Should you get your heating
and cooling dusts cleaned?
Duct cleaning is a major industry. As a homeowner, you may be
regularly solicited to have your heating ducts cleaned on a regular
basis. Claims are made that duct cleaning will:
+ provide you with better indoor air quality
(or IAQ),reduce
+ the presence of house molds and allergens,
+ get rid of house dust,
+ result in more airflow and better delivery of warm air, and/or
+ reduce energy costs.
What can duct cleaning do for you?
A thorough duct cleaning done by a professional duct cleaner
will remove dust and debris-pet hair, paper clips, children's toys
and whatever else might collect down there. Ideally, the inside
surface will be shiny and bright after cleaning. Duct cleaning may
be justifiable to you personally for that very reason: you may not
want to have your house air circulated through a duct passage that
is not as clean as the rest of the house. However, duct cleaning
will not usually change the quality of the air you breathe, nor will
it significantly affect airflows or heating costs.
When does duct cleaning make sense?
+ If you have a problem with water in your ducts, this may
result in mold growth in the duct
+ If you are moving into a newly constructed house, and have
doubts about the diligence of the construction crew, duct cleaning
can be useful
+ If you are having trouble with furnace airflow, a duct
cleaning could reveal significant blockages
+ If you look in the return air registers and see an
accumulation of debris in the duct below, you may want to have it
removed. |