On December 10, 2018, MACED’s Berea building received a new type of duct sealing called Aeroseal. Aeroseal is a product commonly described as aerosolized caulk. The material is blown into pressurized duct work and seals any small openings, thereby sealing the ducts from the inside-out.
Critical Environmental Solutions offered MACED donated work in order to demonstrate the effectiveness of their product and to support our work across the region. The current New Energy Interns, John Craft and Scott Shoupe, also joined in on the job to learn more about the technology.
Sealing duct work not only decreases energy costs, but also provides better indoor air quality. The better sealed your ductwork is, the less likely it is to pull air from interstitial spaces throughout the building which may inevitably hold dust, allergens, and other airborne irritants. Critical Environmental Solutions used Aeroseal to significantly reduce the duct leakage for one of MACED’s four systems. Without the use of Aeroseal it would not have been feasible to further seal our ducts, as they are inaccessible without major demolition.
The charts show the results of one side of the system that was sealed. This system was fairly small, and therefore less leaky than an average system, but Aeroseal still provided a significant improvement.
MACED will be using air quality monitors over the next several weeks in order to capture the indoor air quality benefits provided. Several building occupants have already reported better air flow to their office.
