If you have never had your ductwork cleaned, you may be wondering if it is a necessary service for you. While your HVAC system may still operate even with dirty ducts, there are many benefits to having your ducts regularly cleaned by a professional HVAC company. Here are some of the biggest reasons to consider this service for your home.
Benefit #1: Cleaner Air Ducts Lead to More Efficient HVAC Systems
Like anything else in your home, your HVAC system will work the best when all of its components are kept clean. When the system is working at its best, it will be able to heat and cool your home without expending too much energy, leading to a long-lasting system and more efficient heating and cooling.
Several things happen when dust and contaminants are allowed to continually collect in your ductwork. This contaminated air is recirculated several times per day throughout the home. Much of the dust and contaminants are captured by your filters, but some can continue to circulate through your HVAC system. This can also cause you to need to replace your filter more often, and forgetting to replace it monthly causes your HVAC to work even harder to push air through your home.
When your HVAC is working hard just to move air, it has to run longer and harder to simply heat or cool your home. When it is continually running, it will have a shorter lifespan and be more prone to breakdowns. An efficient system, however, will save you money in the short term and will lengthen the lifespan of the system in the long term so that you can put off a replacement for several more years.
Benefit #2: Clean Air Ducts Contribute to Cleaner Home
Many people spend copious amounts of time and energy on making sure their diet includes plenty of nutrients while excluding chemicals, processed sugars, and artificial dyes. However, how much time do you spend thinking about the air that you breathe and how it is contributing to your overall health? The quality of the air inside your home can have a major impact on how strong and healthy you feel on a daily basis.
Poor air quality is linked to many different health problems such as headaches, dizziness, respiratory illness, ear, eye, nose, and throat irritation, fatigue, and even life-threatening problems such as severe asthma, heart disease, and cancer. There are many different things you can do to keep your home safe and healthy. You should invest in carbon monoxide detectors, and you can have your home tested for Radon levels. You can clean your home well to discourage pests from entering and bringing in diseases, and you can invest in proper ventilation.
Duct cleaning is a part of this healthy lifestyle. When taking other steps to improve your health and protect your family, you can consider regular duct cleaning to contribute to an overall healthier and cleaner home.
Benefit #3: Cleaning Your Air Ducts Reduces Allergens, Irritants, and Pathogens in the Home
Many people in the US have problems with allergies, asthma, and respiratory diseases. Even people without these conditions can experience irritation when they are exposed to a living space that is filled with contaminants. When dirt, dust, allergens, and pathogens collect in the vents, they can make their way back into the living space and begin to cause problems for inhabitants of the home.
When an experienced technician cleans your air ducts, they will make sure that these contaminants are removed from the ducts without being stirred up and pushed into your home. The best technicians will also be able to seal your ductwork and provide advice for insulating your ducts and equipment to prevent the buildup of dust as well as the loss of hot or cold air through tiny holes and imperfections.
Benefit #4: Cleaner Air Ducts Lead to Fewer Odors
Your ductwork can attract many of the odors that occur naturally in your home. When you burn a meal, paint your home, or smoke inside the house, these odors can come to rest in your ductwork and be released each time you turn on your system.
Additionally, mold can build up in the ducts when there is improper ventilation and humidity control, and pests can leave nests or droppings behind. All of these things can contribute to bad odors within the home. If you have been noticing an unpleasant smell every time you turn on your heater or air conditioner, duct cleaning can be a good solution for you.
While it is usually normal to smell a slight burning smell the very first time you turn on your heater, consistent odors when you run your HVAC system should always be checked by a licensed technician. These problems may be able to be remedied by ductwork cleaning, or by additional repairs to your system.
Benefit #5: Clean Air Ducts Allow Rooms to Heat and Cool Evenly
If you have one room in your home that seems hotter or colder than all of the other rooms in the house, this may be a sign that your HVAC system is not heating and cooling your home evenly. This can be a problem with the size of your system, the size, and engineering of your ductwork, or even how dirty your ducts are.
Vents that are blocked with a buildup of dust can cause air to move less freely through the home. Other obstructions such as rodent nests or a broken duct can cause one area of your home to be an icebox or an oven depending on the weather outside. Cleaning your ducts and making sure they are in good condition can cause your home to be heated and cooled much more evenly.
Benefit #6: Clean Air Ducts Chase the Pests Away
The warm vents of your home can seem like a cozy getaway for pests that are looking for a dark, quiet, and warm place to settle down. Insects and rodents such as mice or rats can be unsanitary for you and your family. They can spread disease and their feces can cause respiratory problems or allergies. Keeping your vents clean can discourage them from residing in your home, and it can also help to get rid of the pests that have already made themselves welcome.
Cockroaches can sometimes make their way into the ductwork in the summer because they like areas that are dark and cold. It is also common to find spiders, mice, and rats in the ductwork. Snakes, squirrels, and raccoons have even been known to find reside in ductwork, causing damage and creating an unhealthy environment. If you are having a problem with pests, you should call an exterminator to have the pests removed, and then contact an HVAC company for professional duct cleaning services.
Benefit #7: Regular Duct Cleaning Keeps Utilities Lower
If you are frustrated by utility bills that are continually increasing despite your best efforts to conserve energy, having your air ducts cleaned can make a huge difference. When your system is working efficiently, it will save you money every month because it won’t have to run for as long to achieve the same results.
If you notice that your furnace or AC has to run constantly just to reach the desired temperature, or if it is struggling to reach the temperature you have set, and if there is nothing wrong with the system itself, you may require ductwork cleaning. When your ducts are clean and everything is working properly, you can enjoy a comfortable temperature inside without spending half of your hard-earned money on utilities.
