Why You Should Clean Your Air Ducts This Fall

Fall brings cooler weather, but it isn’t so cold that you can’t go outside and enjoy the time that you spend there. You know that colder days are coming, so it is an opportune time to start thinking about your air ducts. The winter months will mean that we will all be spending more time indoors, so maintenance is highly important to ensure that your filters can provide you with the best air quality. You will find several reasons below that it may be time for you to have your ducts professionally cleaned:

Protect Your Family Members from Allergens.

The ducts are depositories of allergens, dust and dirt, and this is a problem because the air circulates throughout the duct system. As it does this, the air loosens the allergens, dust and dirt so that they are free to move throughout your house. When these allergens enter your living space in this manner, there can be a high percentage of impurities in the air.

If your family members have allergies or respiratory issues, this situation can lead to difficulties breathing or allergic reactions. When the environment is impure, people are constantly dealing with their allergies, and those with breathing problems feel as if they are out of breath most of the time. This is one very important reason to have your air ducts cleaned.

Several disgusting things exist inside your ducts, and they include mold spores, pollen and dust mites. Ducts provide a great environment for mold to grow because it is damp and has a food source that can cause mold to thrive. Pollen also becomes trapped inside your ducts, and it may cause you and your family to experience sore throats, runny noses and watery eyes. Those are common pollutants, but there are also many others that can be lurking within your ducts.

As the air brings these pollutants to your rooms, they also end up in your furniture, and this is just one more way for them to end up in your body.

Improve the Quality of the Air.

The air inside your home will benefit in other ways as well. For example, air ducts can become contaminated with bacteria and fungus, so the fumes that are created combine with fungus spores in the air. To prevent this situation, you must sanitize your ducts.

You Have Pets.

Pets are great additions to your family, but they also increase the amount of work that it takes to keep your house clean. You may have a cat or a dog, and these lovely little creatures often shed their hair. Along with the hair, they are also shedding skin cells, so skin cells and hair build up inside the air ducts. When this occurs, it blocks the air’s ability to flow freely throughout the ducts. As a result, your air conditioning system will need to work much harder to keep your home cool, and inefficient appliances increase your energy bills. In addition to that, the hair and dander that are building up in your ducts are common allergens. If your family members are sensitive to it, they will have unwanted allergic reactions.

Maintain the Entire HVAC System.

Maintenance is important for the air conditioning system and your heating system. As particles build up, the moving parts in your air conditioner and furnace are forced to work harder, and this is an obstacle that prevents the air from moving efficiently through your ducts. It also reduces the life expectancy of your HVAC systems, so you may need to have them repaired more often. In addition to that, it will cost more money to heat your home because your heating system will need to expend a greater amount of energy to heat your house adequately.

Routine maintenance keeps these appliances working efficiently for a longer period of time.

A Smoker Lives in Your House.

Smokers are often required to smoke outside, but everyone doesn’t follow this rule. As a person smokes a cigarette, cigar or other type of apparatus, the smoke makes its way into the duct system and builds up there. When you turn on your air conditioner, the air circulates and picks up toxins from the smoke and spreads them throughout the house. You may not be the smoker, but you are breathing in the smoke from the other people in your house.

Have a Pleasant Smell in Your Home.

You may have noticed that your air has an unpleasant smell. This is a sign that your air ducts need to be sanitized. That’s because bacteria is building up inside the ducts, and it only continues to grow after this begins. As it is growing, the bacteria starts to smell, and it can be highly unpleasant. When this occurs, it is time to disinfect the ducts so that your air can remain fresh.

You Won’t Need to Clean Your Home as Often.

In most cases, your house isn’t getting dirty very quickly when you have a working air conditioning system. You may have needed to clean the house once every 10 days, but you are now cleaning it once a week. This is a sign that your air ducts are dirty. As the air circulates through your house, it picks up the dust and dirt and spreads it around. Because your air conditioner is moving dirt around, you need to clean your home more often.

Keep Rodents and Insects at Bay.

