Duct Sealing and DuctCleaning Explained

What Duct Cleaning Does

When dust builds up on the furniture in your Las Vegas home, the air conditioning vents might seem like the obvious source. The ductwork carries air from the indoor unit to every room. If the system distributes dust, homeowners often assume the ducts need to be cleaned out. Duct cleaning involves pushing brushes and vacuums through the flexible and metal tubes to remove settled debris. Some companies offer this service to clear out pet hair, construction dust or other buildup. That airflow picks up whatever sits inside the ducts. However, Kestrel Heating & Air does not offer duct cleaning. We repair, seal, replace and balance ductwork instead. Cleaning simply removes the dirt, but it does not stop dirt from entering the system again.

What Duct Sealing Does

Duct sealing is a repair to the ductwork. Instead of cleaning the inside of the tubes, sealing fixes the outer layer. The ducts in your attic or hall closet are assembled from sections of sheet metal, fiberglass board and flexible plastic. Installers connect these pieces at joints and junctions. Over time, the extreme heat of a Las Vegas summer and the cold winter nights cause these materials to expand and contract. This constant movement can pull the connections apart. A technician looks over the ductwork that can be reached. Sealing closes leaking joints and reattaches loose sections.

Air Lost to Unsealed Connections

When connections come loose, the system leaks. According to ENERGY STAR, a typical house loses about twenty to thirty percent of the air moving through the duct system to leaks, holes and poorly connected ducts. Sealing the ductwork reduces this loss. If your supply ducts leak, you are pumping cold air into the attic instead of your living room. The central air conditioner has to run longer to cool the house, putting extra wear on the compressor and fan. The outdoor unit sits in direct sun when July’s average high is 104.5°F.

Leaks on the return side cause a different issue entirely. The return duct pulls air from the house back to the equipment to be cooled or heated. If a return duct has a hole in the attic, it pulls in attic air like a vacuum. This air can carry attic dust and insulation fibers. The system bypasses your air filter, cools that dirty attic air, and blows it directly into your rooms.

When Ducts Need More Than Sealing

Crushed, torn or badly routed ducts may need replacement rather than sealing. Airflow balancing helps rooms that stay warmer. Two-story homes often have uneven temperatures between floors, and zoning can help. You get a written price before any work begins.

Keeping Your Ducts Clean

These steps help keep dust from cycling through your vents:

• Check the air filter every month and replace it at least every three months as recommended by ENERGY STAR.
• Schedule a cooling tune-up in the spring, which checks the blower and airflow.
• Schedule a heating tune-up in the fall.
• Have a technician inspect the attic ductwork for visible disconnections that could draw in outside dust.

Duct Repair for Your Home

Kestrel Heating & Air provides duct repair and sealing for the Las Vegas valley. If your home has uneven temperatures between floors or weak airflow from the registers, our technicians can inspect the connections in your attic. We show you what we find and provide a written price for the duct sealing before any work begins. Sealing those gaps keeps more cooled air in your rooms and more desert dust out.