The common saying “out of sight, out of mind” is especially true when it comes to a home’s air ducts. Your home’s air ducts are likely concealed away in the walls, basement and attic. Air ducts are important since they send clean air into your home. They also heat and cool the rooms of your house. Just like the other areas of your home, air ducts should be cleaned regularly. Here are 17 reasons to clean your home’s air ducts this year.
1. Fewer Allergens
As time passes, pollen, germs and bacteria can form in a home’s air ducts. When you turn on the furnace or the air conditioning, the air ducts may send these types of allergens throughout your home.
Air ducts tend to be warm. They may also be slightly damp. These two conditions allow mold to thrive. Mold is dangerous to the health of those who live in your home. This means that you should do what you can to prevent it from growing. If you spot a black substance with a powdery consistency growing on your home’s walls around the vents, then this is likely mold, and there’s probably more of it inside the ducts. If you remove an air vent grate and spot mold, be sure to contact a professional to handle the issue and eliminate it to improve your home’s indoor air quality. When mold spores enter your home’s air, a number of unpleasant physical symptoms may develop in your body or that of others who live in the home with you.
2. Less Dust Will Accumulate in Your Home
Dirty ducts spread more dust around your home. When you have your air ducts cleaned regularly, less dust will accumulate in your home. The need to dust more often may be a sign that your home’s air ducts are dirty. If you usually dust your home once a week but notice that dust is accumulating every other day or two, then your ducts probably need a professional cleaning.
3. You Have Pets
Owning a pet is a wonderful thing, but animals like dogs and cats often shed a great deal of hair and dead skin cells. Hair and dead skin cells may build up inside your home’s air ducts. When this happens, the flow of air may be restricted. This causes your HVAC system to work harder to manage the interior temperatures in your home.
If your system has to work harder to keep your home at a comfortable temperature, it will use more power, increasing your home’s electrical bills. Along with this, pet dander and animal hair are common allergens. When they are present, they can cause someone in your home to experience uncomfortable allergy symptoms.
4. Prevent Insect and Rodent Infestations
Insects and rodents are attracted to warm air ducts since they make great hiding places. Air duct cleaning will eliminate any insects or rodents that are present in your ducts. Cleaning will also make your air ducts less tempting to critters.
5. Prevent the Development of Unpleasant Odors
Smelly air is unpleasant. Dirty air ducts can be the cause of nasty smells. When bacteria grows along the air duct’s interior walls, it will begin to smell foul. Air duct maintenance can keep the air in your home smelling nice and fresh.
6. Someone in Your Home Smokes
When it comes to air quality, the best thing for smokers to do is smoke outside, but many people smoke in their homes. If a person smokes in the home, the cigarette smoke concentration builds inside the air ducts.
When you operate the heating and cooling system, the circulation element collects the smoke along with the toxins that have built up in the air ducts. It will then spread the combination throughout the home. This causes the other people who are living in the home to breathe in air filled with toxins from smoking, which is passive smoking. Duct cleaning will improve your home’s indoor air quality.
7. Better Heating and Cooling System Efficiency
Regardless of the type of duct, they won’t work if they’re clogged. When it comes to HVAC ducts, obstructed ones make it tough for the heating and cooling system to operate well.
Blocked air ducts increase the time that it takes your HVAC system to perform its job. Along with this, it takes more energy for the system to heat or cool your home. The best way to save energy and make sure that the HVAC system’s efficiency is operating at its peak is to hire a professional to clean and sanitize the ducts.
8. Disease Protection
People sometimes develop respiratory diseases because of bad air. If your home is full of contaminants, mold, bacteria, dust particles and other toxins, it can increase the risk of developing respiratory ailments like asthma, emphysema or bronchitis.
Cleaning your ducts regularly can prevent you or your family members from developing these types of diseases.
9. Extend the Lifespan of Your HVAC System
When your HVAC system’s air ducts are clean, the air will flow through them more efficiently. If the air ducts are dirty, your heating and cooling system will have to work harder to move air throughout your home. Not only does this decrease its energy efficiency, but it also increases the system’s wear and tear.
