Have you ever wondered what are those metal channels running from your furnace? They are the essential passages that the air uses to heat and cool your home. If you live in Orangeville or Shelburne, Ontario in Dufferin County then chances are your home is equipped with ductwork. As a homeowner it is your responsibility to maintain and care for your home's duct work. Supply and Return Ducts The easiest way to understand how duct work functions is to visualize our bodies' circulatory system. For example, our heart is like the furnace and our blood vessels are the ductwork. Hence, when our furnace wants to heat or cool it pushes air into the supply ducts and pulls air back from the return ducts. This is not different than our heart pushing blood into the arteries and bringing it back from the veins. Another way of looking at it is, that the furnace will heat or cool the air and deliver it through the duct work to the desired rooms throughout your home. As it does this, it pulls back on the stale air in the rooms and draws it through the return ducts to recondition that air. It is a cycle similar to your heart delivering oxygen rich blood to the organs and pulling back the oxygen depleted blood back to the heart to re-oxygenate. This is the fundamental function of duct work, and it's how your home can stay either warm or cool with a flip of the thermostat.
Duct System Components Whenever the air in your house is circulated, it travels through the supply ductwork and flows out of your air registers. First, the air is heated or cooled at your furnace, then it enters a large cavity over the furnace called a plenum. Then, it gets pushed into a supply air trunk, which is like a highway for the air to travel on before it enters a smaller duct known as a branch duct. From there, it travels in the branch duct and gets delivered in to a room via floor or a ceiling register. Once the air is distributed through the room it gets pulled back through a return air grill on your wall or floor and travels back in a return air joist space and into the return air trunk. Lastly, the air passes through your filter and gets reconditioned again by the furnace to repeat the cycle. These components of a duct system work to keep your air clean, filtered, and at the desired temperature. Duct Work Maintenance If you are a homeowner in Dufferin County or anywhere else in Ontario than you will already know that changing your furnace filter is the simplest task to keep your furnace and ductwork trouble-free. The golden rule for changing your furnace filter is to replace it at least once a season, or 4 times a year. If you do not chance your furnace filter than your furnace will become the filter as it gets clogged with dirt and debris from the house. Thus, your equipment will breakdown more often and your indoor air quality will suffer too. Hence, regular furnace filter maintenance is key to your home comfort. Furthermore, duct cleaning should occur once every 5 to 7 years ( sooner if you have pets) to remove any dirt build-up on the insides of your ductwork. Regular upkeep of these two tasks will ensure the longevity of your duct work and the rest of your HVAC System.
Do you want your ductwork assessed for efficiency? Or, are you have troubles heating different parts of your home? You may need some duct work alterations or an upgrade. Give us a call at EMI Air Systems, we will be happy to help!
Mike Marcinkiewicz
emiairsystems.ca
437-343-0275