Why You Should Have Duct Booster Fans Installed With A Professional In AC Repair | Irving, TX
It is a well-established fact that an air conditioner is an excellent addition to any Irving, TX, home because of the hot and humid summers. These essential appliances ensure that your home is sufficiently cooled for comfort and convenience. To enhance the cooling levels, homeowners might sometimes be forced to install duct booster fans. The fans increase the flow of unconditioned air to a distant part of your home.
You are not alone if you suffer from inconsistent temperatures near your home! Air conditioning systems may sometimes fail to deliver conditioning even to your home’s farthest section. This might result in warm or cold spots and sometimes uneven home temperatures, causing thermostat wars. You might be forced to call an AC repair technician whenever this happens.
However, there is a relatively easy solution to this issue; installing an air duct booster fan. Although the air duct booster fans might boost your AC, they may not be able to resolve any problems within your HVAC system. Hence, it is recommended that you have an AC repair technician inspect for problems such as clogged air filters, leaky air ducts, and failing fans.
What’s an Air Duct Booster Fan?
A Duct booster fan is a small fan that fits inside your air ducts to increase the airflow to distant sections of your home. Although they can fit into the air duct trunks, they are commonly used in smaller ductworks that only serve a single room. They use their blades to pull the treated air into the room and ensure the temperatures are more comfortable.
Although some air duct booster fans can run for the entire day, others are shipped with a programmable controller that allows you to decide when they turn on. This ensures that they do not run for the entire day. Hence, programmable or smart duct booster fans do not drive the electrical bills. This makes them an excellent option for homeowners who want an energy-efficient home without compromising on their comfort.
Though this might sound like the ideal solution for your uneven cooling and heating problems may not be the right solution. As mentioned above, the duct booster fans improve the airflow into your home but do not resolve any underlying air conditioning issues. Hence, you should always enlist an AC repair technician for routine maintenance and inspection.
When Should You Install an Air Duct Booster Fan?
Does your home have uneven cooling or heating? Installing an air conditioning booster fan is one of the best solutions for you. The common signs of uneven cooling include variations in temperatures within different parts of your home, uneven temperatures on various floors, and too stuffy spaces. However, there are several other instances where calling an AC repair technician to install a duct booster fan may be warranted, including:
When the Air Conditioner Is Too Small for Your Home
Have you just had an air conditioner installed at your home only to realize that it is too small for your space? Having an AC repair technician perform the replacement might prove quite costly. Too small or colossal air conditioning systems pose various issues that affect your home’s cooling. For instance, undersized air conditioners cannot deliver sufficient cooling and heating, leaving your Irving, TX, home uncomfortable at all seasons. Hence, you must purchase a perfectly sized air conditioner. However, if your unit is over or undersized, you should consider installing a ductwork booster fan.
Uneven Sunlight Distribution
Do the too warm rooms at your house happen just to be facing the afternoon sun? Then enlisting an AC repair technician to install a booster fan may be the most effective and affordable solution that you could opt for. Insulating your home can help resolve this issue. However, your air conditioner will be the only savior under those hot Texan summers. Similarly, your north-facing windows might be pretty colder during winter compared to other rooms at your home. Hence, having a technician install a duct booster fan can help in bringing more warm air if you have an HVAC system installed.
Rooms Farthest from the AC Unit
Most homeowners have their air conditioning units installed at one of the ends of their homes. Therefore, the rooms farther away from the point where the AC unit is installed will not receive a sufficient flow of cooled or conditioned air. Having an AC repair technician in Irving, TX install a ductwork booster fan can help resolve the problem because the fan can push the cooled air to the farthest points of your home.
Poorly Installed or Designed Air Ducts
The air ducts should be spread all over your home to have an even distribution of air in the home. Are your home’s air ducts installed on one side of your home? Then the other side of your home will not receive enough conditioned air. Additionally, if the air ducts run too long, you might start experiencing a diminished flow of air, especially in the sections of your room that are furthest from the AC unit. In such a situation, enlisting an AC repair technician to install booster fans can help resolve the issue.
When Will the Ductwork Booster Not Work?
Air duct booster fans can resolve your home’s primary issue of uneven cooling or heating. However, they cannot resolve any underlying issues or causes of cooling and heating issues for the umpteenth time. These are better addressed by an AC repair professional. Below are some common reasons why you might be experiencing inconsistent temperatures at your home.
Restricted or Blocked Air Ducts
Because the air conditioner relies on the ductwork installed at your home to move the conditioned air to various parts of your home, they should at all times remain unrestricted. Excess debris and dust, rodents, small pests and critters within the air ducts, or anything else crushing the air ducts could restrict the airflow. Besides this, flexible air ducts might have bends and kinks if not installed properly, resulting in blockages in the air ducts. Should this be the case, you’ll need to have an AC repair technician inspect the air ducts and repair the ductwork before they install ductwork booster fans.
