Duct Damper
HVAC dampers are responsible for controlling the amount of air that flows through a section of ductwork at any given time.
As the name implies, manual volume dampers must be adjusted by hand, while the HVAC system regulates automatic control dampers.
When a damper goes bad, airflow through the ductwork is disturbed, leading to complications in the ventilation of an enclosure.
How do I know if my duct Damper is open or closed? An open damper plate will show a gap, and a closed plate will cover the duct to block the airflow. With manual dampers, a parallel damper lever would mean that your dampers are open and with automatic dampers.
This article aims to discuss what dampers are and enumerate their purposes, as well as teach pointers in identifying and labeling, locating, adjusting, monitoring, and fixing the balancing dampers in your home or office.
What’s A Damper?
Homeowners would be familiar with registers and vents littered in the ceiling of any infrastructure.
They can tell that the primary purpose of these things is to facilitate the ventilation through the enclosure and are probably familiar with the concept of closing a vent to slow or stop the flow of air from an air-conditioned room.
However, this is far from being the most efficient way to regulate or control airflow through a system.
Here is where balancing dampers, or simply dampers, come to play. A damper is a simple mechanism inside the ductwork that closes or opens any given path of air.
Balancing dampers are called such because their primary purpose is to balance how much the entirety of ductwork intakes and expels air through a system.
Balancing dampers are located close to the central unit, unlike a register found at the end of a duct where the ductwork meets the floor, wall, or ceiling.
The primary benefit of this setup is that the balancing damper operates closer to the source to the source of either warm or cool air, thereby being more efficient in its role in redirecting the air to the intended space across the enclosure.
Long story short, it just means more cool air for you in the summer and warm air for you in the winter. Practically speaking and even though adjusting your dampers is as easy as clicking a button or turning a lever, there is much more to the entire process than its intended purpose.
Identifying And Labeling Your Dampers
Sure enough, locating where the dampers are in your vents is one thing, and learning how they work is easy enough, but if you don’t know what type of dampers go where, you might run into problems with your warm and cool air.
All we’re trying to say is that it’s not going to be a waste of your time to try and learn about the dampers in your house or office moving forward. You might want to grab something you can write to label your dampers if you’re beginning to learn about them.
Here’s what you do first, go through your house and open your vents and registers. Then, don’t be afraid to test your dampers.
We’re making sure they’re in their best shape so that we get maximum airflow from them at all times. So pick one that seems interesting.
Then, follow the duct attached to that damper as far as you can before it gets through a floor or a wall or anything that keeps you from going further.
The next thing you want to do would be to turn your furnace’s blower on by activating fan mode. What if there’s no fan mode? You can turn the heater on or the AC as well.
Lastly, close the damper one at a time. You’ll know if you’ve closed the damper correctly if the handle is perpendicular to the duct unless otherwise labeled.
Where Are HVAC Dampers Located?
In most common households, the HVAC dampers are located in the main supply trunks. These trunks are responsible for blowing warm or cool air throughout the ductwork, depending on necessity.
How many dampers should there be, you ask? The answer to that depends on the size of the house or infrastructure.
Small homes do not require dampers, even though most houses feature at least one, which can be found in the supply duct.
Typically, said supply duct should also have connecting ducts that lead upstairs. If you ever have exposed ductwork, make sure to do runs and check the dampers if they are active and functional or otherwise.
Open And Closed HVAC Dampers
Balancing dampers are usually made of sheet metal with a bit of wing nut on them. At the center of the bolt that goes through the wing nut is a flat spot that tells you the position of the damper.
Looking at this pot is going to tell you the current orientation of the balancing damper. The damper moves in the same direction you turn the wing nut.
If the damper is completely horizontal, the damper is completely open as well. Turning the wing nut will cut down how much air from the duct goes through the balancing damper.
An open damper plate will show a gap, and a closed plate will cover the duct to block the airflow.
With manual dampers, a parallel damper lever would mean that your dampers are open, and with automatic dampers, you will have an indicator on your damper motor that will tell you the status of your dampers.
You might require a pair of pliers if you want to loosen the wing nut to adjust the damper. Remember to tighten the nut back down to keep the damper in position after the adjustments.
In summary, if you see the ductwork in any direction over your head and the wing is parallel to the duct, this means that the damper is open.
