Air ducts are an essential component of your heating and cooling system. Dirty ducts can spread dust and other pollutants throughout your home. Therefore, cleaning the ductwork helps maintain indoor air quality. How often should ducts be cleaned?
Failure to clean and maintain your ducts leads to the accumulation of dust and debris in your house. We strongly advise that all homeowners clean the air ducts every three to five years. If you have pets, you may want to clean them annually.
When to Clean the Air Ducts
After cleaning your air ducts, it can take up to 3-5 years to accumulate dust, mould, or allergens. How often you clean your ducts depends on many factors, including the following:
Presence of pets
If you own pets, such as dogs and cats, they leave hair and fur everywhere, including the furniture, carpets, and even clothes. However, what you cannot see as the hair and fur end up in the ductwork. Thus, you may want to clean your furnace and air ducts more consistently.
Shift of residence
How often should ducts be cleaned? If you’re moving into a new house, We advise you to clean the ductwork immediately and then every 3-5 years afterwards. Cleaning the ducts is especially important if the previous owner was a pet owner, smoker, or never cleaned the ducts.
After cleaning the new house, you should now schedule a regular maintenance routine that will ensure your ducts stay clean.
An infestation
What could be worse to your HVAC system than creepy crawlers infesting your system and turning the ductwork into a habitat? Rodents introduce impurities into the supply ducts, which distributes conditioned air throughout your home. If you notice pests around your vents, perform a thorough cleaning to eliminate them.
Dusty smell or visible moulds
Moulds grow in damp and humid places, which can be challenging to access. They can also grow in your furnace’s air ducts, which creates a musty smell in the air whenever you switch your furnace on, and the blowing starts.
How often should ducts be cleaned? As stated earlier, homeowners should clean their ductwork every 3-5 years. Doing the contrary will be the cause and source of the moulds you notice on the furnace ducts and the dusty smell.
Excess debris or dust
Excess dust and debris accumulating around your furnace is a significant sign that your ducts require cleaning. It could be pet dander, dust, or even harmful allergens.
Dust piles up in the air vents since they carry air throughout your home. Failure to eliminate the dust build-up jeopardizes the health of your family. It can even reduce the efficiency, lifespan, and performance of the system.
If the debris manages to compile in your air filters, there will be limited airflow into your forced-air system, and this will most probably decrease your forced air heating system’s performance.
Allergy symptoms
Allergy symptomsIf your furnace ductwork becomes infested with pests, accumulates dust, or grows moulds due to improper maintenance and cleaning, you might end up paying a higher price. Dirty ductwork will distribute contaminated air across your rooms and end up triggering allergies and respiratory complications among your family members.
Therefore, we advise that you clean your ductwork as recommended by your manufacturers to maintain good indoor air quality. Suppose you have a family member with allergies and respiratory issues like Asthma. In that case, we recommend you have a strict maintenance schedule for your furnace and ductwork to make sure their safety is in your hands.
Benefits of Ductwork Maintenance
Regular ductwork cleaning will affirm the best indoor air quality since no debris or mould will be in to do the diary work. We advise you to go for the best-qualified HVAC cleaners since they seemingly offer the best maintenance services.
Cleaning your ductwork will eliminate unpleasant odours, especially if you’re moving into a house whose previous occupant was a smoker. Moreover, duct cleaning will also remove pet dander sucked in by the air return vents.
Upon ductwork cleaning and maintenance, you’ll realize that the allergy symptoms and respiratory complications will reduce steadily and maybe even disappear.
How Often Should Ducts Be Cleaned – Conclusion
Therefore, we recommend that homeowners clean their ductwork by following a maintenance and cleaning schedule. Having dirty ductwork will only introduce allergy problems and even respiratory diseases.
We hope this article enlightens you on the frequently asked question by homeowners: “How often should ducts be cleaned?” If it is difficult to access all areas, it may be best to hire professional cleaners. They have special equipment to reach hard-to-access areas.
