Duct repair

Since the start of the cold weather, i have been using the ducted heating, but finding it sadly ineffectual. I suspected there was something wrong with the ducts (a suspicion supported by family and friends who told me that the heater should be working better), but I hadn't geared myself up to crawl under the house to have a look.

This afternoon I finally got myself organised. After gearing up with tough jeans, shoes, long sleeved top, heavy work gloves, dust mask and torch, I crawled under my house to see what was happening. Sure enough, there was a problem. One of the ducts leading to the far corner of the house had pulled loose from the joiner, so the warm air was all flooding out to heat the underfloor space. Two rolls of duct tape later (plus some rope to hold the duct off the ground a bit, the old support had broken), and the duct was rejoined.

I am also a bit amazed by the sheer amount of rubbish people have dumped under the house over the years, although given how much broken glass and bottle caps I keep pulling out of the garden, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised.

2 rolls of duct tape: $5.
Heavy duty torch: $5.
Savings on wasted heat over winter: $100s.
Finishing a dirty unpleasant job I had been putting off: PRICELESS.