These practices have yet to be fully researched and you should be fully informed before deciding to permit the use of biocides or chemical treatments in your air ducts. They should only be applied, if at all, after the system has been properly cleaned of all visible dust or debris. Note: Use of sealants to encapsulate the inside surfaces of ducts is a different practice than sealing duct air leaks.
Sealing duct air leaks can help save energy on heating and cooling bills. Knowledge about the potential benefits and possible problems of air duct cleaning is limited. Since conditions in every home are different, it is impossible to generalize about whether or not air duct cleaning in your home would be beneficial.
If no one in your household suffers from allergies or unexplained symptoms or illnesses and if, after a visual inspection of the inside of the ducts, you see no indication that your air ducts are contaminated with large deposits of dust or mold no musty odor or visible mold growth , having your air ducts cleaned is probably unnecessary.
It is normal for the return registers to get dusty as dust-laden air is pulled through the grate. This does not indicate that your air ducts are contaminated with heavy deposits of dust or debris; the registers can be easily vacuumed or removed and cleaned.
On the other hand, if family members are experiencing unusual or unexplained symptoms or illnesses that you think might be related to your home environment, you should discuss the situation with your doctor. EPA has published the following publications for guidance on identifying possible indoor air quality problems and ways to prevent or fix them. You may consider having your air ducts cleaned simply because it seems logical that air ducts will get dirty over time and should occasionally be cleaned.
While the debate about the value of periodic duct cleaning continues, no evidence suggests that such cleaning would be detrimental, provided that it is done properly. On the other hand, if a service provider fails to follow proper duct cleaning procedures, duct cleaning can cause indoor air problems. For example, an inadequate vacuum collection system can release more dust, dirt and other contaminants than if you had left the ducts alone.
A careless or inadequately trained service provider can damage your ducts or heating and cooling system, possibly increasing your heating and air conditioning costs or forcing you to undertake difficult and costly repairs or replacements. This is because much of the dirt that may accumulate inside air ducts adheres to duct surfaces and does not necessarily enter the living space.
Moreover, there is no evidence that a light amount of household dust or other particulate matter in air ducts poses any risk to health. EPA does not recommend that air ducts be cleaned except on an as-needed basis because of the continuing uncertainty about the benefits of duct cleaning under most circumstances. EPA does, however, recommend that if you have a fuel burning furnace, stove, or fireplace, they be inspected for proper functioning and serviced before each heating season to protect against carbon monoxide poisoning.
Some research also suggests that cleaning dirty cooling coils, fans and heat exchangers can improve the efficiency of heating and cooling systems. However, little evidence exists to indicate that simply cleaning the duct system will increase your system's efficiency. If you think duct cleaning might be a good idea for your home, but you are not sure, talk to a professional. The company that services your heating and cooling system may be a good source of advice.
You may also want to contact professional duct cleaning service providers and ask them about the services they provide. Remember, they are trying to sell you a service, so ask questions and insist on complete and knowledgeable answers. To find companies that provide duct cleaning services, check your Yellow Pages under "duct cleaning" or contact the National Air Duct Cleaners Association NADCA at the address and phone number in the information section located at the end of this guidance.
Do not assume that all duct cleaning service providers are equally knowledgeable and responsible. Talk to at least three different service providers and get written estimates before deciding whether to have your ducts cleaned. When the service providers come to your home, ask them to show you the contamination that would justify having your ducts cleaned. A thorough visual inspection is the best way to verify the cleanliness of your heating and cooling system.
Some service providers use remote photography to document conditions inside ducts. All portions of the system should be visibly clean; you should not be able to detect any debris with the naked eye. Show the Post-Cleaning Consumer Checklist to the service provider before the work begins.
After completing the job, ask the service provider to show you each component of your system to verify that the job was performed satisfactorily. If you answer "No" to any of the questions on the checklist, this may indicate a problem with the job.
Ask your service provider to correct any deficiencies until you can answer "yes" to all the questions on the checklist. Whether or not you decide to have the air ducts in your home cleaned, committing to a good preventive maintenance program is essential to minimize duct contamination.
Whether of not you decide to have the air ducts in your home cleaned, committing to a good preventive maintenance program is essential to minimize duct contamination. Moisture should not be present in ducts. Controlling moisture is the most effective way to prevent biological growth in air ducts. Moisture can enter the duct system through leaks or if the system has been improperly installed or serviced.
Research suggests that condensation which occurs when a surface temperature is lower than the dew point temperature of the surrounding air on or near cooling coils of air conditioning units is a major factor in moisture contamination of the system. The presence of condensation or high relative humidity is an important indicator of the potential for mold growth on any type of duct. Controlling moisture can often be difficult, but here are some steps you can take:.
The bottom line is: no one knows. There are examples of ducts that have become badly contaminated with a variety of materials that may pose risks to your health. The duct system can serve as a means to distribute these contaminants throughout a home. In these cases, duct cleaning may make sense.
