If your house always feels stale even after doing thorough cleaning every week, it might be time that you considered air duct cleaning. Air duct cleaning is highly essential because it helps eliminate dust, pollutants, mold, and other allergens from your house. This assists you prevent health issues related to these elements. This article looks into the way air duct cleaning works, and its potential benefits to homeowners.
What is Air Duct Cleaning?
Air duct cleaning entails cleaning both heating and cooling systems of forced air systems in a building. These systems can include grillers, diffusers, supply and return air ducts, drain pans, and heating and cooling coils. It is important to clean these elements because they may become contaminated with pollen, dust, allergens, and other debris. If your property has a high amount of moisture, the potential for mold growth is immensely increased. The resulting mold spores may be released into the environment and affect you and your family.
How Does Air Duct Cleaning Work?
Methods used by professionals to do air duct cleaning vary. However, common standards have been established in the industry related to air duct cleaning. Normally, an expert uses special tools to remove dirt and debris from the air ducts. After this, the professional vacuums them out using a specialized and high-powered vacuum cleaner.
In addition to removing debris and vacuuming, your expert may recommend the application of chemicals to kill microbiological contaminants like mold in air ducts. Chemical biocides can be applied to the inside of the duct, and other areas of the system. Other experts may propose applying chemical sealants that will encapsulate the inner parts of the air ducts because doing this helps control mold growth and prevents the emission of dust and fibers from the ducts.
Air Duct Cleaning – Step-by-Step
Step One: Inspection
The air ducts leading to the supply and return registers are inspected to assess the level of buildup. This is a step that you can take yourself, but in serious cases, you might need the help of a professional.
Step Two: Vacuuming
Professionals implement high-tech vacuum collection devices to suck debris out of the air ducts. This step should be done with care because you would not want to have the removed dust and debris spread all over your house. The good thing about hiring professional cleaners is that they know the right measures to take here.
Step Three: Cleaning
After dust and debris removal, your professional makes use of tools like rotating brushes to clean the air ducts. Depending on the air duct cleaning machine or service you hire, you can also have other parts of your system like drain pan, evaporator coil, and the handler’s blower motor cleaned.
Should You Have Your Air Ducts Cleaned?
Due to the many concerns about indoor air quality, it is important to have your air ducts cleaned at least once a year. However, the timeframe you need to clean the air ducts will depend on several factors. You should consider having your air ducts cleaned regularly if:
- You Notice Contaminants
If you happen to realize debris, dust, odors, and other contaminants are being emitted through the air ducts, you should consider inviting a professional to do air duct cleaning.
- You Have Done a Renovation
If you have recently renovated your house, especially if there was significant dust, lead paint, or asbestos, your air ducts will definitely need a thorough cleaning. Air ducts should always be sealed during home renovations. However, if they were not, dust and other debris may be stuck in the ductwork. Therefore, you should have the air ducts cleaned immediately after a remodeling project.
- Any of Your Property’s Occupants Falls Ill
If any of your family members or other users of your property falls ill and starts showing symptoms of allergy-related illness, it might be a sign that you need to decontaminate your house. A good way to do this is to have your air ducts cleaned.
- There is Evidence of Living Organisms
If you notice visible mold growth or animal infestation in the air ducts, you should consider reaching out to an expert to clean them.
One major service of commercial and residential cleaning companies is air duct cleaning. The service is worthwhile for any property owner because it cleans up the HVAC system, meaning that the indoor air will be free from pollen, dust, and other particles. This helps you prevent any medical issues caused by the aforementioned elements. Furthermore, air duct cleaning allows your HVAC system to perform efficiently because dirty air ducts reduce its performance. Therefore, you can save on future maintenance, repair, and replacement costs.