Is Air Balancing Off in Your Home’s HVAC System?

Air balancing is a delicate act. When a house is in balance, the volume of conditioned air entering and leaving rooms is approximately equal, creating neutral air pressure that’s most effective and efficient for cooling and heating. However, your home may gradually go out of balance over time as changes occur in your HVAC system and ductwork or the overall air-tightness of your home. The imbalance becomes noticeable as rooms closest to the indoor air handler are cooler or warmer while others far away are always uncomfortable.

Positive pressure occurs when air volume entering the room through supply ducts is more than the amount drawn out through return ducts. The pressure imbalance forces cooled or heated air out through structural cracks and gaps, wasting energy.

When the room balance tips toward the negative, depressurization sucks hot or cold outdoor air into the house and makes your A/C or furnace work harder. It may also pull unhealthy, contaminated air from the attic or crawl space into living spaces.

Getting in Balance

Air balancing by a qualified HVAC technician uses specialized equipment to measure room airflow, static pressure inside the ducts and blower output. Achieving proper air balance may be as simple as replacing dirty air filters and adjusting supply registers in certain rooms. However, fine-tuning balancing dampers is usually a more comprehensive solution. These small doors, typically situated in the branch ducts leading to each room, can be opened or closed to increase or decrease the volume of conditioned air conveyed into the room. As the technician moves from room to room, measuring airflow and adjusting dampers, the overall system is brought back into balance, step by step.

Staying in Balance

Additional factors that cause chronic air imbalance need to be addressed, too. Duct leakage may make air volume impossible to regulate with dampers and duct sealing may be required. Other contributing issues include a worn blower that no longer delivers proper air volume.

For more information on professional air balancing to restore comfort and efficiency to your home, in Corpus Christi contact CCAC, Inc.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in Corpus Christi, Texas about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about air balancing and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

Credit/Copyright Attribution: “JZhuk/Shutterstock”