Asbestos Air Ducts

If used for air ducts transite pipe may be a an asbestos hazard particularly where the ducts become softened by water exposure such as air ducts located in floor slabs potentially releasing asbestos fibers into the building air.

Asbestos air ducts. The first thing to check is if the duct composed of asbestos materials or just insulated with asbestos materials. Asbestos is no longer widely used commercially but it can still be found in many older homes and buildings. The white tape you see above is of the type that often contains asbestos although you don t really know without sending a sample to be tested in a lab. See transite pipe air duct asbestos risks for details.

One of the places you might find asbestos in a home is the duct system. One of the dangers is that it degrades over time and this disturbs the material dislodging asbestos fibers into the air. Asbestos can be hidden inside your air ducts july 11 2014 by dan ventura no comments yet asbestos is a concern for indoor air quality and respiratory health and most people know the common places that it can be found popcorn ceilings vinyl tiles pipe insulation. You may find asbestos wrapped around older hot water pipes and water boilers or used to tape together sections of heating ducts.

Duct cleaning generally refers to the cleaning of various heating and cooling system components of forced air systems including the supply and return air ducts and registers grilles and diffusers heat exchangers heating and cooling coils condensate drain pans drip pans fan motor and fan housing and the air handling unit housing see. It adheres to the sheet metal and acts as a thermal insulator. Transite duct asbestos hazards. However if the ducts become punctured or torn asbestos fibers can be released into the air stream.

Asbestos paper on the exterior of hvac supply ducts is unlikely to release asbestos into the circulating air inside the ductwork since the ducts are under positive pressure unless the ductwork has been damaged or disturbed. Asbestos in heating ducts explained. Metal ducts wrapped with asbestos materials. For years lagging cloth and asbestos paper was used by the hvac industry to line and insulate pipes in heating and cooling systems within homes offices and other buildings.

If you have an older home with rigid metal ducts as shown above it might have the white fabric tape you see in the photo. You may also find asbestos in cement flooring and ceiling materials. If the air stream in these type of ducts isn t exposed to the asbestos material and there is little chance of exposure or contamination then many contractors will be comfortable. Heating ducts in residential and commercial buildings may result in dangerous asbestos exposure from many different sources.