Did you know your HVAC system is a breeding ground for mold and bacteria? Your HVAC system has all three components needed to grow mold:
1. A food source (dirt)
2. Moisture (from your AC)
3. Porous surfaces.
However, this same HVAC system is also the lungs of your home and circulates the air you breathe throughout the day. Therefore, maintaining your home’s HVAC and duct work is extremely important to you and your family.
When you have leaks within your ducts, those already prevalent issues of mold and bacteria growth are now exacerbated and will happen more quickly.
When your ducts are located outside the building envelope (walls, crawl spaces, attics):
Moisture is pulled into the HVAC system through the cracks of your ducts. Any time ducts reduce in size (to maintain velocity down the main duct or to supply a sub-duct line) this creates a vacuum. This is called the Venturi effect. When moisture is pulled in from those cracks, it is now downstream of your AC Evaporator Coil. The primary purpose of your HVAC Evaporator coil is to pull humidity and heat out of the air. This can not happen when it is downstream of your coil, which leads to more moisture helping to create mold in your HVAC system. This will cause mold to grow on vents, sheetrock surrounding vents, or even within the ducts themselves.
When the ducts are in the attic:
Your attic can reach temperatures well exceeding 130 degrees on a summer day. This hot attic air is pulled into the ducts either downstream of the coil or on the return side of the HVAC system. The issue when pulled into the return duct is that the coil can not pull out the heat and humidity from elevated air temperatures. When it can not pull out the moisture/humidity, this moist humid air is pumped down the duct system causing elevated chances for mold.
Lastly, having leaks in your ducts can also cause oxidation due to moisture being pulled into ducts.
For a free quote on how to stop moisture from being pulled in, call for a free quote. 1-800-317-7104 and learn more by visiting www.AerosealNJ.com