Most homeowners make a conscious effort to keep every area of their homes clean, especially the accessible places such as floors, windows, and others. However, hidden places such as the air duct system are often neglected. The air ducts system connects ducts that allow air and temperature control throughout the home.
Over time, mold, dust, vermin, and grime accumulate in the duct, which resultantly makes air supply difficult and supply dusty and unclean air into the home. Once you notice much dust in your home or a gradual increase in your utility bill, your air duct system could be responsible. In truth, the air duct cleaning process isn’t something that unprofessional hands can do. You need the services of air duct cleaning experts to help you get the job done. If you are in Illinois or any of its surrounding areas, and you need one, you can reach out to Clean Air Doctors here.
Why You Need Air Ducts Cleaning Experts
The air ducts cleaning process entails using various tools and machinery ranging from hand tools to heavy equipment. It involves cleaning fans, registers, furnaces, grills, and the HVAC unit. Though some homeowners try to use vacuum cleaners to suction dust out of the ducts, accumulated dust and particles stuck to the surface of the vents are difficult to remove. The accumulated dust and grime must be scraped off and appropriately cleaned with professional equipment.
Steps Involved In Air Ducts Cleaning Process
The air duct cleaning process can be divided into four steps as discussed below;
Step One: Air ducts Inspection
The air duct cleaning process begins with inspecting air ducts, from intake to supply and return. This step will allow your technician to access the condition of the ducts and accumulated dust in the ducts before cleaning. With the aid of cameras, your technician can get a detailed look into the nuke and cranny of the ducts. During the inspection, you will note the faulty areas of the ducts for repair or replacement.
Step Two: Create a Negative Pressure
The HVAC unit is divided into the supply and the return sides. The supply-side passes treated air into the home, and the return side sends air into the air handler of the HVAC system. You must perform the air duct cleaning on both sides of the unit. To proceed, the technician will fix the hose of a truck-mounted vacuum collection unit into the duct near the air handler of the HVAC unit. You can do this by cutting an opening on the duct near the air handler, passing the vacuum hose through the opening, and sealing the connecting joint tightly.
After sealing the connecting joint between the duct and vacuum hose, the registers in every building room will also be sealed tightly. This step creates a negative pressure in the air ducts to allow adequate dust suctioning and avoid the spread of debris and dust all over the house. Once the negative pressure is created, the technician will then switch on the vacuum collection unit.
Step Three: Dust Agitation
Once negative pressure is created, the next step is to agitate the dust in the air ducts. After this agitation, you should clean each register thoroughly, and you will scrub the dust and debris off the wall. A certified air duct cleaning expert will spend quality time cleaning each house register. Compressor air tools, rotating brushes, and regular vacuum cleaners are used in this step to make sure that all dust and debris are removed from the wall of the air ducts and suctioned into the vacuum collection unit.
Step Four: Final Cleaning
Once air ducts and registers are cleaned, you should also clean the other parts of the HVAC unit. Clean the drain pan, evaporator coil, air filters, and air handler’s motor to remove remnant particles. Also, areas of the air ducts system that needs replacement or fixing will be taken care of. After the cleaning, the air ducts system will be re-inspected to ascertain thorough cleaning.
How Often Should Air Duct Cleaning Be Done?
According to experts, how often you should clean your air duct is determined by the location of the air duct system. Professional air duct cleaning should be conducted every 5 to 6 years if the central air duct unit is located on the ceiling. You should clean the air duct unit on the floor every 3 to 5 years. Also, change the filters often within this period.
However, when a house renovation that raises lots of dust was performed on the property, you should change the air duct cleaning schedule once the renovation is completed.
