Duct Work Runs Through Attic

Some homeowners never have to deal with ductwork as it runs through the ceiling covered from sight.

Duct work runs through attic.

It only takes a little bit of heat in your attic to cause ice damning which can result in a lot of water damage. With hundreds of square feet of ductwork surface area in the attic and a δt of 75 f the air coming out of the vents in your home will be significantly higher than 55 f. You want to insulate the duct work very very well. The passive vents probably reduced that negative effect by allowing more air to flow from the the outdoors but it s still almost always better from an energy use point of view to not use turbine vents or powered attic vents of any significant size.

Tips for running ductwork through the attic ideally in a passively vented system the attic is completely sealed from the living space by gypsum board and caulking along all ceiling joints creating an airtight seal. Ductwork for your heating and air conditioning system is necessary. Throw duct leakage into the mix and the problems are even worse. Turbine vents usually depressurize the attic sufficiently to pull conditioned air up through the air leaky ceiling into the attic which increases the cooling energy use.

If you are using that insulated flex ducting i would still go ahead and throw more insulation on top. According to nrel researchers david roberts and jon winkler moving the ducts from a vented attic to a new location inside the conditioned space will reduce electricity used for cooling by 15 to 20 and will reduce the size of the needed air conditioning equipment by 0 5 to 1 ton. Venting an attic is essential for a number of reasons including. Be extra careful about air intrusion around where the ductwork goes through the ceiling.