Airflow Diagnostics and Air Balancing
If one room roasts while another stays cold, the equipment is usually fine and the air distribution is not. Balancing costs a fraction of the replacement people are often sold instead.
- 20+Years Experience
- TSSACertified Technicians
- 12-YearWarranty
- A+BBB Rating
What We Measure
Static Pressure
The single most useful measurement in a duct system, and the one most rarely taken. High static pressure shortens the life of the blower and starves every room downstream.
Airflow Per Room
Measured at each register rather than estimated. This is what turns "the back bedroom is always cold" into a number we can act on.
Return Air Capacity
Supply air has to get back. Undersized returns are the most common cause of uneven temperatures in Ottawa homes, and adding one often solves it outright.
Damper Balancing
Adjusting the dampers so each run gets its share. Free capacity that is already in your system and usually never set correctly.
Duct Leakage
Air lost into an unconditioned basement or attic is air you paid to heat. We find where it is going.
Filter Restriction
A filter too dense for the system throttles everything. High-MERV is not automatically better if the blower cannot pull through it.
Why the Second Floor Is Always Wrong
Warm air rises, so in winter the upper floor runs warm and in summer it runs hot because the cooling never reaches it properly. Most Ottawa houses were ducted for the heating season and the cooling season was an afterthought.
The fixes are usually mechanical and inexpensive: balancing the dampers so the upper floor gets its share, adding a return where the air has nowhere to go, or correcting a filter that is choking the blower. Replacing the furnace rarely changes any of it.
Before You Replace Anything
If you have been told a bigger furnace or air conditioner will fix uneven temperatures, get an airflow measurement first.
Oversizing usually makes the problem worse: the system reaches the thermostat temperature faster, runs for shorter periods, and moves even less air to the rooms that were already struggling.
Common Questions
How long does a balancing visit take?
Typically two to three hours for a standard two-storey home, longer if the duct layout is complex.
Will balancing fix a hot upstairs?
Often substantially. Where it does not, the usual cause is an undersized return, which we would identify during the same visit.
Is this the same as duct cleaning?
No. Cleaning removes debris; balancing changes how much air reaches each room. They solve different problems.
Do I need this on a new installation?
Every properly commissioned installation includes it. If nobody measured airflow when your system went in, it is worth doing now.
Areas We Serve
Serving Ottawa and the surrounding communities, seven days a week.
- Ottawa
- Nepean
- Kanata
- Stittsville
- Barrhaven
- Orleans
- Gloucester
- Beacon Hill
- Alta Vista
- Riverside South
- Findlay Creek
- Manotick
- Greely
- Richmond
- Blackburn Hamlet
- Leitrim
- Blossom Park
Book an Airflow Assessment
Tell us which rooms are wrong and in which season, and we will bring the right instruments.