Do I Need a Duct Booster Fan?
If you are experiencing uneven temperatures throughout your home that make for an uncomfortable living environment, you may have considered getting a duct booster fan. Even if the heating and cooling in your home is up to speed, there can be underlying problems in your ductwork that are causing noticeably hot or cold spots in your home. Therefore, some homeowners look to duct booster fans as a relatively cheap yet sometimes faulty option to regain even heating and cooling temperatures in your home. You should consider the following information about duct booster fans and how they operate first.
What is a duct booster fan?
A duct booster fan is a device that is more commonly referred to as just a “booster fan”. It is an add-on to your home’s current ductwork that works directly with your Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems to try to increase the airflow to the rooms in your home that are rather far from your heating and cooling system. With this mechanism, those uneven temperatures throughout your home are supposed to be eliminated as warm air and cool air are delivered to the rooms that need it the most. The average cost of installing a booster fan is around $250 dollars, give or take depending on the size of your home and ease of access to your ductwork.
Problems with duct booster fans
With any quick fix to a major heating and cooling issue in your home, there are problems associated with installing duct booster fans. First and foremost, duct booster fans are meant to temporarily solve minor heating and cooling problems. If you are dealing with a larger HVAC or ductwork problem, an inline duct fan is probably not your best solution. A completely disconnected duct or one that is significantly leaking cannot be solved by simply attaching an inline booster fan to your current HVAC systems. Also, duct booster fans will not solve any problem that lies within the core of your home’s heating and cooling system. Therefore, as you can see, duct booster fans are not the optimal solution to getting rid of your home’s uneven temperatures.
The culprit of uneven temperatures in your home
While a duct fan may seem like an affordable option to solving the uneven temperatures in your home, you should be aware of the core of the problem at hand – your home’s ductwork. If your duct system is sealed and designed correctly, there should not even be a need for a booster fan in the first place. However, it is common in older homes to have a duct system that was not designed to handle newer HVAC systems causing uneven temperatures and air flows throughout your home. Also, long spans of HVAC ducts can cause a restriction in airflow due to the lengths including twists and turns it must go through to reach the final destination of your house to deliver hot or cold air. Other common problems contributing to uneven temperatures in your home can include:
- Peeling duct tape
- Obstructed airways
- Dirty filters
- Improperly installed ductwork
- Poorly sized ductwork
- Poor insulation
- Wrong size HVAC
As you can see, there are a variety of different problems that can contribute to the uncomfortable temperatures you are experiencing in your home. While it may seem like the easy way out to just install a duct fan, it’s a good idea to consult an HVAC professional to find the root cause and fix the problem.
Solving the problem of uneven temperatures in your home
Before going with a duct booster fan, have a trusted HVAC technician come to examine your home’s ductwork and HVAC system to offer the optimal solution to achieving more comfortable temperatures throughout your home. The solution to getting rid of uneven temperatures in your home is ultimately based upon what is found to be contributing to this problem. Whether that’s your home’s heating and cooling system, ductwork or insulation the solution can vary greatly. If you simply add a booster fan or try to seal up leaks in your ductwork without testing your system you could actually cause your furnace and air conditioner to work hard.
A comprehensive home energy audit can help find the root of the problem causing the uncomfortable temperatures and provide the best solution, including our duct sealing services that will improve the energy efficiency in your home along with improving uneven temperatures, provide better indoor air quality, and potentially lower your heating and cooling costs.
Contact Ecotelligent Homes today to get started with improving your home’s energy efficiency and enjoying comfortable temperatures throughout every room in your home, not just one.