Insulation Between Ac Ducts In The Attic

Most updated central air conditioned homes have a new air conditioner split system meaning the ac is broken up into parts.

Insulation between ac ducts in the attic.

The duct work is insulated to keep the condensate from forming on the outside of the pipes and dripping off from the temperature differences in the attic in the summertime with ac running. And 3 the sum of the ceiling insulation above the duct and the duct insulation must equal the prescriptive r value for ceiling insulation. Other times insulation may be on the outside. Because the moving air is in the ductwork for only a short period of time it does not need the insulation r value the attic floor requires.

1 the air handler must be inside conditioned space. So why put an hvac system up in the attic at all. What would be bad is if the duct work is flex duct and gets mashed under the weight of the added insulation on top of it. Our heating and ac ducts are 100 within the thermal envelope in the floor trusses above our insulated basement.

Well mainly it s a way to save space. But our erv ducts stand alone system not tied in w heat pump and 2 jumper ducts for pressure balancing from bedrooms are suspended above the insulation in our vented attic. The second question gets a yes if the buried ducts meet even more stringent requirements. Flexible ductwork comes with different insulation r values.

Why is this a problem. First water dripping off of your ducts and onto your insulation can cause the insulation to compress which decreases it s r value or ability to insulate. When water condenses and drips into your attic or home it can cause a some serious secondary problems. 2 duct leakage must be no higher than 1 5 cfm25 per 100 square feet of conditioned floor area.

In more cases than not a 3 ton ac with the ducts in the attic has a ton or so of load that s just from the location of the ducts in the attic and the associated duct gains leakage etc. So more would help. An outdoor unit which houses the fan condenser and compressor and an indoor unit which holds the evaporator and fan. In last week s blog i discussed the practice of burying attic ducts in deep insulation since burying ducts is simply one of several ways to address the energy waste associated with the decision to locate ducts in a vented unconditioned attic it s worth taking a fresh look at all of the possible solutions to the attic duct problem.

So water is condensing on your ac ducts. Why is condensation on ductwork a problem. The remaining 2 tons of capacity is at least 1 5x oversized for the actual 1 load. Sometimes the insulation is inside the ductwork.

Attic hvac systems save space. The effective r value of a buried duct installation depends on the size of the ducts the r value of the duct insulation and the depth of the loose fill insulation.