Does your house feel stuffy with no apparent culprit in sight, and there’s a musty smell lingering around? Your air ducts are the reason, and we’ll tell you why!
Air ducts are the lungs of your house, filtering all the dust and particles and ensuring you breathe clean air all day. When they go long without cleaning, they accumulate dust and grime, negatively affecting the air quality inside your house and causing stuffiness.
In this article, we’ll tell you 8 air duct cleaning benefits, and if you want to get them cleaned right away, contact us today!
8 Benefits of Air Duct Cleaning
Cleaning your air ducts on a regular basis carries multiple benefits, and we’ve listed them for you.
1. Improve the Air Quality Inside Your House
All the air you and your family breathe inside the house circulates through your air ducts. It’ll contain dust particles, pet dander, and even mold spores if the ducts are left without cleaning for too long. Over time, the presence of these particles in the air can aggravate allergies, cause mild respiratory issues, and result in overall poor indoor air quality.
Periodic air duct cleaning eliminates these issues by ensuring all the air filtering through your HVAC unit is clean.
2. Extend the Lifespan of Your Air Filters
When dirt accumulates on your duct surfaces, it reaches your air filters and clogs them. This will lead to more frequent cleaning of the filters, which will shorten their lifespan. Over time, you’ll find that you’re replacing them a little too fast.
Cleaning the air filters alone isn’t enough to extend their lifespan. You also need to keep your ducts spotless.
3. Improve the Longevity of Your HVAC System
If your air ducts are full of dirt and grime, your heating and cooling systems won’t be working as efficiently as they should, so they’ll take longer to regulate the indoor temperature. Constantly pushing harder will cause your HVAC system to wear faster than normal. In a few years, you could need to replace the heating or cooling system, which will cost you significant amounts of money.
Air duct cleaning extends your HVAC system’s lifespan by ensuring it works efficiently all the time with no obstacles to push through.
4. Eliminate Foul Smells Inside Your House
When dust accumulates inside your ducts, it traps odorous particles like tobacco, mildew, food, and other fumes. After a while, these particles can cause foul smells to spread throughout your house, which is both irritating and an open invitation to insects and pests.
Living in a humid area can also cause the accumulated dust and pet dander to get moistened by the ambient humidity. This, in turn, causes mold spores to sprout and give off an unpleasant odor.
If you have a mysterious musty smell in your living space, it might be time to book a professional air duct cleaning session.
5. Keep the Energy Bills Low
Believe it or not, getting your air ducts cleaned regularly can result in more affordable energy bills. When you have dirty air ducts, your heating and cooling system needs to work twice as hard to keep the temperatures indoors controlled because accumulated dirt affects airflow.
Eventually, this leads to a higher energy bill, which is easily preventable if you keep your air duct system clean.
6. Identify HVAC Issues Early
Professional duct cleaning services don’t only leave your ducts as good as new, but they also identify large issues in your HVAC system earlier than usual. This can save you effort and money trying to fix them once they get too complicated.
Common examples are cracks in your ducts causing leakages, rust in some areas, or loose parts.
7. Reduce the Risk of Fires
Leaving your ducts dirty for a long time can cause an accumulation of lint, pet hair, and other flammable dirt particles.
If overheating occurs for any reason, like an overworked HVAC system, these particles might ignite. While the risk isn’t high in all houses, it’s always better to be safe than sorry because the results can be catastrophic.
8. Prevent the Buildup of Mold
Air conditioning can cause condensation on the surface of your ducts, resulting in a moist environment perfect for the growth of mold and bacteria. If left without cleaning for a long time, a buildup of mold will occur, which can have unpleasant health consequences.
How Often Should You Clean Your Air Ducts?
According to recommendations by the National Air Duct Cleaners Association (NADCA), you should clean your air ducts thoroughly once every 3 to 5 years.
Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) doesn’t set a specific time limit, emphasizing that you should clean your air ducts whenever needed.
Do You Need Professional Air Duct Cleaning, or Can You DIY Your Way Through It?
Cleaning air ducts is better left to professional duct cleaning companies for the following reasons:
- They use specific tools to vacuum the ducts that you might not have.
- Some places are hard to reach without expert help but need to be cleaned thoroughly, like corners and bends.
- Rodent and insect manifestations need professional treatment to prevent any recurrences.
- They’ll inspect your duct system for damage and alert you to issues early.
To Wrap Up
Keeping your air ducts clean is of utmost importance to improve the quality of air inside your house, prevent respiratory problems, and prevent allergies from worsening.
At Clear-View Air Duct Cleaning, we inspect your ducts using advanced video technology and leave them clean as a whistle using state-of-the-art equipment. If you want to give our duct cleaning services a try, call us today!
