Pollen.

 

Yuck.  It comes in through the window, the window that is open so you can smell the sweet smells of spring.

 

It comes in on your clothes after working in the garden.  It comes in from your garage where it has been hitch hiking on your car for the past 2 weeks.

 

However it is not the only yuck in your house.  Dust, mold, little bugs and other trash can find its way into your vents and settle in your ductwork.

 

How do you keep your ductwork clean in order to keep that yuck out of the air that you are breathing?

 

Well, to start with you can change the filter on your furnace on a regular basis.  Almost all of the air in your house passes through the filter at some point, keeping the filter clean can help keep your air clean.

 

But what about cleaning those ducts?  You know they are just loaded with yuck.  What’s the deal with duct cleaning?

 

Here are a couple of things you should know about cleaning your ducts, or as I like to call, ‘Duct Sucking”.

 

 - Maybe one of the biggest scams in the home services field unfortunately, centers around cleaning your duct work.  I am talking about carpet cleaning companies that say they can clean your air ducts for some really cheapo amount – and by the I mean like $49.95 - “As long as we are here” then all they do is vacuum around your registers and if you are lucky they stick the vacuum 2 ft. into your duct.

 

For your information – a good thorough duct cleaning by a professional will run you in your average sized home $450 - $550.   While I don’t generally give out prices here I will in this instance to illustrate A – that it is a serious procedure that calls for serious money and 2 – to show you how ridiculous and how little work or good you will get out of a $49.95 deal.

 

This is really when you should absolutely have your ducts cleaned:

 

  • Immediately after you move into a newly built home.  Lots of construction debris, saw dust, dry wall scraps, and Doritos bags end up in the duct work of a newly build home.
  • And after that every 6 – 8 years.  Lemme repeat that, every 6-8 YEARS is sufficient.

 

(This is unless you have someone in the house with breathing problems.  If that is the case, then you should get your hvac man/lady out to your house to upgrade your furnace filtration situation.  That is money better spent than on a yearly or every two year duct cleaning scam.)

 

I will repeat: every 6-8 years.  The beauty of this is that a good, honest, reputable duct cleaning company will agree that it is not a yearly maintenance project, and that you can go years in between cleanings.

 

Also - if a cleaning company says they will clean the coils and your hvac system, and a good cleaning company should do that, they need to have a current hvac license.  If they do not have one they are limited to cleaning just duct work and can't clean out any hvac components other than duct work.  

 

Suspicious?  Ask for their license number.  The company has to give you that license number upon request.

 

One more thing.  A quality duct cleaning company will/should clean your drier vents too.  Hey - they are also ducts...

 

If your duct suckers can pass the mustard on all that, you are on to a good one.  Get your ducts cleaned.  Then do it again.

 

In 2024.