How often to you think about the condition of your home’s ductwork? Our guess: not often. This is almost by design. The ducts in a house hide from sight, traveling through spaces between walls and through the attic. Exposed ducts may look fine in commercial buildings with high ceilings, but that’s not the appearance you want for a cozy and pleasant home.
Residential ductwork does need some consideration however. Ducts that have suffered damage will lead to poor heating and cooling performance and rises in utility bills. Professional duct testing and sealing can solve this issue.
But there’s another concern with ducts to think about, and that’s keeping them clean.
Why would the ducts get dirty in the first place?
The reason that you need occasionally to sweep and vacuum dust from your house. Dust and various airborne particles circulate around your house during the year, and most of them pass through the ventilation system multiple times. A six-room house can circulate up to 40 lbs. of dust annually! This dust, dander, lint, and more settle on the inner duct walls and begin to build-up. And the more build-up is on the walls, the faster it will increase as more particles are trapped.
Why It’s Beneficial to Have this Cleaned
You don’t want your ducts clogged up with dust and dirt the same way you don’t want an air filter in the HVAC system or your car to become clogged. The system cannot operate as effectively when it has large obstructions. Here’s a breakdown of the major benefits of having your ductwork cleaned:
- Energy efficiency improves: The debris inside ducts puts friction on airflow. This in turn forces the blower of the HVAC system to work harder and drain more power. If you’ve noticed your utility bills rising, the source might be clogged ducts.
- Damaged to the furnace or AC prevented: All this dust and other particles in the ventilation system can mean it getting inside the HVAC cabinet. This might damage motors and cause the condenser coil to freeze over, among other things.
- Cleaner, fresher home in general: Cleaning the ducts eliminates a huge reservoir of dust and other debris you don’t want wafted around your house. Not only does cleaning the ducts help the house stay clean, it removes irritating contaminants from the air.
Call Professionals to Handle Duct Cleaning
You shouldn’t need duct cleaning done every year, but if you’ve never had it done, now is probably the time to get started. (In general, we recommend duct cleaning every 3 to 4 years.) This doesn’t mean you should get a vacuum with a long hose and try to stick it down the vent registers. Complete duct cleaning is a job for professionals who use powerful cleaning equipment to access the entire ventilation network.
You can rely on our team for great duct cleaning in Fenton, MI and the surrounding areas. We also offer duct testing and sealing if you have a ventilation system needing more in-depth work.
First Choice Heating & Cooling: If your home had a voice, it would call First Choice!