A common problem homeowners experience with their HVAC systems is inadequate or uneven airflow. While an HVAC company can resolve your airflow issues, before calling a professional, it’s worthwhile to perform a quick visual inspection of your ductwork to see if you can determine what’s causing the issue.
First, check connection points where the ductwork makes a 90-degree turn. When these transitions are made of flexible material, they can become crimped, which constricts airflow. To prevent this, consider replacing all soft, flexible junctions with rigid ones, which can be integrated with the rest of your flexible ductwork. This will rule out the chance for kinking or crimping, giving you 100 percent airflow through those turns.
You should also look for leaks in your ductwork. Check all connection points and make sure there aren’t any visible gaps; you can also use your hand to feel for any air flowing out of these junctions. If you detect any air leaks, it’s important to have these resealed as soon as possible.
Other things to check for are dips or “bellies” in your ducts, as well as any area of the ductwork that has been crushed or crimped. Sometimes, a technician from another trade will accidentally step on a part of the ductwork and cause a kink. If you have hard ductwork, this won’t pop back into shape, which will result in a permanent airflow issue. Check your ductwork for any crushed or otherwise damaged areas, and make sure the line is tight and straight, with straps in place every five feet.

DIY Air Duct Inspection

Learn how to inspect your air ducts with this DIY guide, ensuring optimal air quality and efficiency in your home. Keep your HVAC system running smoothly.

DIY Air Duct Inspection by Vincent Casale

By Vincent Casale, a Diamond Certified Expert Contributor

Video: DIY Ductwork Inspection

. If you're experiencing airflow issues in your home, take the time to inspect your ductwork before calling a professional. Today, we're in San Mateo with Diamond Certified expert contributor Vincent Cali of Bayside Mechanical to learn more.

So, we got a lot of questions at Bayside Mechanical about airflow issues and problems within the house, in some rooms. If you feel that you have adequate airflow into certain rooms of the house, you can do a quick visual inspection on your own before you call out the professionals.

One of the first things you can check for in the ductwork is if it's in your crawl space or in the attic. Go right to where there's some 90° turns. If you're running flex duct and you're running a 90° turn, if you don't run it properly and you run it too tight, you can constrict the airflow. To avoid that, a good mechanical contractor is going to use a hard 90 to run the flex duct to one end, and then they'll continue on. That's going to eliminate any kinking and give you 100% airflow through your 90°, so any of those calculations you did prior are still going to hold up if you use your hard 90s.

Another thing you can check for are bellies in the ductwork. Again, if it's under the house or in the attic (most times it's under the house), you'll see the bellies. So, there's actually some dips in there. Duct should be pulled tight, it should be all in a straight line, and there should be straps every 5 feet. So you can check that, and that's a pretty easy one to spot on your own.

Another issue that sometimes pops up are leaks in the ductwork. You can have leaks where we're branching off into other ducts. So we would use a Y. Check those connection points, make sure you don't see any visual gaps, and you can feel for any air flowing through there. If you feel any air coming out, you definitely have an issue there, and you need to get it resealed. This is one point you can check.

Another point you can check would be at the register with the boot. So, it's a floor register, this boot is basically under the floor here, your register sitting here. Check your connection point at the bottom, same idea as in the Y.

One last thing you can check for is crushed ductwork. I mean, a lot of times if people have other trades in the house, somebody can accidentally step on a piece of ductwork. And if it's hard ducted, it doesn't pop back to form. So if it's hard ducted and it's stepped on, you see a footprint on it, somebody banged into it, there's a good chance that that's going to need to be replaced as well.

If you come across any of these issues, you can give a professional call, and they'll come out and take care of it for you. To learn more from local top-rated companies, visit our Diamond Certified expert reports at experts.diamondcertified.org.

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