When Was The Last Time You Cleaned Your Air Ducts?

Most people remember to get their carpets cleaned in the spring. They do their spring yard clean-up as soon as the snow melts. They tune up their air conditioning for the summer. You know why? Because you can see the effects of not doing so. You see the dirt in your carpets, or the mess on your lawn. You feel the heat in summer if your air conditioning goes bad. Do you know what you don’t see that’s just as bad? Dirty air ducts.

When was the last time cleaned your air ducts? Six months ago? Six years ago? Have you ever had them cleaned since you moved in? Don’t feel too bad, most people don’t. You definitely, should though. Here’s 3 reasons why you should clean your air ducts.

1. Allergies

When dust builds up in your air ducts, it doesn’t just sit there. Air moving through the ducts will blow it out into whatever room the ducts vent into. When you turn on the air conditioning or the central heating, that air blows the dust right into your house.

Dust has a lot of allergens in it. Pet dander, pollen, particles in the air, they all make up the dust in your ducts and all of them can cause reactions. If you don’t clean it up, you’ll find it blowing all that into your home. Have you been noticing your allergies acting up, even when they shouldn’t? That might be allergens blowing into your room.

2. Diseases

Animals like mice and rats can get into your air ducts. These animals can spread disease. Most notably, the hantavirus is a life-threatening disease that can cause respiratory infections that fill the lungs with fluid, or internal bleeding and kidney failure. These are unpleasant and can take weeks to fully recover from. If untreated, they are fatal.

Proper air duct cleaning can clean up the infected feces that might be in your ducts and help prevent these diseases, but if there are animals getting into your ducts, it suggests a more serious problem with your HVAC. If you’ve spotted animals in your ducts, You should also check the entry and exit points to your vents, as they may not be properly sealed and filtered.  It would also be a good idea to have them disinfected, just to be on the safe side.

3. Improve HVAC Performance

All that dust and grime building up inside your air ducts can clog fans and vents. This has a wide range of effects. Clogs force the HVAC system to work harder. The air needs more pressure to push it past the clogs. Build up on fans can slow them down, forcing your system to work overtime to get the same results. This can cause your system to not put out enough hot or cool air to keep your home at the temperature you prefer. Furthermore, if your HVAC has to work harder to produce the same results, that means it also works longer. This puts more stress on the system and causes more wear and tear. You’ll need to replace or repair your system sooner, and that’s an expense you don’t need.  Air duct cleaning can help prevent this.

Should I Clean My Air Ducts?

Photo courtesy of Herald Journal News

Yes, you should clean your air ducts, especially here in Cache Valley.

In addition to everything above, Cache Valley is especially prone to poor air quality. If you’ve lived here for more than a year, you know about the inversions. Because we’re in a valley, cold air drags all of the air pollution with it when it sinks in the winter. During the warmer months, the air is nice and fresh, but during the winter it can sometimes get worse than Pittsburgh.

Generally, you want to clean your ducts every 2-3 years, though this varies. Properly installed, newer HVAC systems have very effective filters. If you change the filters when you’re supposed to, dust won’t build up as fast. On the other hand, older homes may not have filters set up at all, so the ducts may get dirty faster.

Contact Us

Clean air is an important element of your quality of life. If you want to breathe easy, why not contact us today? We’ll give you a proper air duct cleaning so you can have a breath of fresh air in your home!