Your ductwork is the most important part of your HVAC system. Ductwork delivers the airflow from your equipment to your living space. Poorly designed or improperly sized ductwork will significantly reduce the efficiency of your system, increase the time needed to control the temperature of living space and reduce the longevity of your system. An older system can feel brand new with properly designed ductwork, and a brand new system can feel mediocre when attached topoorly designed or outdated ductwork.
Heat Load Calculation
When a new system is installed, a heat load calculation is performed to determine the required airflow to maintain temperature in every room, with that calculation we can appropriately size the ducting and then size the equipment based on the homes heat load. Factors such as the square footage, ceiling height, number of windows, direction windows are facing, insulation levels in the home and size of the exterior doors will determine the homes heat load. Example – A modern 1200sqft home with proper insulation and dual pane windows may need a 3ton system but an older 1200sqft home with tall vaulted ceilings, no insulation and large single pane windows may need a system upsized to a 3.5 or even a 4ton system, this is why a heat load calculation is so important.An undersized system will result in longer system run time and trouble maintaining the indoor temperature, an oversized system will result in short cycling and issues with humidity control inside the home.
