Air ducts can collect a lot of gross stuff over time that needs proper cleaning before a professional company comes in and uses their expensive equipment on the job. Most people don’t realize how bad their vents look inside until they hire someone to clean them out. The problem is that most people believe they have a clean air duct system, then the professional company comes in and has to throw away hours of their work because it’s too much for them to handle all at once.
Do you have dirty air ducts? Are you considering having them cleaned? If so, the most important thing to consider is whether or not it’s even worth getting. Not all air duct cleaning methods are effective and may even be harmful to your health if used on a dirty air duct. Here are ten reasons why you should use an effective cleaning method on your air ducts.
1. Not doing so causes allergies and asthma.
One of the most common reasons to clean air ducts is health problems, such as severe allergies or asthma. There’s a simple connection between the two: your dirty air duct system makes it difficult for you to breathe which causes problems.
2. Not doing so increases your medical bills.
The prices of certain medications increase when demand increases, which links directly with how many people suffer from allergies and asthma. When you have an unclean air duct system, you’re one of those people who contributes to increased medical costs that everyone pays for. Eight percent of all medical expenses in the United States are attributed to poor indoor air quality.
3. Not doing so increases the risk for respiratory infections.
When the air ducts are unclean, microscopic particles containing dust, pollen, mold spores, and other pollutants remain in your home’s air supply. As you breathe, these contaminants enter your lungs and cause irritation that results in coughing, sneezing, watery eyes, itchy throat and nosebleeds. These uncomfortable symptoms do not sound fun or enjoyable which is why it’s important to keep them away by simply cleaning your air duct system.
4. Not doing so keeps flammable products in the air.
Would you want a fire hazard inside of your oven? Probably not. If microscopic fire hazards were hanging out inside of your oven and blowing into the rest of your home, would you be interested in cleaning them? Probably not. That’s the same idea with your air ducts; there are plenty of flammable products such as oil, gasoline and other automotive fluids that can get pulled into the air stream and put everyone at risk! Even simple particles such as dust are flammable. It only takes a spark to ignite these dangerous gases, and it doesn’t take much heat to make them explode.
5. Not doing so causes air ducts to spread bad smells.
Have you ever cooked something and had their odor fill up the entire house? Your air ducts help circulate that smell everywhere. You may think that because you live alone or just have a pet, no one will notice but it’s still not good for anyone’s health to be breathing in someone else’s cooking smells.
6. Not doing so can spread mold to other areas of your HVAC system.
Signs that you could have high airborne mold levels are musty smells, visible black mold growth and allergies. Mold spreads quickly through the air ducts like any other path it can take, which means it could be sending spores throughout your home, making everyone sick.
7. Not doing so could hike up your energy bills.
Your HVAC unit works less efficiently when clogged with deposits–this leads to higher energy bills for heating and cooling your home or business space. One small part of an air duct blocked by debris can reduce airflow by as much as fifty percent. This leads to overworking the rest of the system, working twice as hard to compensate.
8. Not doing so could decrease the lifespan of your HVAC unit.
The earlier you can get your system repaired or replaced, the less likely you will run into issues later on down the line. If left for too long, an air duct system can cause parts in your heating and cooling system to wear out much faster than they should, which means repairs will cost more money in the long term.
9. Not doing so could clog your HVAC unit.
When it comes to home improvement projects, think big when dealing with conditioning systems like your furnace or AC unit. When not monitored well enough by a professional contractor, things can get very dangerous before you know it. Without regular maintenance and inspection from a professional using proven methods and equipment, the buildup of dirt and other debris can clog your vents. In addition, it can warp how well your filters trap these particles. Once you realize it’s time for an air duct cleaning service, you might find that all of your efforts to improve indoor air quality will go down the drain.
10. Not doing so causes inadequate filtration.
The whole idea behind having a filtration system is to rid your air ducts of as many contaminants as possible. However, if those filters are not changed every year or so, they will become clogged with dust and other debris, thus turning them into nothing more than a dirty filter that can worsen indoor air quality instead of improving it. If you have a central heating and cooling system in your home, chances are that there’s at least one filter somewhere between the furnace or heat pump and the vents that feed into the rooms. These filters work by trapping dust particles–i.e., anything from pollen to pet dander–so they don’t circulate through your house. Contaminants should be trapped by the filter instead of being blown into the rooms, as this will improve your indoor air quality.
