Is there a reusable duct vent cover for duct blasting?
GBA Editor
| Posted in Green Products and Materials on
I am a residential energy auditor looking for a way to decrease my waste from audits. Currently when we audit a house we use Duct Mask to seal over the supply and return vents. I am interested in finding something that is reusable so as not to generate massive amounts of wasted tape.
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If you're sealing metal registers, there are a variety of magnetic covers on the market.
I have attempted to use several magnetic sheet covers, but they will not work on ceiling ducts because they are not strong enough. I'd like something that will cover metal and non-metal.
You can put floor registers in re-usable plastic bags and put them back in place. The better approach to reduce waste associated with duct blaster testing is to not do a duct blaster test. Instead, use a pressure pan to find leaks and check that you've fixed them. The savings in effort and frustration are much larger than the savings in wasted tape/duct mask.
If anyone is interested in following Michael Blasnik's advice to conduct a pressure-pan test, you may want to read more about pressure pan testing. The test is discussed at length in one of my blogs, "Duct Leakage Testing."
Benjamin - just an off topic observation: Do you realize that you have the same name as the fictional mad barber in the musical Sweeney Todd? The one who liked to slit his customers throats so the lady downstairs could grind them up into meat pies.
Carl, (we) I've known you a a green geek for a long time, but now we have to add Musical Geek???
;-)))
We've been using the pressure pan before, during and after the duct sealing and it has been working very well. Nice thing is if you map out the house you can shwo the homeower before and after results - some really like to see the numbers since they really cannot see the leaks and often cannot really tell the difference in the performance. The only issue with using the pressure pan as a diagnostic tool during an audit is you may be confusing air leakage from the crawl space (or attic) between the rough framing and the HVAC boot for duct leakage. We find huge gaps between the boots and subfloor all the time, often large enought to stick a pen down into the crawl. When you have this condition, you cannot recommend duct sealing based solely on this test.
Benjamin,
Here is the solution to your problems. The Vent Cap System.
http://www.ventcapsystems.com/
It does exactly the job you are looking for, and it is a lot cheaper than the tape or a pressure pan.
The Vent Cap is completely re-usable and made of recycled materials.
If you have any questions about the vent cap please let me know. It's a great alternative to the duct mask tape.
Check out http://www.bsghomeproducts.com ; these covers are reusable, inexpensive, and will completely seal your vents
To follow-up on the above comment, these covers are called AC DraftShields, and can be seen at http://www.bsgindustrialsupply.com along with an explaination of how they have successfully been used in the home energy audit, duct cleaning and similar industries. For more information, contact [email protected]