Use Ductwork Zone Dampers To Correct The Poor Airflow Effect Of Bad Duct System Design
Most air conditioning systems make a space comfortable by taking in warm air, cooling it, and then dumping it back into the room. How much cool air the system dumps into the room is therefore something that determines the rate at which the desired temperature can be attained.
Ductwork zone dampers usually help building owners to control air supply by acting like duct doors. When fully opened, they let in as much air as a duct can allow. When partially opened, they let in less air. And when closed, they completely shut off airflow through a given duct. This is something that a building owner can use to correct the airflow problems that usually occur as a result of poor air conditioner duct system design.
Poor duct system design and air conditioner efficiency
When multiple ducts are used to supply cooled air to different rooms, the size of the ducts matters as far as rate of air supply is concerned. Their lengths determine the amount of friction that the air encounters and is therefore something that will affect the rate of air supply.
A poorly designed air duct system that uses different lengths and sizes of ducts may end up causing some rooms to receive more cooled air than others. This may then cause these rooms to be more air conditioned than others. As a result, air conditioning in the building will be inefficient, something that may then lead to an increase in air conditioning costs.
Ductwork zone dampers and airflow rate correction
Installing ductwork zone dampers in the building can help to balance out this inequality. This can be done by slightly opening the zone dampers in the ducts supplying air to the over-air conditioned rooms. In the rooms being starved of cooled air, the zone dampers are left completely open. The effect of this will be to increase the resistance that the air flowing into the over-conditioned spaces encounter. This will cause more air to flow into the starved rooms. The rate at which they receive cooled air will be almost the same as the one of the usually-over-fed rooms. As a result, the air conditioning system will end up running only as long as it needs to run. There will be no extra-running that the system has to do that over conditioning some spaces usually comes with. This will not only reduce the amount of energy that your air conditioning system uses to make your building comfortable, but will also increase the lifespan of your system since it spares it from overworking. Contact a business, such as HomeSmart From Xcel Energy, for more information.
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