Venting Your Home With Flex Duct

When building a new home, it is important to make sure that everything is installed correctly and that the right parts are used.  One of the important things to do is to make sure that the central air system is installed correctly.  The air system consists of different components and each with their specifics as how they should be installed and other parts that need to be used with them.  One of the most important components of central air systems is the venting that will run throughout the home.  The majority of this system is covered by the finished walls and drywall.  One small part of the venting system that can be seen is where the dryer is hooked up.

The venting for the dryer needs to run outside of the home so that the lint that collects in the dryer will not get into the rest of the venting system.  The dryer isn’t the only appliance that needs to vented outdoors.  Any bathroom fan and some range hoods are things in the home that need to be vented outside of the home to avoid problems.  When installing these parts in a home, many times there are in areas where the standard rectangular venting can’t be installed very easily.  In these cases, the use of flex duct comes in handy.

Like the name says, this type of duct is flexible and can be ran around corners, tight spaces and other unsymmetrical architecture.  Flex duct is designed to fit on the appliances already mentioned (dryers, bathroom fans, and range hoods).  The size of the connections on these appliances are smaller than the standard venting size and so flex duct is made to fit on them.  If you have ever hooked up your dryer to the vent coming out of your wall, then chances are that you purchased some sort of flexible duct to hook it up.

If you are building a home and are thinking about using flex duct while hooking up venting for these appliances, it is important that you use the correct type of tape so connect it to the venting system.  The correct tape to use is called aluminum tape.  It is designed to be durable so it will last for many years, while holding the duct in place, ensuring that your home is being properly vented.  It is a misconception that regular duct tape can be used.  Just because the word “duct” is in the word, doesn’t mean that it can be used in this application.  If duct tape is used on this type of flexible piping, you will definitely have problems in the long run.  The adhesive used on duct tape, over time, starts to crack and will become loose.  This will cause the venting, as expected, to become detached and harmful particles can be introduced into the vents that cool or heat your home.  

Whether you are hooking up a dryer, bathroom fan, or range hood, visit Plumber’s Stock to see some options that are available.