However, a light amount of household dust in your air ducts is normal. Duct cleaning is not considered to be a necessary part of yearly maintenance of your heating and cooling system, which consists of regular cleaning of drain pans and heating and cooling coils, regular filter changes and yearly inspections of heating equipment. Research continues in an effort to evaluate the potential benefits of air duct cleaning.
You may be familiar with air ducts that are constructed of sheet metal. However, many modern residential air duct systems are constructed of fiber glass duct board or sheet metal ducts that are lined on the inside with fiber glass duct liner. Since the early 's, a significant increase in the use of flexible duct, which generally is internally lined with plastic or some other type of material, has occurred. Internal insulation provides better acoustical noise control.
Flexible duct is very low cost. This can be verified by third-party testing. You should never take a contractors word for it when they claim there is mold in your air ducts.
In addition, cleaning the air ducts may remove the immediate visible areas of mold, however, unless you discover and address the root cause of the mold, you may find yourself fighting the same battle again in the future.
If mold is continuing to develop, then there is a reason. Until you resolve the root issue, duct cleaning will not help. If you are considering cleaning your air ducts because your want cleaner air, then please allow us to give you a few better alternatives. While air filters help remove particles from the air, to truly kill viruses, bacteria and mold, you will need to utilize some type of additional technology such as the Reme Halo device.
The Reme Halo device can be inserted into your existing ductwork. Once installed it distributes ionized hydroperoxide molecules. The hydroperoxide molecules attack airborne contaminants such as bacteria, mold and dander. It also charges the air particles it comes into contact with and causes them to stick together, making it easier for your air filter to remove the enlarged particles. Fortunately, it can also be installed in your home to provide you with safer, cleaner air.
Most homes have a 1 inch filter that needs to be replaced monthly. A 5 inch filter has a larger surface area giving you two big benefits. First, it enables you to filter out more particles from the air without restricting air flow. Secondly, it only needs to be changed every months instead of monthly. It removes up to MERV is a unit that measures how effectively a filter works. The higher the MERV rating, the more particles if filters from the air.
I guess I should present my credentials first, I am a 30 year veteran of the heating and cooling industry. I started at the bottom and have participated in every area of the trade. Installer, service, maint. Ownership, rep, territory manager and so on. A forced air duct system is a large vacume. Like your vacume it has an air intake return air and an exhaust supply registers.
A filter just like a vacume located next to furnace or air handler. Now I want you to visualize something. Put your head inside your vacume cleaner and breath.
Get the picture? This is what your duct work looks like. I recommend hiring a duct cleaning outfit that you have researched to be honest, background checked, drug tested, insured, and highly recommended by your piers in the area. The service is a necessity, but like everything, it should be done by a qualified company. Thinking of buying a home where filter is very dirty and dirt on ceiling near outlets.
Should i run? I had someone out to clean my ducts last weekend. He took a blue bag up in my attic. I refused his service to take care of the mold. He went back up in the attic for a little while and then came down. I never heard any sounds that he was actually up there doing anything.
How do I know if he actually cleaned the air ducts? I have been told I need to replace my duct work. Air conditioner froze up, duckwork was full of water, and they had to pierce it to release it. I live in a modular home with crawl space underneath. What about ringworm? Duct cleaning would not be helpful at all here; these spores are microscopic and it could actually spread them further. But given how severely contagious ringworm is, body and especially scalp, does anyone make an aerosol product that will clean the system and kill the fungus?
The person who came to my house works for an air duct cleaning company who uses a professional vacuum. I was in doubt and he didnt cover the vents so im thinking all dust must have come out from every air vents. Could this vacuum have taking the debris out of the air ducts? Or how can I myself find out if the inside of the air ducts have been cleaned and no debris is sitting there?
I have dust all over my house. After reading comments here I called and cancelled appointment. They still tried to tell me it was a good thing. I know lint can be a fire hazard. So much negativity on these comments. Sure there are some bad companies. Use BBB rated companies or other locally rated outfits. Not every company is bad. Hello, I just had my blower module replaced because my AC coil was frozen over. The underside of my coils had a thick mat of dust because I had never had it cleaned.
I cleaned it myself by using a soft brush attachement on a shop vac. The technician that replaced my blower module said I could definitely benefit from a professional cleaning of the handler and the ductwork, which makes sense. They are going to charge about dollars and bring a crew of people out. This is the part I am calling bs on. Maybe I took him to literally but I am pretty sure cops wont show up to ensure that my duct gets replaced.
He said it would be over dollars to replace the ductwork if that is the case. Now, I spoke to a friend who did 2 ductwork lines on his own in his attic and he said it was like 15 dollars for the plastic wirewound tubing to create new ducts. Should I cancel that appointment and just do the work on my own? Well, I had the cleaning done. The handler is definitely much quieter.
It was explained to me that with the coils clean, the condensation will be able to sweat off instead of sticking to the dust and dirt, therefore the humidity lots of humidity in florida will be removed better.