Benefit # 8: Clean Air Ducts Make Your Home Easier to Clean
In every home, dust will accumulate on flat surfaces that aren’t disturbed very often such as shelves and picture frames. Too much dust on these surfaces can aggravate allergies and can make your home feel less clean and even smell musty. When your ductworks are full of dust, your filter can have a hard time trapping everything, and the same dusty air will recirculate throughout the day. The result is an increase in surfaces that quickly become dusty.
Having clean ducts and changing your filter often can help your home to stay clean for longer after you dust. Rather than pushing dust around, your HVAC system will be able to circulate clean and contaminant-free air throughout the home.
Benefit # 9: Regular Duct Cleaning Prevents the Buildup of Mold
Enclosed spaces inside the home can often become the perfect environment for mold to grow and thrive. This is especially true in parts of the country that have a higher level of humidity, or in homes that don’t have proper ventilation. Moisture from boiling water in the kitchen or taking a shower can find its way into your vents and create a mold problem.
Mold is better able to thrive in areas that are full of dust, pet dander, skin cells, and other contaminants. When this mixes with moisture, mold forms and can grow inside the ducts. Keeping your ductwork clean eliminates the mold’s food source and keeps it from forming.
If you do suspect a mold problem, you will want to get your home tested for mold and have it professionally removed to protect you and your family from the effects of the infestation. Mold can sometimes be difficult to detect visually, so watch out for signs of mold such as a moldy or musty smell when you turn on your air, and symptoms such as sneezing, sore throat, cough, and headache that go away when you are not at home. You can take other steps to prevent the growth of mold in your ductwork by changing filters often, having your ducts seals, cleaning drip pans frequently, and fixing any leaks.
Benefit #10: Duct Cleaning Keeps the Animal Fur at Bay
Nothing can clog up your HVAC system faster than pet hair. Breeds of cats or dogs that shed copious amounts of fur may keep you busy sweeping, vacuuming, and removing fur off of clothing, but you may not have even considered how pet fur can affect your HVAC system.
Pet hair can clog filters quickly. Homeowners with pets should consider changing their filters much more frequently than those without pets. When your filters are filled up with fur, they are ineffective at filtering the air and can cause your HVAC system to run less efficiently. What is more, hair and pet dander can find their way into the ductwork, creating problems for those with allergies.
Having your ducts cleaned can help with many of these problems. Additionally, you will want to dust and vacuum more frequently, and possibly invest in an air purifier. Taking these steps as well as grooming your pet often can help your family, your pets, and your HVAC system live in harmony under the same roof.
The Importance of Hiring a Reliable HVAC Technician
Even if you are experienced at cleaning the rest of your home, you may be surprised at how complex and specialized the industry of ductwork cleaning can be. To get the job done properly, you need the right tools and expertise. Attempting this task on your own can end up doing more harm than good, and can take up a lot of your time and resources.
One of the primary reasons that you should hire a qualified professional for your ductwork cleaning is that you do not want the contaminants in your ducts to end up being transferred into your living space. When this cleaning isn’t done right, you can run this risk. You should also check to make sure the company you hire has good reviews from other customers and is fully licensed and insured so that you can be sure of good and reliable service.
The second reason to hire a professional HVAC company for this task is to avoid spending money on special equipment that is needed to safely clean your ducts. The tools and equipment that HVAC technicians use are effective and can reach every corner of your ducts leaving them sparkling. The best companies also know how to use products that do not contain harsh chemicals or other harmful ingredients, as these can be unsafe when circulated throughout the home. Finally, professional duct cleaning can be completed quickly, saving you both money and time.
Additional Measures for Indoor Air Quality
Indoor air can be much more polluted and unhealthy to breathe than the air outside. Although cleaning your ducts is helpful, it is not a magical cure that makes the air in your home perfectly clean. Without other measures in place, the air in your home can become contaminated again soon after your cleaning appointment. There are many other things you can do to keep the air that you breathe clean and healthy.
One of the first things you can do is invest in air purification for your home. There are many options on the market, so you can get the help of an HVAC technician to help you choose the most effective and affordable method for your home. Each purification method will ease the burden on your filter and keep more contaminants out of your ducts. You can purchase portable air purifiers that can be moved from room to room, or you can have air purifiers installed directly into your HVAC unit to eradicate contaminants from the air.
You should also invest in good ventilation to keep excess moisture and unwanted odors out of your home. Areas that typically need extra ventilation are your kitchen, bathrooms, and attic. Installing range hoods and fans can help to keep the moisture at bay and keep mold from forming in your vents. You can also have your HVAC company install dehumidifiers in your unit to help control moisture levels.
Finally, adding regular vent cleaning to your home care routine and changing your filters regularly can help keep dust under control. If your filters appear overly dirty while changing them, you may want to consider changing them more often. A typical schedule is 2-4 times per year, but this increases if you have pets or other factors.
Having your ducts cleaned can have many positive effects on the quality of air inside your home as well as the health of your family and the lifespan of your HVAC system. If you are struggling with problems such as allergies, an inefficient HVAC system, or pests inside your home and you have tried many other things to resolve these issues, you may want to consider hiring a professional to clean your ducts. It can also be helpful to invest in better ventilation, clean your filters more regularly, and have an HVAC technician install air purification systems and dehumidifiers into your furnace and AC to keep the air inside your home healthy and free from dust, pathogens, pollutants, and other harmful substances. Contact your local HVAC company to find out if this service is right for you.