Duct board vs Metal Plenums

lchmb

without a doubt follow the other suggestion's and use metal. Even if you plan to sell the house down the road do it right and do it once..IMHO

DennisDe

Duct board vs Metal Plenums - Supply

Is on perferable over the other. If I am going to have a supply plenum run for approx. 25 feet should it be ductboard or Metal and is hard pipe runs preferable over flex

Brian_24

THe friction rate is different for each product. As long as it is sized and installed properly either choice will work.

jim lockard

Metal

Metal do it once and do it right. We see to much duct board falling apart at the joins with nasty mold growing in it. We use all metal duct with wrap on the outside only. As for metal V flex for taps, thats your call metal is better but flex is fine. Best Wishes J. Lockard

S Ebels

I'm with Jim

I've seen the inside of lots of 10 year + duct board and it is not pretty. "They" say that the new duct board can be cleaned but............ At least if you have a contamination issue with a steel duct system it can be dealt with.

Same goes for duct liner in a steel duct. After a few years the liner is 50% gone. Where'd it go? Into your house, into your air, into your lungs.

People take WAY to much for granted with duct of any kind. it needs to be maintained just like the rest of your HVAC system.

Constantin

Go Metal

Have a look over at HVAC-Talk. For the most part, contractors hate the stuff because a) hacks install it wrong all the time b) it falls apart c) sealing it is difficult. I'd stay away from ductboard on the longevity issue alone. At least metal has some strength to it and as others mentioned, will take a cleaning/beating without turning into mush.

Ranger

mEtAl

...weither it's music or air distrubution,metal rules.Make
sure your ductwork is always externaly insulated and mastic
sealed.As long as it's sized properly your troubles will be few.I hope you are useing wet heat though...

heatboy

Mostly, I do high velocity systems.......

and I have used both metal and fiberglass. We now only do lined fiberglass. Metal duct, no matter how hard I tried, always made more noise than fiberglass. Both work equally well when done properly. For me, it's a noise issue. That being said, I'm by no means a Rembrandt when it comes to ductwork, so view what I say with a jaundiced eye.

hb

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Jed_2

Just talked to my Space-Pak Rep

He told me Space-Pak is coming out with a new trunk product. I think he said metal, with a an insulation sleeve
assembled. That would be nice.

Jed

Dave Faust

As a rookie I did a "hot" tap (while it was in service) on a duct board plenum. It was a hot summer day and the cool air felt so good. By that evening I couldn't even speak.

NONE of the installers I knew liked the itchy stuff.
Only the boss liked it due to the fact that semi skilled labor could put it up in short order.
Don't know how well ours lasted, but I saw many that didn't hold up very well.
Duct board isn't a very nice thing to pass on to anyone!

Ken C.

You're absolutely right, Dave

The company I used to work for was mainly a plumbing and heating (boilers) company, but they expanded into furnace changeouts. They always used ductboard on these installs. Yes, the owner liked it because it was fast & cheap. But, it also LOOKED cheap, too. Fortunately, I didn't install any furnaces while I worked there, but I did get a service call to a customer's house, where we had replaced a furnace a few months prior. The ductboard blew apart for the second time. All I could do on that call was wrap the supply plenum with aluminum tape. I was embarassed that my company used such cheap material, and said if it was my furnace, I would replace the ductboard with sheetmetal.

steve carlson

heavy metal

Go metal,Externally lined 1-1/2" thikness min.2" even better. lined ducts as well as ductboard will break down and
end up in your space.
steve,

jim lockard

Once again

jim lockard

Once again

jim lockard

jim lockard