Remodel Nashville : Air Conditioning & Heating : Cleaning Ducts

Air Conditioning & Heating

Cleaning Air Ducts - Help or Hinder

There is a great debate as to whether or not cleaning the air ducts in your home has any benefits. If you or anyone in your family suffers from allergies, you detect a musty, moldy smell or you see large clumps of dust and dirt in your ductwork, you may want to contact a professional. You might want to get your air ducts cleaned simply because it seems logical that air ducts will get dirty over time and should occasionally be cleaned. While the debate about the value of periodic duct cleaning continues, no evidence suggests that such cleaning would be detrimental, provided that it is done properly.

You should consider having the air ducts in your home cleaned if:
1. There is substantial visible mold growth inside hard surface (e.g., sheet metal) ducts or on other components of your heating and cooling system. There are several important points to understand concerning mold detection in heating and cooling systems:

Many sections of your heating and cooling system may not be accessible for a visible inspection, so ask the service provider to show you any mold they say exists.
You should be aware that although a substance may look like mold, a positive determination of whether it is mold or not can be made only by an expert and may require laboratory analysis for final confirmation. For about $50, some microbiology laboratories can tell you whether a sample sent to them on a clear strip of sticky household tape is mold or simply a substance that resembles it.
If you have insulated air ducts and the insulation gets wet or moldy it cannot be effectively cleaned and should be removed and replaced.
If the conditions causing the mold growth in the first place are not corrected, mold growth will recur.

2. Ducts are infested with vermin, e.g. (rodents or insects); or
3. Ducts are clogged with excessive amounts of dust and debris and/or particles are actually released into the home from your supply registers.

Knowledge about the potential benefits and possible problems of air duct cleaning is limited. Since conditions in every home are different, it is impossible to generalize about whether or not air duct cleaning in your home would be beneficial. (source: www.doityourself.com)