While cleaning isn’t always a fun task, a clean home is better for your health and sense of comfort. The same idea applies to your HVAC system. Keeping your heating, cooling and ventilation equipment cleaner can improve indoor air quality. A great way to start is with duct cleaning.
Getting the air ducts cleaned can reduce airborne contaminants, improve airflow and offer many other benefits. But without knowing the process or potential costs, some homeowners are still a little unsure. We’ll review the ductwork cleaning procedure, average costs and some other key information about this useful service.
How are Air Ducts Cleaned?
Professional duct cleaning involves a lot more than a vacuum or dust cloth. It’s a multistage process designed to ensure thorough cleaning even though air ducts are cramped and difficult to access. This includes flexible ductwork, which trades rigid sheet metal for fiberglass insulation. We’ll take you through the basic steps needed to provide quality duct cleaning.
Step 1: Complete an Inspection
Before technicians can begin, they need to get a sense of your home’s ductwork and cleaning needs. They’ll perform a simple inspection of the air ducts as well as the return and supply registers, looking for where the buildup is worst. For especially hard to reach areas, some teams use cameras.
Step 2: Reverse the Ductwork’s Air Pressure
Professional cleaning teams use powerful suction to remove all the debris stuck to the air ducts. To help generate this suction, negative air pressure is required. Vacuum equipment is attached to your HVAC system’s air handler and all the vents are sealed. This creates a path of powerful suction from your ductwork and straight to the vacuum.
Step 3: Kick Up the Dust and Grime
The negative pressure will help guide debris toward the vacuum, but much of it could be stuck to the sides of your ductwork. Technicians systematically unseal each air vent, using brushes, compressed air and other tools to shake dirt and grime free.
While not technically ductwork, professional cleaning standards typically extend to the other HVAC components responsible for airflow and indoor air quality. This includes the indoor unit’s air filter and blower motor as well as the outdoor unit’s evaporator coil and drain pan.
What Does Professional Ductwork Cleaning Cost?
The ultimate cost of professional duct cleaning will depend on a few things, like the total length of ductwork in your home and how much dust and debris has accumulated. The more accessible the ductwork is, the faster and easier the cleaning process is. According to the National Air Duct Cleaners Association (NADCA), ductwork cleaning costs will range between $450 and $1,000.
Make sure you leave duct cleaning to certified professionals. If “specials” advertise suspiciously low costs, they may only include the biggest air ducts in the pricing. A trusted company will offer a time and cost estimate, and getting two estimates can provide the most likely costs.
The Benefits of Ductwork Cleaning
Even if you don’t have asthma or seasonal allergies, you could benefit from a professional duct cleaning. Here are a few of the advantages:
- Improves indoor air quality: The better your home’s indoor air quality, the higher your sense of comfort can be. Clean indoor air helps relieve respiratory symptoms like coughing or sneezing, and can help reduce mold and bacterial growth.
- Bolsters energy savings: Just a thin coating of dust on important HVAC components can reduce their effectiveness, increasing your monthly bill. When everything is cleaned, your heating and cooling can work more efficiently.
- Protects key HVAC equipment: Lots of dirt and grime can add wear and tear on important parts of your HVAC system. With a thorough cleaning, you could avoid problems that require repairs.
Consider investing in this helpful service to promote comfort and cleanliness in your home. Ductwork cleaning can have an immediate effect on indoor air quality and the overall efficiency of your HVAC system.
