The Ultimate Guide to Duct Cleaning: Frequency, Process, and Benefits
Ducts are an essential part of your HVAC system. It’s the pathway for cool or warm, filtered air to get from your system to the different rooms in your home. Many homeowners fail to realize the importance of duct cleanings and inspections.
As much as 30% of your heated or cooled air is lost through damaged ducts. That drives up your energy bills, which becomes costly over the months and years. The EPA recommends having your HVAC system’s ducts cleaned and inspected as needed, but how often is that?
What Value Does Duct Cleaning Add to Your Home?
Dirty ducts impact your home’s comfort. The biggest problem with ducts that have mildew and mold is that the rooms within your home will start to have that musty, moldy smell. Your home smells and that makes it hard to want to stay there.
If you have very moldy ducts and those mold spores are being blown into the rooms in your home, anyone with a mold allergy is going to suffer. Allergies can lead to sinus congestion and headaches, itchy, watery eyes, skin rashes, and even an increased number of asthma attacks if you are asthmatic.
If you have a rat or mouse infestation, they could easily chew through cracks and get into your ducts. Their droppings, hair, and urine can impact your health and particles can get on surfaces in your home. We believe that there are times with duct inspections and cleanings are essential.
When ducts start collecting webs, dust, hair, mold growth, etc. it also builds up and can start taking up space. Even if there is only a half-inch coating on all sides of the duct, that’s still about two inches of space where airflow is blocked. If it’s building up on or near your registers and grilles, it’s going to make it hard for air to flow into a room or be drawn from a room. That makes it harder for your system to work efficiently. Your energy bills go up as you try to keep your home cool enough.
How Often Should You Clean Your Ducts?
Several factors impact how often you should have your ducts cleaned. Some people won’t need to have their ducts cleaned for years. Families with multiple pets may need them cleaned every few years. The more people in your home, the more often you might have to have them cleaned. A household with six people in the home is going to have more respirations and take more showers than a home with two. That increases the humidity level within the home.
Where you live also impacts it. If you have a yard with sandy soil, you might find that your home gets dustier faster than a home where a yard’s soil has a higher percentage of clay. Carpeting may release more dust, dust mites, and particles than hardwood flooring.
A good rule of thumb is to check your vent covers regularly. When you remove them to clean them, how do the ducts in that area look? When you change your air filter, do you see a lot of build-up? Are you constantly changing your air filter and noticing your home still smells musty? Take a phone and lower it into a duct and get a picture that you can use to examine farther into the ducts than you might see from floor level.
If you have rodents that get into your ducts, have them cleaned ASAP. Rodent droppings or a dead rodent that’s rotting in your ducts is going to smell bad and it’s a health hazard that you should get taken care of as quickly as possible.
What Happens During a Duct Cleaning?
The National Air Duct Cleaner’s Association has a guide to proper duct cleaning. These are the correct steps.
- All registers and grilles within your home are covered to prevent dust and particles from entering your living spaces.
- The tools like brushes, whips, and pressurized air are chosen after an inspection of the type of ducts within your home.
- Those tools are used to loosen the dust, dirt, mold, and other contaminants on the inside of your ducts and other HVAC components.
- Once the materials are loosened, a vacuum extraction system removes them.
Duct cleanings entail a cleaning of the following areas:
- Air filter
- Air plenum
- All air ducts
- Blower motor and assembly
- Drain pain
- Heat exchanger
- HVAC system coils
- Registers and grilles
- UV air purifier, if installed
Cameras are used to examine your ducts for any cracks or holes. If there are any problems, those can be repaired at the same time.
How to Maintain Your Ducts Between Cleanings?
The most important aspect of keeping your ducts clean is to make sure you are changing your air filter regularly. You might need to change it as often as once a month. Much of this comes down to the size of your home, how many pets you have, and how many people live in your home.
If you cook a lot of greasy foods and don’t have kitchen fans that vent directly outside, the airborne grease droplets that end up in your ducts can gum up a filter faster than if you rarely cook in your kitchen.
Pull out and inspect your filter. Do you see a lot of hair, dust, and other contaminants? If so, it’s time to change it. Take note of how long it’s been since the last filter change. If you hold the filter up to a light, can you see light through it or is it so dirty no light gets through? It’s time to change it.
If it’s incredibly dirty, you’ve likely waited too long. If it’s been 12 weeks, start checking at 8 weeks. You want to find the right balance to ensure you’re not losing efficiency to a dirty filter. When a filter can’t hold any more particles, the hair, dust, dirt, and other particles may start building up on the duct walls instead.
Tips for Choosing a Duct Cleaning Professional
When you’re looking to have your ducts cleaned or inspected, make sure you choose an HVAC professional who is licensed and insured. NATE certification is important. NATE (North American Technician Excellence) is a non-profit organization that provides exams proving expertise in HVACR system installation, repair, and maintenance. NATE technicians do things correctly the first time.
AirBlue Heating and Cooling provides 24/7 emergency service if your system isn’t working effectively. Our technicians are NATE-certified, licensed, bonded, and insured. If it’s been a while since you’ve had your ducts cleaned or inspected text or call us to get scheduled. We offer free estimates if you’re not sure it’s time to have them cleaned and inspected.
