Air Balancing, Digital Flowhood Testing
Adjusting air flow throughout a home
Air balancing is a scientific way of adjusting the air flow evenly throughout the home or office using several available tools within the heating and air conditioning industry. Unlike big commercial buildings, residential duct systems were never engineered or balanced to properly distribute the air where it's needed in the home. This makes some rooms too hot or too cold. Air balancing is rarely performed in new construction or tract housing which leaves most homeowners wondering why they are uncomfortable in certain areas of their home.
What it takes to achieve even air flow.
We will do our homework; inspect your existing heating and air conditioning equipment, duct system and test your current air flow distribution system using a air flow capture hood.
What's a Air Flow capture hood?
These are essential computerized instruments for diagnosing uneven air flow. It measures the existing air flow coming out of the register vents in a measurement of cubic feet per minute (CFM) and we document those readings.
Next, we will perform a Manual J at heat load calculation.
We will measure each room in your home, to include square footage, sun exposed windows, and insulation factors in your home. We will compare the heat load calculation, based on room size & construction, sun exposure & number of windows, from the industry standard Manual J load calculation program, to the current size of equipment to be sure it is adequate for your comfort requirements.
Next, we compare your systems current airflow.
We will compare your systems current air flow delivery to the required air flow requirements based on the Manual J heat load calculation. We will determine if your current duct system was designed within standard practices of the ACCA Manual D duct sizing guidelines. The time necessary to properly size & design a duct system is warranted as these are the arteries carrying the air to each room. Too small or restricted arteries equal improper air flow to your home or office and can seriously shorten the life of your equipment.
Next, we will make recommendations to correct the problem.
Usually, it is possible to use the existing duct system, or modify the main branch ducts to the proper size. In some cases it's requires that we replace the entire duct system, due to duct leakage or various design issues that can't be corrected properly to overcome the deficiencies. In either case we are installing air balancing dampers in each final duct branch run so the airflow can be adjusted properly.
Finally, we use an air balance report to test our work.
We use an air balance report to test and adjust the air flow throughout your home. It normally takes several passes to adjust the air flow properly. As you adjust one damper within the duct system it changes the air flow reading to other areas being tested. We then go back and forth until it is properly balanced as per the room-by-room air flow requirements of the heat load calculation.
