[cabmandone]

I'm going to get into a few more things here. Are you in a rural area of Ohio where the wind blows nice and hard? Does your exterior have wind barrier? Vinyl or Brick? Reason I'm asking is, insulation stops the heat transfer but won't stop the wind. On a cold wind driven day that space could potentially get cold enough to allow the lines to freeze. You could put heat tape on the lines and terminate the duct in the space you want to heat if you make sure the lines are properly freeze protected. You could also change out the lines to Pex that has greater ability to expand without bursting. My guess is someone thought that was a way to keep the lines from freezing.. Wouldn't be how I'd do it... but I suppose it works.