As a homeowner, there are often traditional home maintenance routines that come along with each season. As autumn approaches, you may be thinking about whether your home needs duct cleaning services this year. It’s important to learn how often you should clean your air ducts so you know when to call Kleen Rite.
What is Duct Cleaning and Why is It Important?
Before we can answer the question “How often should you clean your air ducts?” let’s first take a look at what exactly is duct cleaning. Duct cleaning will assist in removing dirt and debris from your home’s air duct system. This dirt and debris includes mold and mildew, vermin and insect droppings, dust from recent construction or renovations and other random items that can get lost in the air ducts such as small toys, pet food and paper clips. The end result after the ducts have been cleaned is an air system that runs more efficiently and is cleaner.
The Process of Duct Cleaning
In order for duct cleaning to be beneficial, it needs to be done properly. This means that the duct cleaner should clean all of the HVAC system components. This includes the grilles, heating and cooling coils, diffusers, the condensate drain pans, the fan and motor housing and the air-handling unit. They should also be looking carefully at the cold-air return. This area will often accumulate dust and debris when the cold air return is ducted, just as much as the hot-air vents. If it is not ducted, it often becomes a magnet for things such as mould spores and even insulation fibres. A thorough air duct cleaning company will look inside the cold-air return as well as the plenum, including the hot-air ducts.
Post-Clean Inspection
Once the work is done a good duct cleaning company will inspect the work after it is complete to ensure everything has been cleaned well in the air duct system. To do this, they will either use a camera which can look down into the ducting or they will cut away a few small areas of the ducting to perform a very thorough visual inspection of the ducts.
Some duct cleaning companies offer an anti-microbial chemical that can be sprayed into the ducts after cleaning. This is not necessary especially if the duct cleaning job has been done right. It doesn’t make sense to spray a pollutant into the HVAC system especially when you’ve just paid to have the system cleaned. Now to answer the question, how often should you clean your air ducts?
How Often Should You Clean Your Air Ducts?
There is no firm rule of thumb here. Basically common sense prevails. If you have a compelling reason to have the duct system cleaned; such as a recent renovation or you notice a moldy mildew smell, or maybe you think there may be a blockage somewhere then you should have the system cleaned. Having the air duct system cleaned every few years or so is a good idea especially if you feel it is warranted. A reputable company will inspect the duct system prior to doing any work to determine if you actually need the service.
Kleen Rite offers Duct Cleaning Services and you can even Book An Appointment Online and we’ll come right to your door at your earliest convenience. We service the Golden Horseshoe and surrounding area.
