Heater vents - tabs stretched out (opened)
Posted: Sun Jan 09, 2011 7:26 pm
So.... sort of sick to my stomach. Just found out why it's so cold in the winter / hot in the summer and why the furnace bills / air conditioning costs have been so high.
The horizontal runners that lead to the short 12" - 18" inch verticle runners that lead to the floor ducts in each room.... seems the "tabs" on the verticle runners through the years have ALL been stretched out and are COMPLETELY seperated from the horizontal runners!! Seems there has been some sort of aluminum tape installed 24 years ago that has dried and shriveled up.... so 40% (maybe more) of all air going through the ducts has been escaping outside. PLUS in the winter with the heat off, you can feel cold air coming in through the vents with it un-sealed like this. I guess maybe years ago when the underpinning was not sealed, critters must have climbed on top of the horizontal runners to keep warm in the winter thus stretching out the cheap tabs and allowing the runners to drop 1 - 2" (due to their weight)?.. Some vents I looked down into haven't been aligned right by the manufacturer - absolutely poor quality / design... the port from the horizontal runner to the verticle is off by as much as several inches.... so even if the surfaces WERE mated completely the actual opening into the home would be 20% less than if aligned properly (WHICH I might add WILL fix...!).
I've got the $15.00 Aluminum tape from Home Depot - but it looks like I have some real work cut out for me... best to do it in the "coolness" of winter than in the heat of summer!! Get this - one vent cannot in ANY way mate with the verticle riser as AT-THE-FACTORY a piece of wood is obviously in the way - not letting the riser seat on the runner. Good Lord - didn't they have "quality testing" in 1988?!?!?.... Seems I can fix what the factory did not do right (by re-aligning / modifying the ports to match the verticle risers) and what the animals damaged.... will take quite a bit of work though.... Sheesh.
Any do-it-yer-selfers done what I'm about to do; is this a good father son task? It seems I'll need to make a slit down the entire length of the horizontal runner to do the repairs and then seal the underbelly slits back up with Mark's heat tape after the repairs are over?.... Whatchall think?
The horizontal runners that lead to the short 12" - 18" inch verticle runners that lead to the floor ducts in each room.... seems the "tabs" on the verticle runners through the years have ALL been stretched out and are COMPLETELY seperated from the horizontal runners!! Seems there has been some sort of aluminum tape installed 24 years ago that has dried and shriveled up.... so 40% (maybe more) of all air going through the ducts has been escaping outside. PLUS in the winter with the heat off, you can feel cold air coming in through the vents with it un-sealed like this. I guess maybe years ago when the underpinning was not sealed, critters must have climbed on top of the horizontal runners to keep warm in the winter thus stretching out the cheap tabs and allowing the runners to drop 1 - 2" (due to their weight)?.. Some vents I looked down into haven't been aligned right by the manufacturer - absolutely poor quality / design... the port from the horizontal runner to the verticle is off by as much as several inches.... so even if the surfaces WERE mated completely the actual opening into the home would be 20% less than if aligned properly (WHICH I might add WILL fix...!).
I've got the $15.00 Aluminum tape from Home Depot - but it looks like I have some real work cut out for me... best to do it in the "coolness" of winter than in the heat of summer!! Get this - one vent cannot in ANY way mate with the verticle riser as AT-THE-FACTORY a piece of wood is obviously in the way - not letting the riser seat on the runner. Good Lord - didn't they have "quality testing" in 1988?!?!?.... Seems I can fix what the factory did not do right (by re-aligning / modifying the ports to match the verticle risers) and what the animals damaged.... will take quite a bit of work though.... Sheesh.
Any do-it-yer-selfers done what I'm about to do; is this a good father son task? It seems I'll need to make a slit down the entire length of the horizontal runner to do the repairs and then seal the underbelly slits back up with Mark's heat tape after the repairs are over?.... Whatchall think?