A clean air duct is essential for your HVAC system to work efficiently and circulate clean air throughout your home. This can improve indoor air quality, reduce allergens, dust, and other potential contaminants, and prevent a musty smell from developing in your home. But did you know that your home generates approximately 40 pounds of dust each year? That dust is going straight to the air ducts and the cold or warm air that is pumped to each room in your home. Air ducts can also contain allergens such as dust, dirt, pet dander, pollen, mold spores, fungi, etc.
Cleaning ventilation ducts regularly can reduce sick time, doctor bills, personal illness and discomfort. The debate over the value of periodic duct cleaning continues, but there is no evidence to suggest that such cleaning is harmful when done properly. When you hire a professional to clean your air ducts, it's important to know what will be done during the cleaning. In reality, if your home is well maintained, there is little evidence that cleaning the HVAC ducts alone reduces the system's energy consumption by a significant amount.
Some companies have even stated that cleaning air ducts can help make your home greener by reducing your HVAC's energy consumption. If you think there may be uninvited guests inside your air ducts, a duct cleaning service may be the solution. There's no shortage of misleading information on the internet about HVAC duct cleaning procedures for non-professionals. You can learn more about the difference air duct cleaning can make by watching this short video, which includes “before” and “after” images of a typical air duct cleaning session. Cleaning your air ducts is one of the most effective ways to remove dirt, debris, and other unwanted particles from your home's air conditioning system. Since every home's conditions are different, it's impossible to generalize about whether cleaning your home's air ducts would be beneficial or not.
As suggested by the EPA, cleaning ductwork as needed ensures that proper maintenance is performed. To find companies that offer duct cleaning services, see the section on duct cleaning in the Yellow Pages or contact the National Association of Air Duct Cleaners (NADCA) at the address and phone number listed in the information section at the bottom of this guide. Some service providers may also suggest applying chemical treatments (sealants or other encapsulants) to encapsulate or cover the inner surfaces of air ducts and equipment housings because they believe they will control mold growth or prevent the release of dirt particles or fibers from the ducts. Some air duct cleaning services make bold claims about the benefits of duct cleaning and about how often the ducts must be cleaned. Cases in which it might be appropriate to use sealants to encapsulate duct surfaces include repairing damaged fiberglass insulation or combating fire damage to ducts. As long as the cleaning is done correctly, there is no evidence to suggest that such cleaning is harmful. You can consider cleaning your air ducts simply because it seems logical that the air ducts will get dirty over time and need to be cleaned from time to time. If you're not sure when you last cleaned your air ducts, call (21) 545-1776 to schedule duct cleaning now and get back to a cleaner home.
