The air duct system in your home is an area that needs cleaning for a safe and comfortable environment. You may consider cleaning the air ducts in your home by yourself, to save money and improve the indoor air quality. Before you start cleaning them, our team compiled several reasons why you need a professional to clean them. There are a lot of complexities, risks, and challenges to cleaning air ducts without the training, skill, or equipment a professional brings along with them.
Inadequate Tools and Equipment
Air duct cleaning is a different kind of cleaning from dusting or vacuuming your home. Air ducts require cleaning with specialized, high-powered tools typical of professional HVAC companies, like Markool Heating & Cooling. We use high-powered vacuums, rotary brushes, and compressed air tools specially created for reaching the depths of the ductwork, taking out the collected debris, and cleaning the ducts thoroughly. Without these tools, an attempt to remove the debris is likely to do little, other than redistribute particles of dirt throughout the home. This leaves you with the same air quality issues you wanted solved and possibly worse.
Professional tools, including truck-mounted vacuums and advanced rotary brush systems, are necessary for a thorough cleaning. They are the tools with which you can get into the ductwork and get it as clean as possible. In addition, the compressed air tools blow out nooks and crannies that may otherwise stay dirty. While at home, without these tools, amateur attempts at cleaning won’t come close to eradicating dust, allergens, and dirt that affects your home’s indoor air quality.
We also use HEPA (High-Efficiency Particulate Air) filters in our vacuums, so we catch the smallest particles, filtering out dust and other pollutants from the ducts instead of sending them back into your home. When using a standard vacuum, any dust or debris loosened tends to go back into your home and may cause respiratory problems.
The Risk of Damaging Your Home’s Ductwork
Air ducts are often more fragile than they seem. Constructed from thin metal or limp plastic, they require gentle handling to avoid damage. DIY cleaning efforts for ductwork may cause bends, punctures, and damage to the ductwork. Ductwork damage sometimes results in leaks that let valuable energy seep out, making the HVAC system less efficient and increasing energy bills. If there is damage to the seals when you finish cleaning them, then you may contribute to more dust entering the system as well as other pollutants, which contradicts the cleaning you did in the first place.
Potential Fire Hazards
Air ducts in your home can become something of a fire hazard since the accumulation of dust and other particulates occurs. This is a real risk in older homes, where there may be issues with the ductwork because it didn’t follow the newer, more stringent safety regulations. Problems also arise because DIY efforts at cleaning may disturb this debris versus removing it, increasing the risk of fire.
Disruptive and Labor Intensive
Contrary to what some may think, ductwork cleaning is a rather highly labor-intensive job. It requires gaining access to every part of the ductwork, which usually includes moving around furniture, climbing into attics or crawl spaces, and sometimes taking off parts of the HVAC system to make sure it is clean.
It may take a few hours to clean the ductwork in your home with professional tools. The actual time depends on the size and layout of your home and ductwork. This is time-consuming and laborious, which requires some physical effort on top of patience. Quality work takes a slow and steady pace so that all of the residue and dirt is gone.
This also comes with having to deal with some potential after-effects, such as reassembling whatever you’ve dismantled, putting back furniture, and adjusting other disrupted areas. As professionals, we have the skill to handle the job efficiently and are responsible enough to leave your home as clean as we found it.
Hidden Dangers and Complications
There are many hidden dangers and potential complications that arise when cleaning ducts. A professional HVAC technician understands these dangers and complications well and comes ready to fix these issues if they occur. Your home’s ducts may be in difficult-to-reach areas, making it challenging to clean them well. This complexity may lead to unintended consequences if not done professionally.
An example of a hidden issue is encountering rodents or insects that have nests in your home’s ductwork. These pests leave droppings and debris that we know how to handle meticulously as well as preventing further contamination. When we find pests, there must be a more detailed approach to ensure the safety of your household.
The Need for Comprehensive Maintenance
Besides cleaning, air ducts must also have regular maintenance to ensure they are free from dust and other debris. This would include frequent changes of the air filters and sealing of leaks or gaps in ductwork, along with assurance that there be no oversight for the whole HVAC system. Proper maintenance does not allow ducts to become dirty again quickly and helps you have great indoor air quality regularly.
Health Consequences
The indoor air quality is directly related to the condition of your ductwork. Every time your HVAC system kicks on, it circulates air through ducts typically loaded with dust, pollen, pet hair, and other particles. Over time, these particles build up and then, when the system kicks on, they blow out into living areas. This circulation of pollutants may aggravate health conditions, especially for people prone to allergies or asthmatic conditions. Those most susceptible are children and the elderly, whose body defense systems may not be so strong.
Therefore, keeping your ducts clean is necessary for good indoor air quality. Even though DIY efforts at cleaning may be well-meaning, most can never do the entire job. If you leave residual dust, debris, and allergens after DIY cleaning attempts, they could continually circulate throughout your home through the air ducts, perpetuating health problems by continually decreasing air quality.
Because our professional team has advanced methods, training, and proper tools, this reduces a good amount of airborne pollutants and thus creates a much healthier living environment. Keeping your ducts professionally cleaned significantly improves the quality of your home’s air. Regular professional cleaning is, therefore, an investment in your family’s health by making sure that the air they breathe in your home is as pure and contaminant-free as possible. Properly cleaned and maintained ducts are important to comfort and health at home.
Cost Implications of DIY Versus Professional Cleaning
While DIY duct cleaning may seem like a great idea to save money, the reality is that DIY efforts at cleaning your home’s air ducts may ultimately cost more. Without the proper knowledge and know-how to inspect and clean the ducts, this could mean missing a problem or damaging the ducts.
At Markool Heating & Cooling in Frederick, MD, we provide AC installation, repairs, and maintenance services for homes in the area. Our friendly team also provides water heaters, sewer repair, and drain cleaning services. Contact Markool Heating & Cooling for more information today!
