WE ARE OPEN. A message to our customers about COVID-19. For much of the year, the air we breathe at home spends a lot of time traveling through our heating and cooling systems. Over time, the ductwork that distributes heated or cooled air throughout our homes collects dust, pollen, mold, and other debris and delivers them right to our noses. Without regular cleaning, your ducts can affect your family’s health and impair your HVAC system’s performance. Those are just two of the reasons to give Better Air a call and have your ductwork cleaned by Connecticut’s leading professionals. Here are eight advantages of clean, well-maintained air ducts.
1. Better Air Quality
Everything from dust and pet dander to pesticide residue can enter your ductwork through normal everyday use of your home. In time, this debris can breed bacteria and mold—poorly maintained ducts can even trap carbon monoxide and allow it to build up. All of these contaminants can be distributed throughout your home when you run your HVAC system, impacting your family’s health. For people with respiratory conditions like asthma, the consequences are even worse. Having your ductwork cleaned thoroughly and regularly is the single most important step you can take toward avoiding these hazards.
2. Fewer Airborne Irritants
Everyone suffers when your home’s air quality worsens, but some suffer more than others. Children, seniors, and people with respiratory conditions or compromised immune systems are particularly sensitive to the debris that accumulates in dirty air ducts. Mold, pollen, and pet dander can all trigger dangerous reactions in some people, and can worsen chronic conditions in others. Regularly cleaning your air ducts will allow everyone in your home to breathe more easily, and it might just keep your medical bills down, too.
3. A Cleaner Home
Every time your HVAC system shuts down, dust, hair, dander, and other particulates have a chance to settle down into your ductwork. When your system fires up again, that debris is scattered again, landing on your furniture, your kitchen counters, your bedding, and every other surface in your home. A dusty house doesn’t mean that you’ve let your standards slide. More often than not, it’s a sign that your air ducts need attention.
4. Odor Control
Mold and mildew do more than irritate your eyes and lungs—they can smell awful, too. So can bits of food that find their way into your air ducts. Bugs can sneak into your ducts, and when they get trapped and die, they smell about as bad as you imagine. Even fumes from paints and solvents used in your DIY projects can settle into your ductwork. When those contaminants get together, they can cause your entire home to smell stale, sour, or just plain unpleasant. Keeping your air ducts clean is the single best way to discourage insects and other critters from taking up residence in your HVAC system, and it might just keep you from asking “What’s that smell?” ever again.
5. Longer Life for Your HVAC System
An HVAC system that doesn’t struggle to push air throughout your home lasts longer and develops fewer maintenance issues. Moderate blockages cause your system to run longer before your home reaches the temperature you’ve chosen, putting unnecessary wear on the compressor, fans, and motors that make your HVAC system work. More severe blockages can significantly increase the air pressure against which these components work, causing them to burn out well before their time. No one wants to face the cost and trouble of emergency repair service when their HVAC system conks out in the middle of the summer or winter. Cleaning your air ducts thoroughly and regularly is a vital step toward avoiding a catastrophic failure of the system that keeps your home liveable.
6. Improved HVAC Performance
The same contaminants that affect your family’s health can build up in your ductwork to impede airflow throughout the system. If you have noticed that some parts of your home are heated or cooled less thoroughly than others, you might be suffering from poor air circulation due to clogged ductwork. Your HVAC system responds to poor airflow by working harder, making it less efficient and more costly to operate. Professional duct cleaning from Better Air allows your entire HVAC system to work the way it was designed to, saving you money every time it runs.
7. Fewer Air Filter Changes
You may be asking too much of your HVAC system’s filters. When dust and dander enter your air ducts, they eventually make their way back to your HVAC system’s intake stage, where its air filters do their best to trap whatever is thrown at them. No one really enjoys cleaning or replacing air filters, and some systems make it an especially unpleasant chore. Cleaner air ducts mean that less debris is returned to your air filters, extending their life and keeping you from the drudgery of replacing them more often than need be.
8. Safety
Contaminated air ducts affect more than your breathing and your HVAC system. Dust and lint are highly flammable, and when they collect throughout your ductwork, they have plenty of opportunities to heat up. When they ignite, they can spread fire throughout your entire home. Older HVAC systems and those that run on propane are especially susceptible to this form of fire risk. The answer is simple: clean your air ducts regularly, and you’ll eliminate the fuel that can put your home and your family at risk.
Learn What Better Air Duct Cleaning Can Do For You
To keep your HVAC system running smoothly, efficiently, and safely, you need to be sure that your air ducts are cleaned on a regular basis. You won’t get there with your vacuum cleaner and a feather duster: thorough duct cleaning requires professional experience and specialized tools. It also requires serious attention to safety. Some of the contaminants in your ductwork may be irritating when they are spread throughout your home, but extremely hazardous in higher concentrations.
We love DIY projects, but cleaning your air ducts isn’t one of them. You might even cause inadvertent damage to your ductwork that cost you the use of your HVAC system until you pay to have it fixed. For this sort of job, call a professional. Better Air’s experienced technicians have seen it all, and we have the equipment and know-how to clean every corner of your home’s ductwork, safely and thoroughly.
To improve your family’s quality of life and keep your HVAC system running the way it should, give us a call today.