Water in Air Duct: Causes and How to Get it Out
A dry and spotless air duct is the best way to circulate healthy fresh air throughout your house all year long. Breathing good quality air should be the foremost concern for living in a safe home.
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But if you’ve noticed a leak between the vents or water droplets forming on your duct, you could have a larger problem. Water in your air duct is a potentially harmful situation that could warrant professional cleaning if not taken care of in time!
Find out the causes below and learn how you can fix it yourself before calling a qualified professional.
What Causes Air Ducts To Be Filled With Water?
Water finding its way into your air ducts is by no means uncommon. It is not your fault or a sign of poor upkeep, but it is crucial to figure out why this is happening. There are several reasons moisture builds up in air ducts:
- A leaking roof provides an ideal path for water to travel into your ducts. Without a watertight seal on your ducts, water can slip in between the minuscule cracks. The ends of ducts are only filtered, not covered to the outside, allowing for leaks as well.
- Moisture also can build up around the cooling coils of your air conditioner. Your AC pulls in humidity from the home and efficiently carries the wet air out. While this is to be expected up to a point, during extended hot and humid periods, excess moisture can turn into pools of water during long hot and humid periods and will need to be dried.
- Flooding and storms are a significant cause of water leaking into ducts. Even if you don’t have any holes in your roof, surplus water can enter your home. Make sure your basement ducts are clear of water during floods. Even bulks of snowfall can melt into your air ducts over time.
- Poor insulation can also be a cause of water in your air ducts. Without proper insulation, your home is more at risk of humidity permeating the air. Attics, basements, and crawl spaces are often not thoroughly insulated and can become pathways for outside moisture to invade your home.
Now that you know the key causes of water in air ducts look around your home and see if your vents are clean and clear. Any sign of water can lead to troubles much worse than damp ducts.
Dangers of Water in Air Ducts
A considerable threat of water in your air ducts is not knowing it is there. Even without the clear signs of water forming around your ducts, moisture can be building up — and that build-up has dire consequences.
Water damage can devastate your home. Small patches of moisture quickly turn to pools that can drip on your walls and wood floors. Water damage can rapidly require professional restoration. Gathering over time, these tiny water drops on your insulation will render it useless. Wet insulation doesn’t protect your house from the elements.
In less than 24 hours of exposure to water, mold can start to grow. Black mold loves constantly wet, warm spaces, and a broken air duct is just where it wants to live. Black mold is extremely harmful to your health, leading to breathing disorders, rashes, chronic fatigue, and allergies.
If mold is in your duct, you run the risk of noxious spores blowing into every corner of your house and growing new colonies wherever you look. If the vents in your home look especially dusty or fuzzy, that could be a sign of mold growth, not just grime and refuse blowing around.
You need to get water out of your duct at the first sign. Even without clear indicators of moisture, you must get your ducts regularly checked for your house and family’s safety.
How to Get Water Out of an Air Duct
There are both short-term and long-term solutions to keep your air duct clean and dry.
Here are a few things you can do as soon as you finish this article to get water out of your duct and stop it from coming back.
- Turn off your humidifiers. Running humidifiers adds moisture to the air and keeps your ducts wet. Try just running them at night!
- Find gaps in your air ducts and seal them with a plastic tarp and tape. This is a great temporary solution to keep your HVAC system closed.
- Put a dehumidifier in your attic or any room with high humidity.
- Call All Dry USA and schedule an inspection of your air ducts.
The best step you can take for longer-term care is to invest in new insulation, so outside water always stays outside.
Check all other vent systems in your home for leaks and cracks. A broken chimney cracked water pipe, or malfunctioning clothes-dryer tube can all be places that let water into your air duct system.
Purchase a hygrometer to monitor the moisture levels in each room to help locate problem areas.
But the most sure-fire to keep water out of your ducts is regularly scheduled inspections by certified professionals. Air duct checkups should be added to your list of yearly home maintenance right away.
Read more: What causes air in water pipes
Call the Experts
If you have fuzzy ducts full of mold or a constant leaking, you won’t be able to clean it out by yourself. Reach out to the repair specialists at All Dry USA for a thorough evacuation of moisture and anything else living and blocking your vents.
We are the leak authorities! After a thorough inspection, we can locate every problem area. Using only the best technology and equipment, we never tear down walls to find leaks. Our team of experts is ready 24/7 to get you and your loved ones breathing fresh, clean, and hygienic air again.
Trust All Dry USA to repair and restore your vents!
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With Ben’s knowledge, and visionary leadership, All Dry USA has expanded into a national, full-service property damage restoration company with multiple locations across the United States. Ben holds numerous specialty licenses and certifications in restoration and construction.
