Reparing duct work


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Old 06-23-17, 11:01 AM
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Reparing duct work

My AC unit is in my attic. I noticed the air was blowing constantly and the house was warm. The unit in my attic is only 3 years old and the outside compressor is about 6. My ac guy wasn't responding to me, so I went into the attic to see if maybe my pipe was clogged again.

I could feel cool air coming out one of the ducts. I pulled back the insulation and on of the ducts had about a 6 inch separation. It didn't look like they were ever sealed together as I saw no mastic or tape and it was right where a straight pipe joined the elbow coming from the unit.

I bought a joint coupler and joined the separation, sealed it, and covered it in duct tape. There's no leak from that joint anymore. The house still wasn't cooling. so I went back into the attic. The duct right under that that goes durectly into the unit was not sealed either and leaking. No tape, no mastic, just the pipe into the unit. I sealed it and waited to see if the house would cool.

No dice. Went back into the attic and started crawling around beams. Found another joint on a smaller piece of duct that was also separated, but had no mastic or tape on it like it had ever been sealed properly in the first place.

Sealed it and am waiting for the house to cool. My big question is that these joined I keep finding that don't look like they were ever sealed, are they supposed to be this way and I'm doing harm by sealing them or did whomever installed my duct work just not do a very good job?
 
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Old 06-23-17, 11:16 AM
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Sounds like the installer did a crappy job.
 
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Old 06-23-17, 11:44 AM
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That's what I thought. I've patched 2 joints that were never connected and had been separated, the duct leading into the unit, and it's still not cooling in here. I guess I'm going to have to go back up there and see if there's other leaks. It was cooling just fine 2 weeks ago
 
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Old 06-23-17, 01:06 PM
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Do you see any frost on the pipes? While your up there check the delta T.
 
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Old 06-23-17, 02:24 PM
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There's no frost on the pipes and the water pan is empty. Not sure what the Delta is
 
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Old 06-24-17, 10:52 AM
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Okay, so it gets hotter and hotter upstairs every time I patch one of these not really connected joints. While I was up there, I saw 2 pieces of flex duct leading up to the fan on my roof. They just stop about 10 inches from the fan with no cap.

I've no idea if I need to cover these or they are supposed to be there. They seem to be blowing cold air. One is connected to something deep in the attic and blowing cold air out the roof and the other is connected to a plastic resevoir leading down to the duct going into the house and isn't blowing anyhing
 
 

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