Do you hear strange banging, scraping, squeaking and clattering when your heating system is in use? These odd sounds may be ductwork noise.

Ducts expand when heated, which may cause the units to scrape against the wood framework of your house or other materials, such as pipes or walls. Most experienced builders leave enough space between the frame and ductwork to prevent noise, but some novice builders may forget to leave enough space. Sometimes a house can settle over time, which may cause scraping even if a large gap was left around ductwork. You can prevent additional ductwork noise by trying one or more of the following repair methods:

• Lubricate the area where the ductwork and frame meet. This temporary fix will muffle or reduce the amount of noise you hear when running your heating system.
• Add insulation or padding to ductwork. Adding insulation will muffle some of the sound and eliminate some of the harsher sounds. You can also add acoustic duct liners to muffle duct noise.
• Have a professional expand the gap between your ductwork and house frame. A gap of 1 to 2 inches is usually enough to prevent ductwork from scraping against other materials. Only a professional can perform this task as it is complicated and cutting too much away may cause structural damage to the house.
• Consider moving ductwork into other areas of the home. Moving the ductwork away from other materials in the home will eliminate the noise created by scraping and expanding ductwork. Moving the ductwork is the best option when it is impossible to cut away the materials scraping against the ducts.

For more information about reducing ductwork noise, or other HVAC questions, contact us at All Year Heating, Air Conditioning & Solar. We provide Sacramento area residents with expert HVAC care and service all year long.

Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

Ductwork image via Shutterstock