How to Maintain Your U.S Home’s Vents and Ducts
Your air vents and ducts聽play the lead role聽in home heating and cooling by distributing temperature-controlled air to the rest of your home. However,聽many homeowners聽aren’t aware that聽ducts聽and vents need regular care to function their best. A buildup of dirt inside vents and ducts can not only聽strain聽your HVAC system, leading to breakdowns and premature replacement,聽it can聽negatively affect your home’s indoor air quality. Poor indoor air quality聽can be attributed to聽certain health and respiratory聽issues. When the air in your聽home聽circulates聽through dirty聽ducts and vents, it聽can聽often dislodge dirt, dust, pollen, animal dander, and other types of contaminants, carrying them all into your home—and likewise into your lungs. Knowing how to聽help maintain聽and clean your home’s vents and ducts may also help improve your home’s energy efficiency, as well as the health and comfort of your family.
Using and Cleaning Your Vents
Using your聽ventilation system聽properly is聽one of the first steps聽toward better indoor air quality. First, make sure all the air ducts in your home are covered with air registers or grilles, which allow you to determine the amount of air flowing into a room and can help with temperature regulation. Make sure all the air vents are accessible and avoid blocking them with furniture, draperies, or stored items.聽Blocking聽vents could affect your HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) system’s function. If you want to聽reduce聽heating or cooling a room that isn’t used as often, close the air registers in that room to reduce the amount of air it receives. However,聽it's best not to聽close it too聽tightly, and avoid closing more than 20% of all your home’s registers at any one time.聽That聽can聽increase聽strain on your HVAC system, costing you more over the long term. When you clean your home, take a moment to use your vacuum’s hose attachment to clean the grilles of your air registers; this will help to prevent dust buildup that affects their look and function.
Scheduling A Professional Duct Cleaning Service
Although you could (and should) clean your air registers, duct cleaning throughout your home is a job for聽pros. During your annual furnace or聽air conditioner tune-up, your HVAC technician can also visually聽assess聽the state of your ducts. Ducts do not typically need to be cleaned every year, but they should be cleaned periodically, usually when enough buildup has occurred that it can potentially affect the heating and air conditioning equipment’s operation, and the comfort and health of your home.
During聽an expert聽duct cleaning, a high-powered vacuum is fed through the聽ductwork聽of your home.聽In many cases, the hose also has an attachment designed to loosen caked-on dirt and debris for more efficient cleaning. The vacuum system removes debris from your ducts until they are clean once more. You can also opt for treatment that will kill or help prevent bacteria from growing inside your ducts.
In addition to duct cleaning, your expert HVAC professional can determine if your ducts leak. Leaky ducts can cost you more than necessary on your heating and cooling bills by allowing air to escape into the framework of your home, before it can reach your vents and keep you comfortable. Duct sealing will help address those costly leaks in your ducts so you can enjoy more efficient聽optimal HVAC performance聽all year long.
When was the last time you had your ducts inspected or cleaned? If it’s been a while—or if you’ve never scheduled this important service—click over to request a visit from one of our聽expert HVAC technicians in your area聽by聽scheduling an appointment聽right now.
