It seems
whatever project I do around the house, it always leads to five
more. While either doing the Attic Gap or the Home Network, I noticed
we had some duct issues. The biggest or what concerned me the
most is the black ductwork you see here. What you can't tell from
the picture is that it's simply transparent black plastic. There's
no insulation and no protection. In many places there are holes
where the ribs were rubbed when it was installed.
I got new
insulated ductwork to replace the see-through plastic. The other
observation or concern was the duct in our main room downstairs
didn't appear to work. Whatever you did, it would not blow heat.
Like most everything else in the ceiling of our downstairs, I was
afraid the mice had gotten in there and fouled it all up. Since we
haven't run any heat to the downstairs and plan on getting a pellet
stove for that part of the house, I figured I would
pull out the downstairs ductwork and cap off its sources. Eventually I'll replace
it, but this made it easier for replacing the ductwork
that was necessary, our upstairs heat more effeicient and it
simply easier to work in the ceiling
downstairs.
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This is one of the ducts
running off the main source to one of the rooms downstairs
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So I peeled off the
tape, pushed the duct out of the way
and capped it
off.
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Here's the cap. Doesn't look much
different.
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Here's one of the
other ones capped off. Why this one joined to the main duct with a
ninety and the other
didn't, I don't know.
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Of course when I
start a project, I always find something else that needs done. Each
of the connectors to
the main
duct had these little gaps where the installer had missed with
the duct sealer. I had to go around
with my own duct
sealer and redo them.
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Here's the ductwork in
the main room downstairs. This is the one I thought was clogged from
the mice.
Turns out it wasn't. I think the problem was it was
pinched between a joist and another duct. Taking it
out wasn't a
complete waste. I'll have to reroute it later and make sure it's
clear. The route it was taking
was rediculous. At least this was nice
insulated stuff.
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Here's the foil
duct from one of the other downstairs rooms. There's a warning label
on it that says "Do not
exceed 14' when using this product,"
which I take to mean this stuff is good for six to eight feet.
The one
duct was fourteen feet and the other thirteen. If and
when we need ducts downstairs, I'll replace it with
insulated.
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June 15, 08. While
running the speaker wires for the deck speakers,
I decided to pull out more of the
crappy ductwork in the
basement. I've had the insulated replacement ductwork (you can see
it in the
picture above in the boxes against the wall)
since I started this project. Hopefully I can get it done this
summer.
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