I feel as if it was worth it, but, I will definitely change that filter every 3 weeks or so from now on. I immoderately sense that I made mistake to call him to my house. Have a two floor condo, technicians said the system was never cleaned, it took them about three hours.
Since I am just moving in, I can not tell the difference. They collected about pounds of dust, is that normal amount or should be more?
My roommate wanted the ducts cleaned so he called some company. My scam senses is already tingling. They came in with a big negative pressure fan. Did some blowing and sucking in different vents. Then they tried to upsell a full system cleaning. I have a big house so we have two units. At that point I pulled the BS get the hell out bell. Our house had an electrical fire. The room that it happened in had no air ducts in it.
Landlord already tore down the room that it happened in. Smoke did get into my daughters room which has air ducts. Does a whole house need to have all the air ducts cleaned. I noticed a lot of negative feedback, though unfortunately there are many dishonest companies out there. I currently work with a company that cleans duct work and we DO NOT use any scare tactics or up sell services or equipment.
Once every 10years of course there are exceptions. We clean supply, returns, air handler, housing, motor, and fan. Though be discerning when qualifying anyone to work in your home.
The air quality of your home or office will only be as clean as the system that produces it. A build up of dust will cause failures to your system over time, equipment that works harder to do its job will run hotter with more strain and this will lead to brake downs and until then the system will run less efficient then it should. The system was engineered to move a certain volume of air through a specific duct size, when that duct size starts to become narowed down with dust build up your system has to work harder to move that air this is why you will end up with a loss of efficiency and eventually breakdowns or failures.
Good luck.. As I type this, I am having my ducts cleaned. About 30 including returns and the furnace. I am watching the team do it and can see the clear vacuuming tubing and how dirty it has become. I get it. However, like I said before, I am actively seeing the tubing that is clear before they start and how dirty it is once they begin and continue cleaning. Just from my 15 years of duct cleaning experience. Quality and price should come hand in hand, a too-good-to-be-true price for an efficient air duct cleaning will not give you the quality that you wanted.
Make sure to shop around and get written estimates first. I have been told by an excellent company that duct cleaning is never recommended. They said it only damages the duct work and is not really necessary. It was not recommended at all ever. Your comments about this would be appreciated. Had our ducts cleaned late April, Sodium Chlorite was sprayed into ducts after cleaning. Have had various other recommendations about what we need to have done to remedy our problem. We will be unable to stay in our home if a resolution cannot be found.
This home was built in …no idea when the present ductwork was installed. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Before having my home air ducts cleaned I was dusting once a week. Post-cleaning, I barely have to dust once a month.
That tells me all I need to know about if it was worth having done. Duct cleaning is a SCAM. I had an in duct UV light installed and my house feels and smells clean now all of the time. The concept from what little I know is it kills or traps We are all getting migraines several times a month.
I have asthma but not ever as bad as it has been and my 2 year olds dr just informed me she potentially has asthma too. We all get sinus infections regularly and eczema and contact dermatitis. None of us have been this way until recently in our apartment. A roof leak with mold was repaired recently mold was sealed off not removed.
We also had lead paint removed from a few window trims this year. We had mice too. Dust on everything daily. White dust.
They are filthy from what I can see when I change the filters. The filters are black after a few months. I am going to try the shop vac to remove what I can. Any experienced hvac people please give your opinion. Should I just get it done and pay for it myself? We have lived here for 13 years. Is it something I can do with a shop vac? Can i use a wet rag to get the powder dust on the inside of the vents off.
One vent has what looks like chunks of dry wall or thick paint sitting in the vent and none of the vents screw into the wall, the screws just fall out. No one ever reinforced the area so the wall just basically crumbles. Kind of useless to spend the money on filters since the air and dust just blows out around the sides of the vents and one of the vents just falls right out of the wall when the heat is turned on.
Mold and mildew not only exacerbate allergies and respiratory conditions but also spread quickly in the house. Therefore, take quick action if you spot mold around vent covers and air conditioning units.
Apart from cleaning out HVAC ducts with mold, technicians will advise you to invest in a home dehumidifier, since mold and mildew grow in wet areas. The easiest way to know that your air ducts should be cleaned is inconsistent airflow in your bedroom, bathroom, living room, and even kitchen. Indoor airflow should be of the same quality since vents deliver consistent airflow. If this isn't the case, have a technician ensure that all vents have clean ductwork.
Pest infestations in your home is another sign that you should clean your ducts. Why is air duct cleaning necessary after pest infestation? Well, this is done to prevent the spread of allergens and other disease-causing microbes. Vermin dander, insect droppings, bacteria, and viruses can cause serious health problems.
Nobody likes any cleaning activities. This becomes even serious if you continuously find dust and dirt in your home even after cleaning.
This indicates that a significant amount of dust is being directed to the surfaces, most likely from the HVAC system. Regardless of the season, your heating and cooling bills should be predictable every year.
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