Advantages for Builders to Smoke their Ducts

 

There are several key factors of why you as a Builder would want to smoke and seal your ducts at rough-in stage:

 

  • Sets you above your competition with a better quality installation.  Florida Builders who smoke and seal their ducts are listed with logo and link to their website.  Builders also receive certificate that this test has been performed and verification of sealing by a 3rd party, State certified Duct Tester/Energy Rater.

  • Less call backs and better comfort and operating costs for your clients.

  • You MAY be able to reduce the sizing of your AC system, depending on what "Fluff factor" was built into the load calculation to account for leakage.

  • Cheapest, one time insurance policy that the duct system will perform optimally.

  • Cost is far less to remediate immediately at rough-in than after closing.

  • Can be used as a complement to the multitudes of demand side and energy efficiency programs that use duct leakage as a factor.

  • Can be used as a substitute for other demand side and energy efficiency programs (which are sometimes over-lapping, convoluted and confusing) that only measure leakage instead of proactively addressing failures.

  • You should be expecting a leak free system to be installed and have reasonable  expectations that this is occurring.  Cost of smoke testing can be included as a quality control requirement in AC contractors installation agreement with the builder.

  • Subcontractors perform better and devote their more experienced, higher quality crews if they know that their work will be thoroughly inspected and they will be required to fix failures.