Air ducts are an interesting component of your home. They might have been constructed at the same time you got your first central air conditioning system installed, or perhaps they were set up with you purchased a furnace. Either way, forced-air heating and cooling systems (that don’t rely on air handlers) must use air ducts in order to bring comfortable air to the rooms of a house.
Things can get funky with old homes especially, since most older homes used boilers and other methods for staying warm that didn’t rely on air ducts or air in general. This means that actually getting the air ducts installed in a home can be complicated, expensive, and a nightmare when they need to be replaced.
Let’s take the anxiety out of the equation today. We’ll talk about when you might need to call for our help with your AC duct replacement in Palm Bay, FL, and why this can be stressful to evaluate on your own.
The Average Lifespan of Air Ducts
Air ducts are basically large arrays of sheet metal that are compiled together to help transport the air conditioning to certain areas of your home. They’re not super complicated and they don’t require any moving machine parts to run adequately. This means that it’s possible for them to last longer than your air conditioner or heating system.
Many times when we install a new air conditioning unit in a home or condo, we can utilize the existing air ducts that are still in great shape. That is, until they reach about 15-20 years, when they start to deteriorate and undergo signs of aging.
Thermodynamics
In physics, there are some laws of thermodynamics that are unavoidable. Things like the fact that heat rises are just certain laws that our universe follows, which we must adhere to while we try to remain comfortable through heat waves and cold spells.
How does this relate to your air ducts and their replacement? Well, with contraction and expansion!
When air ducts cool down, they contract. Then, when your air conditioner shuts off and they heat up again, they expand. This constant contraction and expansion can wear down not only the sheet metal of the ductwork, but also the joints where the metal sheets meet.
Even if you treat your air ducts were perfect attention and maintenance, they could still run into problems after 15 years just due to the natural laws of thermodynamics. Constant expansion and contraction weaken materials and eventually cause them to deteriorate beyond repair.
Our Guide to Step-By-Step Replacement
Homeowners and other potential customers can sometimes get stressed out when thinking of air duct replacement. It can be a hefty job depending on the size of your home, and sometimes the work needs to be done in crawlspaces and ceilings.
Thankfully, this is more of an engineering job than a physical one. Sure, the ducts need to be installed and sealed properly, but as long as we can plan out and navigate your home properly (which we’re trained to do) then we can easily replace your air ducts in a minimal amount of time. Take the stress out of the situation, and just let our team work out the details.
Complete Air & Heat, Inc. has been replacing air ducts for decades. Schedule an appointment with us. Making families happy on the Space Coast since 1975!