The EPA’s 3 Reasons to Have Your Ducts Cleaned

Your home’s ductwork helps heated and cooled air travel throughout your home and keep you and your family comfortable.  When that air reaches you, you hope when you breathe in a big gulp of it, that it’s clean, right?

The quality of our indoor air can actually often be pretty questionable–especially if we live in homes with pets or smokers.  Newer homes tend to have more problems with ‘dirty’ air simply because they are better and more efficiently sealed up.  While being sealed up tight is helpful when it comes to saving money and energy, unfortunately, the same contaminants tend to get re-circulated around and around.

Cleaning or changing your home’s furnace filter regularly is an easy way to clean up your indoor air, but what about cleaning your ducts?

That ductwork we talked about earlier can get extremely dirty.  However, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, dirty ductwork does not always translate to dirty air.  That is because often those particles will adhere to the sides of the ducts.  So, it is ever worth it to have your ducts cleaned?  The EPA offers the following guidelines for when you should have ducts cleaned:

3 Reasons to Have Your Ducts Cleaned

“-There is substantial visible mold growth inside hard surface (e.g., sheet metal) ducts or on other components of your heating and cooling system….

-Ducts are infested with vermin, e.g. (rodents or insects).

-Ducts are clogged with excessive amounts of dust and debris and/or particles are actually released into the home from your supply registers.”

The EPA also points out that the above issues with your ducts usually are caused by an underlying problem, so it is important to get that solved in addition to having your ducts cleaned.

Are you looking for help with your residential heating or cooling?  Contact us at FLAME Heating, Cooling, Plumbing, and Electrical!