Understanding Static Pressure and Your Duct System

How Your Duct System Works

Let’s start with our duct system in our houses. The fan in your furnace blows the heated or cooled air into the ductwork until it goes into the living areas through the grilles. Your system might also have air ducts for the return air to go back to the fan to be used again for heating or cooling.

• If your duct system is properly installed and sized the fan only has to work the way it was designed so as to move the air without stressing the fan motor and possibly other parts as well.
• Conversely, if the duct system is improperly installed and/or undersized the fan has to work very hard to overcome the obstructions to deliver the air into the living area.

What is Static Pressure HVAC & How Does it Work?

Static pressure refers to the amount of pressure needed by a fan to push and pull air through the duct system. An instrument called a “manometer” is used to measure pressure and ideally the static pressure should be .82”. When your system static pressure is proper all is good, but when it’s high is when the problems start to happen.

Think of Static Pressure Like Blood Pressure

Your heart, brain, organs, and muscles all operate at their optimum when your blood is flowing without restrictions. Any time your blood pressure gets high, especially very high, there will be problems and too many of those could be very major.

Important Points To Consider:

• Proper static pressure will allow your system to deliver heated & cooled air optimally, which translates into lower utility costs, less failure of expensive parts and greater comfort in your home.
• High static pressure is the leading cause of compressor failure.
• High static pressure can reduce your cooling efficiency (SEER) by 50%
• High static pressure can reduce your capacity by 40%-50%

We take static very serious and that’s why we routinely check static pressure on maintenance calls, repair calls & after each installation of equipment and/ or ductwork. Static pressure is so critical to heating and air conditioning systems that we train our technicians and installers this topic at least 3 times each year to ensure you get correct data.

Call Gary’s today at (806) 318-1337 and get a static pressure (blood pressure) test on your system!