If you have a centralized heating and air conditioning system, then you have ductwork that runs throughout the walls and floors of your home. These air ducts work to pull in untreated air and force out treated air to keep your home warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Every three to five years, you should highly consider having your ductwork cleaned by a licensed HVAC professional for many different reasons.
Increase Your Indoor Air Quality Level
As your family spends more time indoors during the shorter winter days, you want to ensure that they’re breathing in healthy air. When your indoor air quality levels drop, your family may notice a decrease in their health.
Those who have allergies will likely notice a significant increase in their symptoms. Others will notice fatigue and headaches. Getting air duct maintenance and cleaning is a great way to help remove indoor toxins and boost the quality of the air inside your home.
Dust Less Often
When the inside of your air ducts become overly dirty, you’ll notice that dust accumulates more quickly throughout your home. This can leave you cleaning much more often than you’re used to. Having your ducts cleaned will remove the airborne debris like dust and pet dander that gets stuck inside your ducting. This means that there will be less debris circulating throughout the air in your home, and you won’t have to dust as often.
Remove Unpleasant Lingering Odors
From time to time, you may notice an unpleasant odor lingering around the rooms of your home. Most homeowners report these unpleasant smells to be that of mildew and a musty scent. If you’ve tried cleaning all the surfaces throughout your home to no avail of removing this unpleasant odor, then it’s probably coming from your ductwork.
This smell could be mold growing or something similar happening inside your ducting. Having a professional clean out your ductwork will remove the source of the lingering odor and, therefore, reduce the scent in totality.
Reduce the Strain on your HVAC System
As your air ducts become more filled with unwanted airborne debris, they will partially block the airflow of your HVAC system. This will reduce its efficiency and cause your internal HVAC system components to overwork to deliver adequate air throughout your home. When you unblock your ductwork with a proper cleaning, your HVAC system components can go back to working as efficiently as possible.
Make Your HVAC System Last Longer
When your heating and cooling system is strained due to a partial blockage in your ductwork, it will cause the internal components of your system to wear prematurely. This means that you’ll get less lifespan out of your entire system than you’re supposed to. With regular duct cleaning performed by a licensed professional, you can ensure that your HVAC system isn’t overworking and will last longer.
Reduce Allergy Symptoms
Many people will notice that their allergies seem to get worse in the wintertime. This is due to the fact that allergens get stuck inside during the winter. Without adequate airflow from indoors to outdoors, allergens simply recirculate throughout your home.
While your HVAC system’s air filter will help to trap some of these allergens, others can get stuck inside your ducting. Having your ducting cleaned will remove these allergens, which will, in turn, reduce your allergy symptoms during the fall and winter seasons.
Rid Your Home of Mold Spores
Mold can be dangerous to humans. Its spores can get circulated throughout the air and your ducting. When you’re repeatedly exposed to mold spores, you’ll notice a decrease in your health. Some individuals will even develop respiratory illnesses due to mold exposure.
Mold likes to develop in dark places, like the interior of your ducting. Having a professional clean out your ducting will remove any mold buildup that you’re unable to reach with regular household cleaning.
Identify Ducting Problems
Another great benefit of having your ductwork cleaned regularly is that it can alert you of other problems. Over time, the constant expansion and contraction of the metal ducting material can produce unwanted leaks and gaps in your ductwork.
As a professional cleans out your ducts, they will be able to see any of these loose joints or gaps. Many will even seal up your ductwork so that you can ensure that all of the treated air coming from your heating system makes it to the many rooms throughout your home.
Get Rid of Pest Infestations
Since your ducting is out of the way, inside of your walls and flooring, it is the perfect home for unwanted pests like rodents and insects to live. In the winter months, they can create homes inside of your ducting to stay warm. This can mean some nasty odors and critters entering your home. When you have duct cleaning performed, you can be alerted of these infestations and have them properly removed.
Lower Utility Bills
As your air ducts become dirtier over time, they will become clogged with debris. This leaves less space for air to move throughout your ducting. With less space, your heating system has to work much harder and longer to get your home up to your desired setting on your thermostat.
When you have your ducts cleaned, these blockages are removed. This creates optimal space for your heating and cooling systems to move air throughout your home. Your system will be able to work less, which means lower utility bills for you.
Ensure a Safe New Space
If this is going to be the first winter season in your newly bought home, it’s a good idea to get your ductwork cleaned by a pro. You don’t know exactly how the inside of your ducts are and what airborne particles the old owners may have allowed to enter your ductwork. When you get your ducts cleaned, you can ensure that you’re starting with a clean and safe new space. You won’t have to worry about any nasty airborne particles being released from your ducting for your family to inhale unintentionally.
Remove Smoke Odors
Whether you’ve recently moved into a new home or you have someone that has smoked inside of your home, it can leave a nasty odor. You can clean as much as you want but still notice that the smoke smell hangs around. Many times, smoke odor clings to debris inside of ducting.
This smell gets recirculated throughout the rooms of a home as the blower motor on your heating and air conditioning system runs. The only true way to get rid of this lingering smoke odor is to have your ducting thoroughly cleaned by a professional.
As the fall season approaches, it’s time to think about getting your ducting cleaned. This will not only help to enhance the quality of air inside your home, but it will also increase the lifespan of your heating and cooling system and help with getting rid of any unpleasant lingering odors.