Rodents and insects love to hang out in warm and dry places. When the ducts aren’t sanitized and cleaned as often as they should be, the ducts become an unhygienic and dirty place. This is just the type of environment that welcomes snakes, insects, rats and mice, and these are the types of creatures that you do not want to find lurking around your home! Making a point of regularly cleaning your ducts will ensure that you don’t have to worry about an infestation of pests like the ones described above. Then, there is no need to hire an exterminator to relieve your home of unwanted creatures.

Prevent the Growth of Mold.

Air ducts are not just warm; they are also damp. These are conditions that are highly conducive to mold growth. Most importantly, mold can endanger the health of the residents, so you must keep it from appearing and growing inside your home. You may have noticed that there is a black, powdery substance on your walls that are located near your vents. If you see this, it means that the situation is much worse on the inside. Mold is also detrimental to your indoor air quality because your HVAC system picks it up and spreads it throughout your house. At this point, it is imperative that you have your ducts cleaned professionally when you notice these signs of mold growth.

Your Basement Is Damp.

Your ducts may be in your basement. If so, the air travels from your basement to other rooms, and it brings the damp air with it. This makes the air in your other rooms damp as well. You must have your ducts cleaned on a yearly basis if your basement is usually damp so that mold doesn’t have a chance to grow. Additionally, if your basement flooded recently, it is advisable to have your ducts cleaned now.

The Ducts Have Never Been Cleaned.

You may have been in your home for several years and never thought that you needed to have the ducts cleaned. You may know by now that this isn’t the case. Also, you may have just moved into your home that was occupied previously. The best thing that you can do is have your ducts cleaned. You don’t know what is currently hiding in your ducts, but if you have them professionally cleaned, you will eliminate this worry.

When the Air Blows, You Notice That Dust Comes Out of Your Vents.

When you can see anything coming out of your vents as the air blows, this is a sure sign that particles are building up within your ducts. As dust and other particles increase, they do not remain within the ducts forever. The circulating air brings them back into your rooms, and it creates air that is hard to breathe and is also unsafe. You definitely need to have your ducts cleaned and sanitized when you witness dust coming from your vents.

You Recently Completed an Upgrade On Your Home.

When you make improvements on your home, this causes your ducts to be overburdened. That’s because, when you build an addition onto your house or increase the size of a room, paint particles, sawdust and dirt end up in your ducts. Anytime that you have construction done on your home, it will cause your ducts to become dirtier faster. If you did not have your ducts cleaned before you began a new construction project, you can be assured that you have even more debris buildup now that the work has been completed. After you finish home renovations, it is always a good idea to have your ducts cleaned so that you reduce the possibility of problems in the future.

If you are living in a home that had previous owners, you must ask them when the last time was that they had their ducts cleaned. If it has been a long time, it will be your duty to have them professionally cleaned because the buildup can be detrimental to your appliances and your family’s health.

Prevent Disease.

When people are suffering from respiratory diseases, the main culprit is often poor indoor air quality. This may be because the air in your home contains bacteria spores, mold, dirt, dust particles and contaminants. These are the additives that increase your chances of suffering from asthma, bronchitis or emphysema.

You Can Find Out if There Are Any Leaks.

When technicians clean your ducts, they have the opportunity to inspect them as well as clean them. Then, they may find areas that are leaking, or they may find holes and other problems that need to be repaired before they lead to more expensive issues in the future. For example, the insulation may be damaged and will need to be repaired. It is preferable to have this done in the fall before you really need your heating system to be working during the colder months.

You Purchased a New Furnace.

You may have prepared for the coming winter season by purchasing a new furnace. This is a great time to take the opportunity to have your ducts cleaned because, if your ducts have a significant amount of debris, this debris can begin to clog your new furnace, and the consequences of this have already been discussed above. For example, particles can cause your coils to clog, and as was mentioned above, this will cause your furnace to work inefficiently.

Cleaning your air ducts benefits your family’s health in many ways. It is also the reason that your HVAC system can work efficiently for the longest possible time. Make an appointment to have your ducts cleaned by One Hour Heating & Air Conditioning this fall, and enjoy the fresh air and the knowledge that you are keeping up with your home maintenance.