Cowboys Air Conditioning & Heating Blog: Posts Tagged ‘Duct Repair’

Damaged Ductwork and Its Impact on Your AC

Monday, May 14th, 2018

A worker is sealing two sections of house attic vent duct insulation with aluminum foil tape. The foreground is a section of truss and the background is OSB sheathing for the roof.When you live somewhere like San Antonio, chances are that you do think a bit about your air conditioner. You want it to operate effectively and efficiently, after all. What most homeowners don’t think about those is the “V” in “HVAC”—the ventilation that connects your air conditioner to the outside, making the distribution of cooled air possible. This ventilation system, known as your air ducts, is typically out of sight—hidden behind walls, beneath floors, or in your attic and crawlspace.

Unfortunately, if you had your ductwork installed by an amateur, or if you have aging ductwork, there’s a good chance it’s accumulated damage over the years. And if your air ducts are impacted by leaks, poor connections, or improper construction, you might be experiencing problems that lead to poor HVAC efficiency and possibly San Antonio air conditioning repair needs, as well. One of the most common problems that leads to damage is ductwork that wasn’t properly sized for the home in which it’s installed.

Continue Reading

Signs That You Need Duct Repair

Tuesday, April 8th, 2014

Your heating and air conditioning system only works as long as the ducts that distribute the air are in good shape. When breaches occur – either through age or more direct damage – they can cause considerable problems. Here in San Antonio, duct repair services can usually correct the problem promptly, but you still need to be able to recognize trouble and call for help when it arrives.

In San Antonio, duct repair services can be performed by the experts at Cowboys Air Conditioning & Heating. We have years of experience, and we’re completely dedicated to your satisfaction.

Signs That You Need Duct Repair

  • Lower air flow. The biggest issues surrounding a breached duct is the way that it can pull condition ed air out of your system. That will result in lowered air flow, forcing your heater or air conditioning unit to work harder in order to do the same job. If your unit doesn’t seem to blow air quite as hard as it should, there may be a breach in your ducts.
  • Reduced cooling capacity. Sometimes, the breach won’t pull air out, but rather suck air in. In that case, the air will mix with the conditioned air already travelling through it, and either heat it up (in the case of air conditioning) or cool it off (in the case of heating). Again, this impacts your system’s ability to do its job, costing you money in the process.
  • Strange noises. In some cases air pulled through the breach will create odd sounds as the metal vibrates or stretches in response. This is actually quite helpful in determining the exact spot of the breach, as well as helping you spot the problem. Sadly it doesn’t happen in every case.
  • Dirt. A breached duct may pull in dirt and debris from the outside, which will spread throughout your home and can often be seen emerging from the ducts.

The signs that you need duct repair can actually be quite helpful because they alert you to the nature of a problem that might otherwise persist. If you spot any of these signs call the duct cleaning experts at Cowboys Air Conditioning and Heating. We will be happy to diagnose and repair any issues within your home’s duct work.

Continue Reading

3 Issues That Duct Repair Will Correct

Wednesday, March 12th, 2014

A common problem that plagues HVAC systems is damage along the ductwork that results in leaks. Manufacturers design ductwork to maintain an air seal along their length to prevent a drop in air pressure. Provided that professional HVAC technicians installed your ducts in the first place, you should have a system that easily transfers hot or cold air from your home comfort system to the vents and into your living space.

But ductwork can develop breaks: construction errors, poor installation, corrosion, mildew—all can lead to spots in the ducts where air can escape. When this happens, you need to have duct sealing specialists come to your home and use metal tape and mastic sealant to fix the leaks, or even replace sections of the ductwork if necessary. Cowboys Air Conditioning & Heating has the skills and the tools to help you with professional duct repair in San Antonio, TX that will restore your ventilation system.

Here are three problems that professional duct sealing will fix to help improve indoor air quality:

  • Low airflow: any break in the sealing of ductwork will cause air to begin to escape, and this will cause the air pressure to drop. If you consider the length of your ducts and how far the air must travel from the HVAC system to reach the vents, you’ll realize how important it is to maintain air pressure. It only takes one leak to cause the airflow coming from your vents to plunge, and that means uneven heating and cooling and reduced comfort.
  • High utility bills: As air pressure drops from breaks in your ductwork and heating/cooling power also falters, your HVAC system will have to work harder to reach its set temperature. This stress will drain extra power, and you will see a corresponding spike in your energy bills each month. (There is a positive side to this, however: a rise in your bills can warn you about duct problems.)
  • Reduced air quality: Ductwork hides behind walls and in other places you rarely access. These spots are usually dusty and filled with debris. Damage to the ducts will allow these unwanted particles to contaminate the inside of the ventilation channels, and in turn it will enter your house and circulate through the air. Worse, it can allow mold and other bacteria to begin to develop inside the ducts, which is a major threat to indoor air quality. Sealing ducts will keep them clean, and your air clean as well.

Duct sealing requires trained professionals, not duct tape. (Duct tape isn’t actually meant for ducts anyway.) When you think you have leaks in your ventilation—high bills, low air flow, odd smells from the vents—call on the San Antonio, TX duct repair specialists at Cowboys Air Conditioning & Heating. Give us a call today and schedule your next duct repair with a trusted HVAC system service in San Antonio.

Continue Reading

Can Flexible Ductwork Be Repaired?

Friday, November 15th, 2013

In the earliest days of central heating and air conditioning, ducts came in only one style: solid, inflexible sheet metal constructed into rectangular channels. Sheet metal ducts still perform a hefty amount of the work in many buildings, especially commercial structures. But for homes with smaller spaces, flexible ducts can do a much more efficient job.

Since flexible ducts aren’t constructed from durable sheet metal, they can suffer damage easier than standard metal ducts and develop leaks that will make them less effective. But does their less durable construction material mean that they have to be replaced if they sustain damage? Do you have an option to repair them instead?

The answer is, yes, flexible ductwork can benefit from repairs. Extreme damage may still require replacement, but since flexible ducts costs less than sheet metal ducts, this isn’t a drastic alternative. However, you should consult with duct repair specialists to see what your best option is. Cowboys Air Conditioning & Heating can take care of many kinds of problems you may encounter with your ductwork.

We perform duct repair in Selma, TX as well as replacements: whatever your ductwork needs, we can provide it.

The common type of flexible ducts consists of folding plastic material with an insulation casing. Loss of insulation or holes through the plastic will cause a decrease in air pressure and harm your HVAC system’s ability to function, adding unnecessary stress to it.

You can’t repair duct holes using duct tape; despite the name, that’s not what duct tape is good for. What will work on gaps and tears in flexible ducts is mastic sealing, a resin-based material that stands up to temperature changes. This is a job for professionals to handle using a mastic caulking gun.

Professionals can also locate places where the flexible ducts have come loose from their connections and seal them back into place so the problem will not immediately re-occur.

One of the reasons you should not take on repairs to flexible ductwork yourself is that it is difficult to access many of the ducts in your home, and detecting where leaks have started to occur presents a problem if you lack HVAC experience. Tampering with ductwork can lead to more problems… you need the experts to take care of this job to keep the repairs from spiraling out of control.

In the long run, you’ll be thankful you called a company like Cowboys Air Conditioning & Heating to handle your flexible duct repair needs in San Antonio, Selma, and beyond!

Continue Reading