5 Reasons to Schedule Your Home Air Duct Cleaning Today
How often should you clean your air duct vents? The standard answer is every few years or so, but your answer depends on everything from who lives in your home to how often you open your windows. If you haven’t had a professional service for a while, we’ll tell you why it can save you a lot of future grief.
Why Air Ducts Are Ignored
Most homeowners don’t see their air ducts as a very exciting part of the property. It’s rare for residents to form an emotional attachment to them or associate them with any fond memories. It’s why people tend to forget about cleaning them until they can’t really afford to ignore it anymore. You don’t have to write an ode to your air ducts or anything, but you do need to pay attention to how they change over time.
1. Air Ducts Are the Secret to Air Quality
What does it look like when you know the secrets behind the air in your home? It can certainly be fun to see the sunlight hit a random patch of your bedroom or den. All those particles floating around and colliding with one another reveal a whole new world that’s going on right under your nose.
But then you start thinking about the fact that you’re breathing in all that dust on a regular basis, and all of a sudden, it’s not quite as much fun. The hairs in your nose will certainly filter some of it, but that doesn’t mean it’s good for you.
You likely already know the usual suspects when it comes to clogging up the air in your home. Whiskers or Fido is shedding, you haven’t vacuumed in a while, or maybe you’re just opening the windows more often. If you’re using a normal fiberglass air filter, it’s only about 7% effective when it comes to cleaning out the pollen and dust. Considering how dirty it gets over just a few months, consider the other 93% that’s passing into the air ducts.
2. It’s a Breeding Ground
Dust can cause anything from the occasional sneeze to chronic allergies, but neglected air ducts can lead to a far worse problem. Mold, fungus, and bacteria thrive in the cool, dark, wet air vents, and all those tiny, seemingly invisible organisms are just blown back into the rooms of your home when you turn on the air conditioning. Cleaning your air ducts can reveal a problem if you have one, and prevent one if you don’t.
When all of your ducts have been taken care of, you can rest assured you’re not breathing in stale air anymore. And we don’t use that phrase lightly either. If you suffer from allergies at night due to dust mites or pollen spores, an air duct cleaning can be the key to getting your Z’s.
3. Removes Smells in Your Home
People have a tendency to get used to the smells in their home. Pets, last night’s dinners, general cleaning habits: they can all contribute to a general staleness that hangs in the air. And even if you leave and come back in, if the scents are so familiar, it won’t even register. But if you ask someone else about the scent of the house, they might have a very different reaction. (Most guests won’t tell you that your home smells, but they may mention that it has a characteristic scent if you ask them.)
If you want your home’s air to be a little fresher, the air duct cleaning process can remove the recirculated air that’s causing the issue. Don’t just spray some air cleaner around the home when you can rip out the root of the problem.
4. Lowers Your Utility Bills
When the temperatures start to hit unmentionable levels, every bit of air efficiency counts. If your system is clogged with a colony of mold, it’s not going to be able to function very well. It will have to expend that much more energy to cool the same space, something that will inevitably end up cramping your budget. Give your ducts the best possible chance of operating at peak capacity when you take care of them.
5. Everyone Breathes Easier
You don’t have to suffer from allergies to benefit from an air duct cleaning. Even the healthiest people can end up getting mysterious sinus congestion that’s only cleared up after they get an air duct cleaning. Any pollutants in the air can irritate your lungs, which will only eventually cause them to irritate you.
Imagine what it feels like to take in a fresh sip of air as opposed to a musty inhale. For some homeowners, the quality is affected in certain parts of the home, such as in a closed-off den or unused bedroom. For others though, their air quality is affected everywhere. No matter what category you’re in, it’s just easier to trust the air you breathe.
DIY or Professional Services?
We can appreciate the homeowners who want to tackle the process by themselves. You’re taking responsibility for the condition of the home, which will inevitably lead to a greater sense of pride in your property. But even if you accept the potential horrors to be found (e.g., fungus, dead insects, etc.) lurking behind the air ducts, a DIY cleaning just can’t compare with the industrial equipment of a professional service.
This is not to say that you can’t significantly improve the quality of your air after a DIY cleaning, only that your system won’t function as efficiently when compared to one that’s been professionally cleaned.
Calling the Experts
At Precision Air & Plumbing, our staff takes the time to protect your vents, your air, your furniture — everything! First, we cover all the things in your home with plastic tarps to protect it from debris. Then we use our HEPA-sealed vacuum to get dirt out of your covered vents.
Once most of the gunk has been removed, we go in for a more detailed cleaning with an agitator. This will collect any accumulation on the sides so that too can be removed. Your registers get a full cleaning, and we end the whole process with a biocide treatment to kill the mold that may be hiding inside.
If cool, clean air is something you can get behind, we invite you to contact us for more information. No matter what season it is, we’re here to look after your health. We can even help remind you of when to clean next, so you don’t have to ask again in three years how often you need to clean your ducts.
