[Music] welcome back to our five lesson series on the problems Aeros seal solves or prevents let's continue today with three more ways duct leakage causes temperature Comfort complaints here's temperature Comfort problem number three the duct system could not be air balanced you've probably had this experience with some homes that have balancing dampers no matter how much you or the homeowner play with them it still doesn't really solve the uneven temperature problem well here's an Insight in order to be able to balance a duct system it has to First be balanceable if the supply side is losing 20 30 40% of the air all the damper tweaking in the world won't recover it your heart simply can't deliver your blood to where it's needed if your arteries are hemorrhaging ceiling makes duct systems air balanceable many times no adjustments are needed and the house kind of self balances other times a minor post seal tweak of the balancing dampers is the icing on the cake to make things right for the first time since the house was built let's have an important sidebar discussion on zoning I'm often asked how to motorize zoning dampers and extra thermostats fit in with AOS seal is that competitive or complimentary to Aeros seal well here's my experience in my fairly Compact and modest home Aeros seal alone got me to within 2° between up and down if I wanted to make it absolutely the same temperature I could have with zoning but it's just not worth it to me AOL seal alone fix the root cause of the problem now don't get me wrong I am a big fan of zoning and do think it's mandatory in certain house styles but way too often zoning has been sold as a Band-Aid fix when the root cause of the problem was simply duct leakage and often also High static pressure and low total air flow I do rout rly propose zoning as part of one of the premium solution bundles some people buy it and they love it but more often offering zoning gives them something to say no to most people need to say no to something so they can then feel comfortable saying yes if they feel the premium solution is too much I explain that their next bundle down is the clean and seal maybe with an enlarged return or less resistant filter but no zoning i' let them know other folks often choose to just fix their ducks live with it for a year and then decide if zoning is warranted and that often like in my own home it turned out zoning wasn't really needed after all so they happily settle on a mid-range bundle and remember Aeros seal makes zoning work much better in my opinion Aeros seal should always be done either before or along with a zoning installation why zoning without AOS seal is a Brute Force solution that has unintended side effects it may seem to solve the Comfort Problem by forcing more air to the Zone that's calling but it's at the cost of raising overall duct pressures and making the unsealed ducts leak even more areas like basements often get even colder or even more conditioned air is leaking into the attic or the crawl space however if the Ducks are well sealed when dampers close that precious air can only squirt out the registers of the runs that are open getting all of it to where we want it sealed ducks are essential for you to regain control over the air the fourth big temperature related Comfort complaint we hear is our AC unit can't keep up it seems so many people think their AC unit isn't big enough but here's what the department of energy says customers often complain that the air conditioning system is not providing adequate cooling the usual response is to install a larger unit however the real culprit is often the duck system the University of Florida Energy extension service has this to say duct leakage significantly increases cooling and heating loads sometimes beyond what the hbac system system can sustain leaky ducts make your HVAC work much harder ducts leaking just 20% of the conditioned air passing through them cause your system to work 50% harder a better way to say that might have been that their research found that 20% leakage can cause a 50% drop in output especially if there's return air leakage from a very hot attic it is very rare that an air conditioner is too small duct leakage is overwhelming the main reason a system can't keep up for example the customer has a 4 ton unit is paying to run a 4 ton unit but only 3 tons of AC actually gets into the living space the rest is wasted in the Attic crawl space or settles down into the basement floor like invisible cold water sealing a duct system always restores lost capacity and helps ensure it'll keep the house cool even on the hottest days and of course you should also check and for and correct other possible contributors like dirty coils low air flow incorrect charge missing insulation and so on let's now talk about cold weather complaints heat pumps often get a really bad wrap the fifth common temperature Comfort complaint we routinely hear is our house seems cold when the heat pump is on if you are in a retirement area in the South you've probably met this customer she says in new jisy it was freezing cold out but we had a gas furnace and we were comfortable but here the winters are milder but we freeze when this heat pump comes on the house gets drafty and the air coming out of the vents isn't warm enough that's my best shot at a New Jersey accent this is often directly caused by duct leakage there's two common reasons number one Supply leaks literally suck if a system loses supply duct leakage into the attic or crawl space and there isn't as much return leakage a house pressure imbalance occurs when more air is lost atmosphere the house goes to a negative air pressure like a partial vacuum to make up for the Lost air so for example if 200 more cfms are lost out the supply leaks that get sucked into the return leaks the house goes negative in order to maintain the air flow balance it sucks 200 cfms of cold outside air back in and this air comes in through all the gaps and Cracks around windows and doors electrical outlets down from can lights and that makes the house feel cold and drafty seal the Ducks and the house operates back at a neutral pressure and the cold drafts often disappear now this happens with both furnaces and heat pumps but the impacts are more noticeable with heat pumps due to their lower temperature rise the second common cause of cold blow complaints with heat pumps in winter is return duct leakage return leaks routinely suck in cold crawl space or attic air it significantly dilutes and cools down the return air going into the heat pump I've seen units that should have had 95° Supply Air only deliver 85 because of Frozen outside air getting sucked into the return leaks seal up the return leaks stop trying to heat the Great Outdoors and amazing things happen to both comfort and utility bills a modern heat pump is kind of like a Formula 1 race car both are very Advanced Precision technology both also need to be driven only on a perfect track for a heat pump it smooth track is a good duck system you can't go off-roading in a Formula 1 trying to run a heat pump on a leaky undersized duck system is kind of like trying to drive a Formula 1 on a dirt road full of potholes heat pumps are being promoted more and more because of climate change concerns however a great heat pump on a bad duck system can be a recipe for disaster we'll come back to heat pumps in more detail in section six when we discuss estimating Energy savings so that's it for today duct leakage is usually the main cause of at least five common temperature related Comfort complaints the realistic promise that duck ceiling will improve Comfort seems to be the leading reason homeowners buy Aeros seal Comfort does have inherently a perceived value people want to be comfortable in their homes it's why they have hbac equipment in the first place right I've had many many frustrated people over the years tell me yeah sure our utility bills are kind of high you know but frankly I wouldn't mind paying them if only the house were comfortable in our next lesson we'll cover a related set of comfort complaints but this time related to indoor humidity not temperature the audio track for this video is available to listen for review thanks for being an Aeros seal dealer and I'll see you on the next lesson [Music]