Your home’s air ducts serve as conduits for warm and cooling airflow. The National Air Duct Cleaners Association (NADCA) advises air duct cleaning every three to five years as a general rule of thumb. That cleaning advice can be extended to 6 to 8 years with specific techniques. For the sake of your family’s and home’s health, it may be necessary to clean your air ducts more quickly if there has been a buildup of mould and other allergens. The frequency of air duct cleaning.
When was the last time you considered the cleanliness of your air ducts? Most individuals assume their ducts are clean enough and never give them a second thought. But with time, your ducts begin to gather debris, insects, and even vermin like rats and mould in addition to dust. In addition to just being blown into your home every time your HVAC system is turned on, these substances can begin to clog up your vents, decreasing their effectiveness. This implies that the cost of cooling or heating your building will increase.
Every home must have HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) systems. This system is in charge of heating and cooling your house so that you can live comfortably throughout the year. There are many different types of HVAC systems available, and each has unique maintenance requirements.
Regular air vent cleaning is a crucial component of appropriate maintenance for all other types of HVAC systems, barring ductless HVAC (also known as ductless mini-split systems).
Everything you need to know about cleaning air vents, including how frequently you should do it, will be covered in this article. We’ll go over the basics of what air vents are and why they need to be cleaned frequently to safeguard your home and health.
When you Need Your Ducts Cleaned?
When should your ducts be cleaned? Both new and experienced homeowners are faced with that query. When moving into a new home, a cleaning should be performed, especially if the previous owner smoked, kept pets, or neglected to service the ducts within the preceding three years.
Air duct cleaning helps remove drywall dust and other construction waste from your home once construction is complete. A thorough cleaning is required once a home remodelling project is over because leftover debris like sawdust can get into your ductwork.
⇒ A musty odour or visible mould
Mold adores humid, moist, inaccessible locations like your air ducts. A cleaning of the contaminated ductwork should be performed if you can physically see mould, smell mustiness in the air, or experience symptoms like itching or coughing. A reputable service provider can remove the mould by sterilising the area to stop any further growth and contribute to its future prevention.
⇒ Infestation of pests
The air that is circulated throughout the house might get contaminated by the trash and stink left behind by creepy crawlers who establish a home in your ducts. A thorough cleaning can get rid of vermin and keep them from pestering you again if you discover pests in or around the ductwork or notice a drop in your system’s function. The frequency of air duct cleaning.
⇒ Additional dust or debris
Another justification for cleaning air ducts is that they can accumulate over time with dust, pet dander, dead skin cells, and potentially harmful allergens. The visible manifestation of this extra material may appear as poofs of dust that are expelled from air vents. Buildup reduces air flow and performance while putting you and your family at risk for respiratory and other health problems.
According to the NADCA, “the U.S. Department of Energy estimates that between 25 and 40 percent of the energy used to heat or cool a home is wasted.” This could shorten the system’s lifespan and hurt your pocketbook. How can the airflow in air ducts be increased in light of this?
To ensure optimal airflow that is clean and safe for your family to breathe, your air ducts can be cleared of this collected dirt with the help of a professional cleaning.
INFORMATION ON CLEANING AIR DUCTS AND VENTS
You may easily clean the air duct covers by yourself once every couple of weeks. Just take the following actions:
- Shut off the HVAC unit.
- The air duct coverings on your walls should be unscrewed and taken off.
- To properly clean the slats and grilles, use a brush. Use soap and water if you notice any dirt on these.
- Try to reach air duct covers with a brush to remove any collected dust and debris if they are too high to be unscrewed.
But it’s best to leave cleaning the air ducts themselves to the experts. You would need to have the appropriate tools, such as rotary brushes and powerful, specialised vacuum cleaners, that are used by air duct cleaning professionals. If you want to have the highest indoor air quality in your home, you should perform this type of thorough cleaning at least every two years. The frequency of air duct cleaning.
We’ve discussed how often, how to clean air vents and air ducts, and why it’s crucial to do so frequently in this article. The lifespan of an HVAC system is approximately 15 years, even with the best care, and as your system becomes older, you might notice more issues with efficiency and general performance.
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