Every experienced furnace and ductwork installer knows the sequence of installation. He knows what comes first, second, etc. He knows that after a cold air boot is cut in, the next follows a plenum, return duct, cold air return drop, rest of the ductwork, sheeting, heat runs and eventually venting and condensate line – right? Not necessary! In many houses in the complicated installations you must break the routine and start being creative, think out of the box! Does everyone able to foresee what’s coming their way and be on top of the situation? Doesn’t everyone with years of experience must anticipate what comes first, then second and so on? I doubt it.

The last straw that broke the camel’s back was my visit to the job-site managed by a new guy, a 47 years old fellow with 25 years of experience, doing piece-work. You may think that this kind of guy would work very efficiently, he would be like a chess player that foresees several steps ahead and would be at the top of his game – just think again! In two spots he hung a supply duct blocking the heat runs and in the third one vented a furnace before he had a chance to hang a return duct! Of course, eventually, he managed to get that job done but why would you do it a hard way?

So, on this page I will show you some instances of the right thinking that may pave the road to excellence in the hope that some of you would learn on how to work without busting your ass!

This is a free page, but I hope that after reading on this page you would buy chapters from my Ductwork Installation Guide e-book and/or some merchandise from the ad units.

This terrible installation was done by someone who was never properly trained, who lacks of slightest respect to the profession he dedicated his life to. Sometimes it’s just enough to go to the next door house and see how it’s done – learn thing or two! But obviously this installer never bothers.

In my Ductwork Installation Guide you can find several examples of similar installation. Most likely in the situation like this one, I would use two Oval 45-s, a Round to Oval End boot and a Take-off. Instead of the guy created this terrible monster! 

Of course the plumber created some mess and made installation more challenging. But if the installer gave himself a minute and set up a furnace in the right spot he could avoid the whole bunch of unnecessary “jumpers”!

Also, this pro doesn’t know that he can use duct reducers for the take-offs – so stupid.

Now look at the thermo-ply. At the corner he fastens it with five screws! Two would be more than enough, leave alone he should be using staples instead. 

Installation of this cold air jumper is just incredible! Obviously he doesn’t know how many cold air returns can handle a single joist cavity. This is why he connected the jumper duct to the main one by both sides!

Because he used an important joist cavity unnecessarily, he didn’t have a choice, but run this jumper as a triple one and instead of 5 elbows he used 11!

These heat runs don’t look very neat, do they?    

This jumper is done only because he never learned that he could tap in a take-off onto a transition. 

Two inch PVC pipes better to keep shorter, then installation looks better.

As you can see a cold air drop isn’t straight. Such a stupid mistake! 

This is a cold air jumper. Why he wasted 7” materials and extra time instead of simply extending thermo-pan sheeting to this point we most likely will never know…