Your home’s HVAC system is a godsend especially during those times when the weather is at its extremes. When the weather gets too cold, you simply turn on your heating system, and just like that, you settle in your home comfortably. On the other hand, your air conditioning system becomes your best friend on the harshest days of summer.
Nevertheless, in as much as your HVAC system benefits your home, you’re probably bringing it a step closer to possible damage each time you use it. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) together with the EPA, or Environmental Protection Authority, explicitly states that, “In the last several years, a growing body of scientific evidence has indicated that the air within homes and other buildings can be more seriously polluted than the outdoor air in even the largest and most industrialized cities.”
Why Should You Clean Your HVAC System?
The above-mentioned is just one of the many reasons why it’s important to clean the air ducts of your HVAC system. Overall, cleaning the air ducts improves the air quality within your home. In turn, your HVAC system will run more efficiently if it is clean. Moreover, it will help cut energy costs since a clean blower produces more air pressure that greatly reduce the time it takes for your entire home to heat or cool. Besides, it’s a given that an air conditioner coil with dirt-free fins allows air to flow freely; thus, the pressure won’t drop when air passes through it.
Even airborne allergies and asthma, which affect millions of people all over the world, are prevented when the ducts of your HVAC system are clean. Other things that may affect the air ducts of your HVAC system are smoke and soot that permeates the air in the area surrounding your home. The return vents of your ductwork could draw both in, leaving smoke and soot residue inside the ductwork. Pet hairs and fur could also be drawn into the HVAC system and clog your A/C’s evaporator coils.
Given the many factors that affect the heating and ventilation system in your home, it’s only fitting to subject your system to regular cleaning.
The Best Time to Clean Your Air Ducts by Total Floor Sanding and Polishing Melbourne
While changing your furnace filter regularly helps, you need to understand that an average filter would only catch no more than 70% of particles that pass over it. Dust and debris would still wind up circulating through the heating and ventilation system. So how would you know when the best time to clean your air ducts has come? In addition, how often should your HVAC ductwork undergo thorough cleaning?
Determining the best time for duct cleaning isn’t difficult, as you merely have to look at a few telltale signs.
- Once you notice your furnace spewing out dust, debris, and other particles that shouldn’t be coming out of it in the first place, then you’ll know your ductwork is long overdue for a cleaning. You should call a cleaning company right away.
- Sneezing bouts, especially if no one in your family suffers from allergies, are also a good indicator that it’s time to clean your HVAC system’s air ducts.
- You also need to get the air ducts clean after a renovation project in your home or after you’ve done some spring-cleaning.
You’ll know it’s time to clean your HVAC system’s ducts when you notice a significant change in the airflow. You could also try putting your hand over the vent to feel the air coming out. If you can barely feel it, then it’s time to clean the ducts.
As for the best time to call a company that offers duct cleaning services, you should do this in the months covering late summer or early fall. Alternatively, you could call in people to clean the air ducts between the months of October and January, when allergens are most likely to permeate the air and cause severe allergy symptoms.
Typically, duct cleaning should be done annually or at least every two years, preferably at the start of the cold season. Of course, if there are allergy sufferers in your home, then the ducts must be thoroughly cleaned at least every two or three months to ensure that very little dust settles in your home.
