Clear Air Ducts, Air Quality & Energy Efficiency
The condition of your air ducts affects the air quality in your home more than you know. If your air duct system is old or excessively dirty, it can cause dust to quickly spread in your home. If you dust the surfaces of your home and then find them dusty again in a matter of hours, this is a sure indicator of leaking or dirty ductwork. If you ductwork is clogged it can foster contamination and contribute to the growth of mold, bacteria, and other allergens in your duct system. Without cleaning, your ventilation system is simply recirculating these pollutants through your home. If your home has a musty or “stuffy” smell that never seems to go away, this is one of the signs that your family is breathing particulates in the air. There have been numerous reports on the fact that people that suffer with allergies of many kinds have had great improvement after the ductwork in a home was cleaned, which means that taking care of the air ducts in your home is a matter of your family’s health and wellbeing as well.
Anything that improves energy efficiency and or is environmentally friendly is terrifically important to most people today. While it doesn’t seem that clean air ducts could make that much difference to the environment, the fact is that your central air and heating system relies so heavily on the condition of the air duct system that it does indeed affect how much energy is used. If the air duct system is dirty or leaking, then your HVAC system is going to run longer and run harder as it tries to meet your home’s heating and cooling demands. This causes the system to use more energy, and means that the equipment has to endure more wear and tear, and that means it will break down sooner. If your air ductwork is clean your HVAC system will operate at maximum capacity. Homeowners have reported that they had to use their air conditioners less in the summer as well as less in the winter, and they had lower energy consumption and bills as a result. The HSHRA (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning) has posted research showing that dirty coils and venting blowers in commercial buildings actually cut efficiency by as much as 40 percent. That means energy and cooling efficiency was cut almost in half by a dirty air duct ventilation system!
Whatever your reason, cleaning your air ducts might just be one of the smartest energy-saving moves you do this year!