How to Tell If Your Springdale Home Needs a Professional Duct Cleaning

You may have heard that you need to have your home’s air ducts professionally cleaned on a regular basis. You may have even had a sales call from an outfit offering this service. It pays to be skeptical about these offers. Professional duct cleaning, while necessary in some cases, is not something that most homes need done on a regular basis.

Yet, there are certain circumstances where a professional duct cleaning may be called for. In general, if you have household occupants suffering from intense allergies or mysterious health symptoms, and you can actually view or smell mold and/or dust contamination in the visible sections of ducts, you should seriously consider contacting a reputable duct-cleaning specialist. They can inspect your ductwork, and if necessary, perform a comprehensive duct cleaning.

Cues for a Professional Duct Cleaning

• As mentioned, if you can actually see mold growth on the metal surfaces inside the ducts. Consider this – the air that blows through ductwork can pick up those mold spores and deliver them throughout your home.
• If substantial dust and lint are blowing out of supply registers. It’s not that unusual to see dust bunnies collecting near return registers, but beware if dust and debris are being delivered along with your conditioned air.
• If there’s evidence of insects, rodents or other vermin in the ducts, such as the noise they make, droppings or nests. This can contribute to poor indoor air quality, and aside from simply being gross, can exacerbate allergies and other respiratory conditions, or lead to bacterial infections if the air gets contaminated.

Try Prevention

If your ducts do need to be cleaned, consult with your trusted HVAC technician about prevention in the future. Homes with tight ductwork and proper air filtration should not have foreign substances collecting in ductwork. Get in the habit of inspecting your furnace filter monthly, and changing it before it gets clogged.

For a professional duct inspection from a reliable contractor, or to schedule an indoor air quality consultation, please contact us at Paschal Heat, Air & Geothermal. We provide superior HVAC services to Northwest Arkansas.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in Springdale, Arkansas about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about duct cleaning and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

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