Otherwise, it means that the dampers are closed. It may seem easy to overlook information, but keeping this in mind will take you a long way.
How To Adjust An HVAC Damper
Figuring out how to adjust your HVAC dampers is an effective way of gaining more control over the climate of any given enclosure.
The damper setting in each area of infrastructure will dictate the amount of hot or cool air that said area receives.
These balancing dampers are located inside the air ducts and adjusted to cater to the occupant’s necessities. Below are some pointers to help you adjust, regulate and control the balancing dampers in a room.
- Open every air-conditioning vents in the household. Locate duct trunks that lead out from the furnace and find the damper lever on the ducts. You should find a metal level on the side of each duct. Move the levels in the direction the duct travels, not across it.
- Close all dampers that lead to rooms that require less air-conditioning. You can achieve this by turning the metal levels to point across the ducts shutting off all airflow to the intended rooms.
- Wait for a few days and take note of the temperatures in the rooms. Figure out from there which ones are too warm, which ones are too cold and which ones are just right.
- Go back to the air-conditioning dampers and make the necessary adjustments whether you want the room to be cooler or warmer than open or close the damper, respectively.
- Rinse and repeat until you have achieved the temperature just right for your house or building.
Signs That An HVAC Damper Is Broken
Broken HVAC balancing dampers can lead to severe problems that can set you back thousands if you need them repaired. It is why it is essential to determine and ascertain whether your balancing dampers are broken or functional.
The first thing you need to do is determine whether your system displays common signs and symptoms of a broken balancing damper.
These signs usually come in extra and unnecessary air noise or a lack of control in smaller systems. If you are sensing either sign, you should consider contacting an HVAC professional to help take a look at your ductwork.
You can also try to open or close your HVAC dampers as long as you know to do so. However, if you ever attempt to do this, keep in mind that you should visually determine whether the dampers are moving or not.
Lastly, if there is still something about the dampers, you can try and turn on the air conditioning after attempting to open or close a damper.
Then, proceed to the room the damper leads you to and make adjustments to said room, like increasing both the heat and cold atmosphere present in the enclosure and seeing if you get the corresponding changes you made.
Adjusting And Monitoring Your Dampers
Now that we’re familiar with which damper goes where it’s time to learn how to adjust your dampers by climate changes and where we would like the hot or cool air to go.
Adjusting For Better AC Distribution
No matter if it’s winter or summer, we have to be familiar with AC-oriented adjustments. We all know that cold air sinks, and houses naturally lose heat since the heat accumulated during the day is moved by the more relaxed atmosphere.
Having said that, you will want to start by closing all the dampers and ductwork responsible for the distribution of air to the basement and the first floor.
Through this method, cool air should have an easier time flowing through to the ground and continue flowing downwards, forcing the hot air upwards and outwards.
Even in the absence of a second floor, you may still adjust the dampers to send the maximum amount of air needed in different house parts.
Adjusting For Better Heat Distribution
When it’s finally time to shut down the AC for the summer and fire up that furnace in preparation for the coming winter, take a moment to revisit our friends in the ductwork, the dampers. When it is summer, the primary goal is to force the hot air upwards to replace the cool air.
In the winter, we need warmer air closer to the ground. Adjusting the dampers to cover this by allowing less airflow in higher places of the enclosure will positively affect the heat distribution across the room.
Monitoring The Changes
You will not find out instantly if the changes you’ve made with your dampers have been effective.
While you have the solace of knowing that the vents are in tiptop shape since you checked them one by one yourself, it might take a few days to actually get a sense of whether or not the adjustments have been for better or worse.
Because of this, you must be diligent and vigilant in monitoring the performance of the balancing dampers and how they affect the temperatures around the enclosure.
Were the rooms that were too cold before warmer now? Were the rooms that are too hot more comfortable to stay in after the changes?
If the adjustments have not been satisfactory, it’s perfectly okay to start over again until the air gets into the place where you need it to be.
Conclusion
After ensuring everything is in place, the house or building should have top-notch climate control even in the harshest conditions outside the enclosure.
All of this is because of your efforts in locating the dampers, labeling them, and testing them, along with a banging HVAC system to back those dampers up.
The only thing left is to remind yourself that the change of the seasons comes with changing settings in the ductwork because if you forget to prepare the dampers in advance.
