How Do I Know if My Air Ducts Need to Be Cleaned
Both homeowners and property managers know that heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems require frequent maintenance to keep working at peak efficiency—especially during summer heat waves. However, many people forget about air ducts when addressing HVAC maintenance issues.
Air ducts are an integral part of the HVAC system, carrying cool air from the air handler to the exhaust ports in the home and extracting hot air from the intakes throughout the house.
When these ducts form leaks, the efficiency of the HVAC system suffers. Contaminants in an air duct can also affect HVAC system efficiency as well as indoor air quality (IAQ), and may necessitate the need for air duct cleaning.
One question that many homeowners have is: “Is air duct cleaning a waste of money, or is it something I should be doing regularly?” The answer is that air duct cleaning isn’t typically a necessity. As pointed out by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), “There is no evidence that a light amount of household dust or other particulate matter in air ducts poses any risk to your health.”
However, there are some situations where cleaning vents in the home may be necessary.
How can you tell if your air ducts need cleaning? Here are some common air conditioning problems and warning signs that your HVAC system’s air ducts need to be cleaned.
Once again, air duct cleaning is not something that usually needs to be done on a set schedule. Rather, cleaning vents and air ducts for your HVAC system should be done on an “as-needed” basis based on the warning signs above.
Related: The Only A/C Maintenance Checklist You'll Ever Need
Cleaning vents and the space just behind them is pretty easy. However, getting a thorough air duct cleaning may require specialist tools and skills to avoid damaging the air duct. So, many homeowners choose to use HVAC maintenance services rather than trying to make repairs themselves.
However, simply typing “HVAC repair near me” into a search engine and sorting through hundreds of maintenance techs to find one with the time, skills, and tools to do the work for a reasonable rate can take hours. Rather than wasting time on the phone with dozens of HVAC maintenance companies trying to negotiate rates and appointment times, you can simplify your search by using HOMEE On Demand.
Through the HOMEE On Demand app, you get access to a network of thousands of home service pros ready to work in as little as 30 minutes. Simply write a short description of the work you want done, take a few photos of the trouble area with your smartphone, and upload the request to our network— we’ll take care of the rest.
Have questions about how HOMEE On Demand? Reach out to our team today.