Cold Humidity Solutions -Part 2

The other problem creating "cold humidty" is leaky ducts. If the air is leaking out of your ducts, chances are good that humid unconditioned air is leaking in when the system is off. The other problem is that if the return air ducts are leaky, you are sucking in air from an unconditioned space like attic or crawl space--yucky stuff!
The leaks can be manifested with a smoke bomb placed in either plenum. The simplest would be just to seal every exposed joint with a duct mastic. If there are doubts hire a professional duct leakage testing company.
Next time we will cover condensate drains and how much this can affect your system.

Cold Humidity Solutions 1

To help combat humidity getting back into home via the metal ducting one should do the obvious--insulate the ducting. The cleanest and easiest method is to use an insulation called "Reflectix" which is a foiled backed bubble wrap. All you need is enough to cover your ducting, spray adhesive, duct tape, and possibly some baling wire for certain sections. Measure diameter of ducts or measure around the circumference with a string, add about 3 inches and cut, put wrap up on duct, spray wrap (inside) and duct, let set for a couple of seconds and put pressure to wrap it around. You can add baling wire around long sections, and tape the seams. It will be a clean job and definitely not "itchy". Next time we'll cover checking the air leakage.

Mold In The News

Take a look at this video from 2009.  Keep in mind it was a new home at the time. Our energy efficiency

standards hurt our health.

Fox News report - mold sickens family

Fox News reported that a Virginia family was sickened by mold in their new, custom built, home. Watch it here... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5tXlKN5uFA

If you come across any recent issues with mold please share them here. Next week we will discuss how to deal with this low temp high humidity problem we are having in Southwest Missouri.

Cold Humidity Part 2

Well again no responses to look at some issues out there. Come on folks lets get some interaction here.
Anyway I'll go over some items I have ran across. Metal ducting under house in crawl space. No insulation. What happens? Here are some scenarios: Crawl space is well insulated, well ventilated......hot summer day the air in crawl space will rise with ambient temperature....the humidity level is high... air in ducting from AC system is cool.... condensation forms inside and outside of the metal ducting. On the outside of ducts it "rains", on the inside...there is humidity being put back into airflow but a cooler temperature. Inside the building the temperature is cooling down but the humidity level is not being lowered much.  Next time a solution. Send us your issue.

"Cold Humidity" Part 1

Well no one responded to last week's post, so I guess I don't have anyone reading this but me. Well I'm going to give you content anyway.
Pay attention to the "feel" of the air during this air conditioning season. Does it feel cool but still "clammy", is there cooling but then warm spots in your building? Is there a persistent moisture odor?
I will discuss some these things next week. Check out your system, dirty blower? Dirty coil? Water sitting in condensate pan? Metal ducts not insulated?
Send me your issue, let us diagnose it here.
See you next week.

Is Anybody Out There?

This week I would like to put it to you all out there in blogger land. Is anyone reading this information?
I have taken a few weeks off trying to figure out how I can offer the best up to date IAQ and HVAC information to you and I need some feedback.
So any of you blog experts--comment here or email me @       rick@rlenvirocare.com
I want to give you the best content I can every week.
Till next Friday

Proper Air Volume

Did you ever feel too hot, too cold, or just stuffy in a room or office? All to often duct sizing and configuration is left to chance or just not addressed at all to get a job knocked out, or to save money.
When you get the lowest bid for a HVAC installation, what are you sacrificing?
 It has been my experience a good air flow rule is 1 cfm per square foot. That is "cubic foot per minute" of air flow per square foot of living area floor space in a room. This translates over to the duct size of what it is rated to carry in a nominal situation. Of course this is not necessarily applicable to commercial applications.
This by no means takes the place of load calculations....this should be the minimum. For instance ever see a 14x14 bedroom with 2 outside walls with a 6" round duct feeding it??  It is too small. A 12x12 bedroom would be just "skating by". These issues affect comfort, as well as health and indoor air quality.
Contact me by email with your comfort issues, I'll provide a free consultation.
rick@rlenvirocare.com
Next time we'll cover register placement.