Why Duct Cleaning in Your House Is an Important Job

Updated January 23, 2024

You’re probably rushing to finish up important fall jobs to ready your home for winter. There’s this small space right after Thanksgiving and before the real stresses of the December holidays kick in when you can get some important tasks finished. For example, if you haven’t yet had heating maintenance to ensure your home’s heater has as trouble-free a winter as possible, call us today to schedule it.

One house-cleaning chore you may not have considered: cleaning out the ductwork.

Wait, the ductwork needs cleaning?

Yes, although we understand why this might at first sound a bit baffling. After all, you can’t see most of the inside of the ducts, making it easy to dismiss them. But ductwork builds up dust, dirt, lint, dander, and more over time. Think of all the air from your home that circulates through the ventilation system every year. The air filter on the HVAC system catches much of this, but its main job is protecting the interior of the heater and air conditioner. A large number of debris still makes it into the ductwork and starts to collect there. Think of this: an average of 6 tons of dust circulates through a six-person home each year—and much of that gets trapped inside the ducts.

Why dusty and dirty ducts are a problem

What’s wrong with having all that debris in your ventilation system? Several things:

• Plunging energy efficiency: An HVAC system that must blow air through ducts to distribute heating and cooling to the rooms will face significant airflow resistance when the ducts are coated with a layer of lint, dust, and more. It only takes a small layer of dust collected over a year to start slowing airflow. This air resistance means a blower fan that must work harder—and that means higher electric bills.
• A dustier, dirtier house: Do you find that no matter how often you sweep and vacuum your home, it just keeps getting dustier? It may be due to the reservoir of dust trapped in the ducts that keep blowing out into the home.
• Poor air quality: All that dust blowing into the living areas will also cause a drop in indoor air quality. There will be more allergens in the air, which is terrible for people in a household who suffer from asthma and allergies.