More wear and tear shortens the system’s lifespan. It may also cause expensive repairs. The cost of air duct cleaning is more affordable than repairing your HVAC system or replacing it.
10. You Moved into a New Home
If you just moved into a new home and the previous homeowners didn’t share a receipt with the date of the last duct maintenance, then you have no way of knowing what might be circulating in the air of your new home. Get the ducts cleaned for peace of mind.
11. Check for Leaks
When an air duct technician cleans your ducts, they can check for holes that would be causing the ducts to leak. They can also check for other problems and repair them before a bigger problem develops in the ducts or the system.
12. Home Upgrade
If you’ve made any home upgrades, then the construction involved may have placed a major burden on your air ducts. When you upgrade your home by adding a new room or increasing the size of a room, dirt, paint particles and sawdust will end up in your home’s air ducts.
Any kind of construction work will cause dirt to fill up in the air ducts faster. If your air ducts were filled with debris before the construction work, then there will be even more buildup after its completion. Once the construction is done, consider contacting a professional company to clean and sanitize them.
13. Your Home’s Basement is Damp
When homes feature basements, the air ducts are usually installed in this lower level. From the basement, the ducts run to your home’s other rooms.
If you have a damp basement, consider having your air ducts cleaned regularly to avoid the possibility of mold growing. If your basement floods, be sure to have your vents cleaned professionally as soon as possible.
14. Protect Your Home
When dust and debris accumulate, it may become a fire hazard. If your home’s air ducts fill up with debris particles, they could function as a source of fuel for a fire. If it’s been a while since you’ve had your air ducts cleaned, then consider making an appointment for cleaning. This will decrease the chances of a fire happening in your home.
15. You Won’t Need to Change Your Air Filters as Often
Your HVAC unit’s air filters trap debris, dirt and other irritants that are in your home’s indoor air. If your ductwork has too much debris or dust, the system’s air filters will become clogged quicker than they should.
In this case, you will wind up replacing or cleaning your air filters more frequently. If you’re not used to checking your air filters this often, they may cause problems for your system. Have your air ducts cleaned regularly to prevent your air filters from becoming clogged.
16. Increased Home Value
If you’re planning to put your home on the market, having the ducts cleaned may increase your home’s value and make it more tempting to homebuyers. Duct cleaning could help you sell your home more quickly.
Energy Star reports that eight out of every 10 homes have moderate amounts of duct contamination. Homeowners who hire a technician to clean their vents generally see an increase in their property value by about 5%. While this percentage seems small, keep in mind that the national average cost for duct maintenance is about $300, making it a sound investment.
17. Heat and Cool Your Home More Quickly
If you have debris buildup in your ducts, your heating and cooling unit will modify the temperature of the debris before it makes its way into the rooms of your home. When your ducts are clean, your heating and cooling system will heat your home more quickly in the winter and cool it faster in the summer.
What Does Air Duct Cleaning Involve?
Air duct cleaning typically involves cleaning different parts of the heating and cooling system. This may include the air duct registers, supply elements and return elements. Air duct cleaning may also consist of cleaning the system’s diffusers, grilles, heat exchanges, condensate drain pans, heating and cooling coils and the fan housing.
When you contact a professional company to clean your air ducts, the company will send a technician to your home to inspect them. They’ll inspect it to decide the best cleaning method. Once the technician decides how to clean the system, they’ll use a high-powered vacuum and brushes to clean the ducts. The brushes shake up the ductwork to loosen any attached dirt and debris inside and outside the system’s ducts. After your technician cleans the ductwork, they’ll seal it to prevent it from becoming contaminated later.
Professional Air Duct Cleaning
When you have your home’s air ducts cleaned regularly, you’ll enjoy better indoor air quality, a nice smelling home and lower energy bills. Be sure to contact a professional company to clean your home’s air ducts. This is not a DIY job.