Air Leaks from the Air Ducts
All rooms in your house receive conditioned air from the HVAC system via ductwork. Because of this, any leaks in the ductwork will prevent appropriate airflow. Loose or poorly fitted seams, joints, or fixtures, tape that’s peeling around the air duct’s connection points, perforations in the ducting, and other factors are typical causes of air leakage from your ductwork. Having an AC repair technician install a duct booster fan won’t help much if air leaks cause cold or hot places all over your Irving, TX, home. Duct tape, insulation, and liquid sealant are a few common solutions for repairing air leaks in ductwork.
Damper Misaligned
HVAC dampers are the mechanical fins installed at each branch wherever air ducts separate from the main trunk. These dampers allow you to regulate the airflow inside air ducts and guarantee that it is distributed evenly throughout your home. These dampers can be used to cut off the air supply to empty rooms throughout your home. They occasionally become stuck in a closed position, preventing airflow to various areas of your house. Therefore, before you think about purchasing a duct booster fan, make sure that all of the dampers are open. This is something that an AC repair technician can uncover and correct during an air conditioning service.
Dirty or Clogged Air Filter
If the air filters are dirty, they restrict airflow to a specific room in your house. Besides resulting in cold and hot spots, the clogged air filters will also strain the air conditioning unit and shorten its lifespan. An air duct booster fan cannot resolve the uneven cooling if the problem is that of a clogged or dirty air filter. Replacing the air filters every 1-3 months is the only solution.
You can also install high-efficiency filters, especially if you have pets at your home. Remember, the frequency at which you should replace the air filters depends on the type you have installed at home. All these are the issues that having an AC repair technician install a duct booster will not resolve. After addressing all the above issues, you can only make a sound decision as to whether you need to install a ductwork booster fan. After deciding that you should install one, the next step is choosing what type serves you best.
Types of Air Conditioning Duct Booster Fans
Inline Ductwork Booster Fan
Also called mid-duct fans, the cylindrical fans fit within the air ducts and normally replace a section of ductwork. They can be installed at any spot in your air conditioning system between where the AC unit is installed and the different parts of your Irving, TX, home. Though some models are plug-and-play, the inline ductwork booster fans normally require hardwiring or dedicated electrical outlets.
Inline ductwork fans are often mounted close to a vent far from the system’s blowing unit. This approach keeps the cool air from leaving the nearest vents and moves it throughout the system. You should engage a professional AC repair technician to install these duct fans because doing so necessitates removing a portion of your ducting. Since you need a fan matching the length of your current ductwork, hiring an electrician dramatically raises the initial installation cost. The inline ductwork booster fan doesn’t require a lot of energy once it is installed, though.
Register Booster Fan
Also called an “in-the-register fan,” register Booster fan is a more affordable alternative to the inline air duct booster fan. The register fans are also plug-and-play and simple to use after installation. Unlike the inline booster fans, an AC repair technician can install the register booster fans directly into the room, which requires better airflow. To improve the airflow from the vents, register fans are used in place of the current floor, wall, or ceiling registers. These devices are a great option when only a room or two rooms have poor ventilation, despite being noisier than mid-duct fans.
Choosing the Best Duct Booster Fans
Fan Model
All ductwork booster fans have the same output. However, their capacity, dimensions, methods, and other features vary. Hence, you must know what type of booster fan suits your Irving, TX home and the necessary capacity and size. Additionally, you need to decide on your budget beforehand as you might get fans having differing features for slight changes in cost.
CFM Capacity
The efficiency of an air conditioning unit’s fan is measured in CFM (cubic feet/minute). The measure determines the fan’s capacity for air exchange by calculating the cubic area of a room and the rate with which the air should circulate in the room. If you aren’t sure about the right measure, consult your AC repair technician.
Static Pressure
The air pressure that a fan can create in a closed space is known as the fan’s static pressure. When hiring an AC repair technician to install a fan at your home, taking this measurement into account is essential. You should test the static pressure within your room before choosing a fan to ensure that it will operate effectively and maintain the optimal static pressure in the area.
The loudness levels are another factor to consider when selecting a duct booster fan. You don’t want a loud fan disrupting activities at your home.
Duct booster fans can be cheap and effective for distributing the conditioned air to the sections it cannot reach. However, it cannot resolve the existing issues within the air conditioning system, such as leaks and dirty filters; these need the attention of an AC repair technician. To install a duct booster fan in your Irving, TX, home’s AC system, contact us at One Hour Air Conditioning & Heating of Dallas, your reliable AC repair company.