Climate control and the regulated passage of air is common in buildings today, often to keep air fresh or to warm up or cool down a room. This system may be known as heating and cooling, or HVAC. It is comprised of a furnace, air conditioner units, and, of course, the metal ducts that carry around a building. Most American buildings have air ducts in them, built into the walls and ceiling to transmit warm or cool air through vents and into rooms. There is more than one way to make these ducts; while square ones are fairly common, spiral ductwork and oval ductwork also proves popular, and there are good reasons to have oval ducting or spiral ductwork installed in an office or school. What is there to know about the different models of ducts that a manufacturer might make and offer wholesale to construction contractors? Is spiral ductwork superior to the square type, or simply a specialized version for certain situations?

The Basics of Air Ducts and HVAC<.h3>
Utilities like these are often taken for granted, but they barely date back a century and they are quickly missed when they break down. Today in the United States, some 90% of new homes have ducted heating and cooling systems installed, and they are built with sheet metal that is cut into thin, flat pieces. This makes for a light but solid and leak-proof body. It is important to build these ducts tough, since a house may lose 20-30% of its air due to leaks and holes in its ducts, not to mention poorly connected joints. These ducts are not typically found in commercial hardware stores; rather, manufacturers will offer them wholesale to repair or installation companies, or offer them to construction crews who are making a new building and need to fabricate its utilities.

There is more than one way to build these ducts, as described above. Square ducts are common enough, but some situations call for spiral ductwork or oval duct products instead, and the available space in a building for ducts may impact which type is used. This is something for architects and construction crews alike to consider when they are constructing and fabricating a building, and they will order whichever model they need.

Square and Spiral Ductwork

Crews who are building an office building or apartment or hotel may choose between square and spiral ductwork, and often, spiral ductwork may prove a stronger option. This may be especially true in larger buildings that are very tall and have a lot of duct work and air moving around. For one thing, square ducts, due to their shape, are simply more bulky than spiral ductwork are. They take up extra space, often three inches or so, and that must be factored in for connections and reinforcements for their joints. Some buildings might simply not have enough room for that. By contrast, spiral ductwork is narrower but can still carry a lot of air, and they can fit wherever square ducts might be too bulky. What is more, these spiral ductwork models are often less expensive to install than square ones are, in terms of products, parts, labor, transport, packaging, and more. Construction crews are bound to appreciate the reduced costs of all this.

Spiral ducts may offer some enhanced performance over square ducts in large buildings. For one thing, are more rigid and don’t rattle as much as square ones, which reduces the sheer noise that they make while moving around air. These spiral ductwork models are also easy to insulate, though this insulation must be done on the outside, and that may take some work. Overall, spiral ductwork is a strong option for most commercial buildings, especially since they use less sheet metal than square ducts, thus saving costs.

This is not to say that square ducts are totally obsolete. In some building, they are a fine option, as they are easily built with trunk and branch formations if needed. They can also be insulated on the inside, which makes them ideal for warming buildings during cold weather. They may also require less maintenance than spiral ductwork does. In short, a construction company will factor all this in when installing the ducts of a new building for maximum effect and cost savings alike.