When was the last time you had your air ducts cleaned?

Even if you’re smart about replacing filters, the gradual build-up of dust and debris can overwhelm your ducts. Over time, elements circulated throughout your home from the air ducts can negatively impact indoor air quality (IAQ).

Clean air ducts can help you avoid a whole host of potential household problems.

Still unsure if air duct cleaning can benefit you? We’ll explain the critical reasons that make it recommended for everyone.

Benefits of Air Duct Cleaning

Having your air ducts cleaned on a regular basis by professionals holds several benefits. Here are the top five ways that an air duct cleaning can promote health, safety, and happiness for everyone in the house.

Living Spaces Stay Cleaner

When ducts are dirty, blown air will circulate dust and contaminants around your home. With nowhere else to go, all those particles will settle on the surfaces around your living areas. The extra dust can create more breathing hazards and more cleaning opportunities.

Allergens and Contagions Are Reduced

Dust in air ducts captures harmful pathogens that can affect sensitive bodies. Bacteria, pet dander, pollen, and mold contaminating the air will recirculate several times during the day. Cleaning the ducts is one essential step toward improving the IAQ for everyone in the house, especially those with allergies or asthma.

Odors Are Removed

If you notice foul odors throughout your house, your air ducts could be the culprit. The musty stench of mold is one serious health concern that you should fix immediately. Though not as harmful, the unpleasant aroma of pets, food, tobacco smoke, and cleaners can also circulate across the house.

Dirty air ducts can restrict ventilation, causing air quality to rapidly deteriorate. Family members may suffer respiratory issues, general discomfort, and even worsening sleep habits.

Maintaining clean air ducts will benefit everyone in the house, not just asthma and allergy sufferers. Plus, clean air ducts have practical advantages that save time and money.

Equipment Performs More Efficiently

When accumulated dust, grime, and debris hamper your HVAC’s ventilation and airflow, your system will have to work harder to cool and heat the home. Taxing your furnace and AC leads to higher bills, but it also accelerates wear on the system.

Running your system for long periods and subjecting it to circulating debris can cause extensive damage. Before long, you may be facing repair and replacement bills that could have been avoided by maintaining clean air ducts.

Home Safety Is Improved

Hiring an air duct cleaning service can reduce the risk of dust contributing to fires. Although it’s unlikely that a fire will start in your air ducts, a spreading fire can use dry dust build-up in vents to efficiently move around the home.

Dust resting in air ducts doesn’t always wait for a fire to find it. As it circulates through the system, dust and debris can collect around the heat exchanger in the furnace, causing it to ignite. Air duct cleaning reduces the possibility of fires starting in your furnace and spreading through the ductwork.

How Often Should You Clean Your Air Ducts?

With the importance of indoor air quality, frequent air duct cleaning may sound like an urgent need. In truth, if you haven’t cleaned your air ducts in a while but haven’t suffered any health problems, you will likely not have any long-term problems. Just be sure to schedule one as soon as possible.

Scheduling an air duct cleaner every two years is ideal if you have severe asthma, allergies, or breathing troubles. For most people, having a professional clean your ducts every five years will keep them functioning smoothly.

These general guidelines apply to houses with no obvious duct issues. No matter how long it has been since your last cleaning, schedule service immediately if you face any of the following air duct dilemmas:

  • Pest infestations in your ducts
  • Excessive dust collection and clogs, common during construction and remodels
  • Visible mold on/around ducts, vents, and HVAC system parts

Overwhelming situations like these are rare, but you can do even more to prevent them with a quality air duct cleaning service. A professional performing a comprehensive cleaning will leave ductwork spotless and secure, ready to circulate fresh, uncontaminated air.

Here’s what you should expect from your service provider during your next duct cleaning.

What to Expect From an Air Duct Cleaning Service

For efficiency’s sake, an air duct cleaning often occurs as part of a full system clean. A comprehensive cleaning includes ductwork and air registers as well as heat exchangers, cooling coils, fans, grilles and diffusers, drip pans, and assorted system housings.

Since your HVAC is like a circuit, any dust, moisture, or contaminants in one section can spread to another. You need to make sure your servicer cleans and dries the entire system to discourage mold and particle build-up.

The servicer will start by shutting down your HVAC system. They then set to work brushing, scraping, and knocking the interior to loosen and break away any particles.

During this step, your system is exposed to a lot of dust that can spread to the rest of the house. It is critical to make sure that your servicer not only loosens all of the dust but also removes every last bit. To do so, they’ll use high-powered industrial vacuums to reach deep into your ductwork.

If there is mold, your servicer may recommend a chemical treatment involving biocides. Be sure to verify any mold growth with your servicer, sending in samples to testing labs if needed. In most cases, you should replace entire sections when you find mold growth in your ducts or insulation.

Schedule an Air Duct Cleaning Company Now

If you can’t remember the last time you had an air duct cleaning or air quality check, you may want to consider scheduling a professional service. With clean air ducts, you and your family can breathe easier, sleep sounder, and live healthier.

If you’re ready to book an appointment with a local air duct cleaning company, contact Minnick’s for information on our premium air condition service and repair options. For three generations, our certified team of experts has been providing guaranteed HVAC services for Laurel, MD residents. Call us today for more information on improving the health, comfort, and efficiency of your home.