In all the years I have been in this trade I have never experienced the amount of damaged caused by animals to a heating system like I encountered on this last system. In fact if it wasn’t for the amount of frustration the customer had from dealing with another heating company I may have turned this job down. When you have a customer with a home under 2000 sq ft and a heating bill (Nat gas) of $350 a month you have a serious problem.
Damaged Ducting
The picture above is of the 3 main trunks coming off the supply plenum, the reason for 3 mains instead of 1 is because of clearance issues, there simply wasn’t room. These 3 main ducts where covered in small prey remains and from the looks of it the bedding area for what ever lived here.
Damaged Ducting
Here I took a picture from inside the plenum looking down one of the mains, all 3 main ducts had similar openings. At a recent coarse I took on duct sealing I was told that a opening of 1 sq inch in a heating duct is equivalent to a 2′ sq opening in a wall. All together I encountered 5 serious openings such as this 1 and 3 minor openings, this is following another heating contractor who was here less than a year ago!
So even though you see what kind of damage can occur with flexible ducting I am still a big fan of its use, but when you have openings into your crawl space you will eventually have duct damage. So either use hard metal ducting or protect your crawl space and do annual inspections.
Heating And Cooling Skagit County
Need a Heat Pump, Air Conditioner, Furnace, Boiler or Tankless Water Heater? We install them all over Skagit county including Mount Vernon WA, Burlington WA, Anacortes, Sedro Woolley, La Conner, Stanwood WA, and on Camano Is.
The heating and cooling industry is constantly adapting to changes, the equipment is getting more and more efficient but the systems have not always kept up to the equipment. Case in point is duct work. It wasn’t until the energy code hit the HVAC market here in 1992 that we started to take the sealing of ductwork seriously and even then it was more on commercial projects rather than residentialy.
Sealed Duct
The new codes coming are getting a lot more serious about duct sealing and proving that it is sealed by pressurizing the system. Im not a big fan of making it mandatory because of the added cost to the consumer, especially in the change out market. But never the less these codes are coming.
Duct sealed
I typically seal the over lapping joints with duct tape then go back and seal all the fitting joints with Hardcast Duct Seal Its very easy to apply but does take some time and can be very messy.
Duct Sealed
I really enjoy running hard pipe versus flexible duct, flexible duct is 6 times more restrictive and rodents can get into them. But flexible duct is labor friendly, is already insulated and you don’t have to worry about sealing all those joints.
Heating And Cooling Skagit County
Need a Heat Pump, Air Conditioner, Furnace, Boiler or Tankless Water Heater? We install them all over Skagit county including Mount Vernon WA, Burlington WA, Anacortes, Sedro Woolley, La Conner, Stanwood WA, and on Camano Is.
I decided to modify my contact page to include a online appointment page, giving customers more flexability when scheduling service and sales calls.
You can visit it here… http://alpineheat.com/new-appointment-page/
Alpine Heating And Cooling
Need a Heat Pump, Air Conditioner, Furnace, Boiler or Tankless Water Heater? Or a complete heating system? We install them and all over Skagit county including Mount Vernon WA, Burlington WA, Anacortes, Sedro Woolley, La Conner, Stanwood WA, and on Camano Is.
Carbon Monoxide is by far one of the most dangerous by products produced in the majority of homes by gas appliances. I have decided to built an informational page on CO and have it link over from my furnace maintenance page.
http://www.alpineheat.com/Carbon_Mono.html
Alpine Heating And Cooling
Need a Heat Pump, Air Conditioner, Furnace, Boiler or Tankless Water Heater? Or a complete heating system? We install them and all over Skagit county including Mount Vernon WA, Burlington WA, Anacortes, Sedro Woolley, La Conner, Stanwood WA, and on Camano Is.
From time to time I get a phone call to do equipment inspections, usually at a buyers request. I do these at a lower cost because (A) I get to put my sticker on the equipment (B) There is a good chance the equipment is on its last legs anyway and it gives me the opportunity to quote the new equipment.
Older furnace
The picture above is of a older forced air furnace, the house was a repo so the gas was turned off. So testing the equipment was impossible. The first thing that hit me was the lack of return ducting. Notice the filter on top? Now notice that the furnace actually pulls its combustion air from the same space it pulls its return air from? Not only is this HIGHLY against code … its very dangerous to the people living in the home. The 2nd thing that hit me was the age of the equipment, I am guessing around 36 years old based on the style and the serial number. I do not need to see this thing fire off to tell you its in very poor condition and the gas company will not re-establish gas service to this home without the return air/combustion air being repaired.
Alpine Heating And Cooling
Need a Heat Pump, Air Conditioner, Furnace, Boiler or Tankless Water Heater? Or a complete heating system? We install them and all over Skagit county including Mount Vernon WA, Burlington WA, Anacortes, Sedro Woolley, La Conner, Stanwood WA, and on Camano Is.