House Attic Ductwork Layout

When the location of hvac equipment and duct system and not optimized in the planning phase the equipment may end up far away from the space to be cooled.

House attic ductwork layout.

Basic ductwork trunk line layout duct work information this type of system incorporates the use of a trunk line or series of rectangular ducts that act as a main supply channel throughout the house. Situate the air handler close to the center of the layout to minimize the length of ductwork spans. The 2nd duct is the return duct that attaches to the return air vents and draws the stale air out of the house through the filter and conditions it again to return to the house as conditioned air through the supply duct system. The layout and installation of the duct system will incorporate these basic principles of good ductwork design.

Well in the comments dave roberts a senior engineer at the national renewable energy lab nrel wrote about a paper he co authored last year and included a link to it. Designing a duct system is important but there are a few critical steps that come first. Route ducts between joists in a basement if possible or over them if necessary. That may require long runs of ductwork that make it hard for your hvac system to move conditioned air to certain areas within the space.

To promote balanced air circulation through the supply ducts home and return ducts the ductwork should be simple in layout accurately sized sealed insulated in unconditioned spaces and installed in the right places. The most common design trunk line layout is provided in the illustration below. You ve got to know how much heating and cooling you need for each room in btu hr. Place ducts on top of joists in a ceiling or attic.

Ductwork design mistake 2. Up against the deck may be the worst place in the attic to. Avoid any hot elements such as water heaters heater or stove. Number one is the heating and cooling load calculation using a protocol like acca s manual j or the ashrae handbook of fundamentals.

Ted has more than a few cobwebs in his attic. The 1 800 square foot brick ranch in climate zone 4 dates from the 1960s but the previous owner installed both a furnace and ductwork in the attic just four years ago. From these trunk lines come branch ducts usually round that extend. This type of system incorporates the use of a trunk line or series of rectangular ducts that act as a main supply channel throughout the house.

Make sure your hvac contractor follows these duct design best practices and principles using manual d. Remember that article i wrote about ducts installed against the roof deck and how i said it was probably the absolute worst single location for installing ducts. When beau called me we discussed the job and i said to him son you ve got to give this homeowner hope.