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Home » Blogs » Snips Blog » Are code writers being inflexible with flex duct?
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Michael McConnell is the former editor of Snips. Michael had been with BNP Media since April 2000. Prior to joining BNP, he was an award-winning staff writer with Heritage Newspapers, a chain of suburban weeklies covering the region south and west of Detroit. Since becoming editor in 2003, he has maintained the publication’s focus on the people of the sheet metal and HVAC industries and extended it to the Internet through Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and Google Plus.

Are code writers being inflexible with flex duct?

Proposal could see use limited to 5-foot lengths

SNIPS Blog Mike McConnell
December 21, 2016
Michael McConnell
KEYWORDS duct / flex duct / flexible duct
Reprints

Ductwork is one of those things that doesn’t get much attention as long as it works and doesn’t leak too much.

That is, until something is suggested by a standards-writing organization that the HVAC construction industry doesn’t uniformly agree with.

And that’s what has happened since International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials proposed limiting the use of flexible duct to runs of 5 feet or less. They note that flex duct loses energy through friction, and limiting its use and length would minimize such loses, I presume.

In many parts of the country, such as the Midwest, the use of flex duct is pretty rare. But in others, such as the Southwest, it’s a very popular alternative to traditional ductwork fabrication.  

You might have seen the letter to the editor in December’s SNIPS from Chris Van Rite of M&M Manufacturing. As a manufacturer of sheet metal duct components, Rite and M&M support the proposal.

But those who make flex duct products, such as Hart & Cooley Inc., along with several industry associations, are strongly against it. They note that all ducts, regardless whether they’re made of metal or other materials, have friction-related pressure losses. The key to saving energy, they say, is proper installation and sizing.

The IAPMO is taking comments until Jan. 3, 2017. A final decision could come early in the spring. What do you think about it?

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Snips-blog-mike-thumb-200

Michael McConnell is the former editor of Snips. Michael had been with BNP Media since April 2000. Prior to joining BNP, he was an award-winning staff writer with Heritage Newspapers, a chain of suburban weeklies covering the region south and west of Detroit. Since becoming editor in 2003, he has maintained the publication’s focus on the people of the sheet metal and HVAC industries and extended it to the Internet through Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and Google Plus.

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