on your ac ducts. If you ve studied heat transfer at all you may recall that the rate at which heat moves from a warmer to a cooler body depends on the temperature difference which we abbreviate as δt. Put it in an attic full of blown insulation.

An attic can get up to about 130 f in the summer and the conditioned air entering the ducts is about 55 f or so. The duct insulation should include a vapor barrier cover. When water condenses and drips into your attic or home it can cause a some serious secondary problems. The remaining 2 tons of capacity is at least 1 5x oversized for the actual 1 load.

By spraying closed cell foam on the ducts before burying them in attic insulation you prevent the condensation problem. Reduce the humidity level around your air ducts. If they are located in your attic be sure the area is properly insulated and any cracks or holes are sealed. The doe s building america program recommends beds buried encapsulated ducts.

Keep ducts spaced apart so air can flow between them. Since burying ducts is simply one of several ways to address the energy waste associated with the decision to locate ducts in a vented unconditioned attic it s worth taking a fresh look at all of the possible solutions to the attic duct problem. If we take into consideration that on a hot summer day the attic where your ducts live can be as warm as 150 degrees that 90 100 difference in the temperature is what can cause the condensation to begin.