What Are Air Ducts? And Why They Need To Be Cleaned?

Air Ducts –What are they?

Air ducts are that system of pipes that either goes underground your house or in the attic that is associated with the air system of your house. It helps with air ventilation, heating as well as air conditioning. This is also known as HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) system. Through this pathway, air enters the house. This air is either hot or cold to accommodate the house as per the outside weather.

Since this is the system that supplies air in the house, it is the most important thing to keep it clean more than anything else. These pipes continuously catch dirt because they are sucking air and then adjust the temperature to through it in the house. Thus, even though these ducts are hidden behind walls, one should never ignore their existence. Just like the human circulatory system, these are air circulatory system of the house. Therefore, the air duct cleaning process must be taken under consideration more often than people pay heed to it.

The general recommendation which NADCA (National Air Duct Cleaners Association) gives about air duct cleaning process is that these should be thoroughly cleaned in almost every 4 to 7 years.

Why Air Duct Cleaning is Beneficial?

People even in today’s time are not generally aware of the benefits of air duct cleaning. The knowledge about cleaning the ducts is still under process. However, it is eventually reaching more and more people. Still, there are many who are up for an argument about how they cannot feel much difference in the air even after years of installation of air ducts. They are sure that it is not too important to clean the ducts regularly.

On the other hand, environmentalists and those who believe that dust in the air is actually dangerous to prefer that there are tons of benefits of air duct cleaning. There is a formal document presented by EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) of the United States about how air ducts must be cleaned. In addition to this, the document also states how many times cleaning should be performed.

Dust which is trapped inside the air ducts for days, months and sometimes years can become really toxic and hazardous to health. It can create various allergies and can become irritants for some people. These issues can become really difficult and can turn into a monstrous form. Thus, one of the biggest benefits of air duct cleaning is that you can get rid of tons of dust which can become a cause of a serious problem for you. It avoids any issues that can cause a disturbance in your good health.

Moving further, in many of the houses it is seen that due to humidity or sometimes lack of interest in cleaning the ducts for years gave space to the molds. These dirty molds started growing out the spaces like air register. These can be very tough to take out on your own. So at this point, it is better to ask for help from professional cleaners.

Cleaning of Air Ducts 

Air ducts are usually not totally visible to the eyes. You are either able to see its front opening or its back opening. But not each and every component of the air duct is out there in the open. This is the most dangerous part as you have really no idea if there is any mold or dirt stuck in your air duct or not. The best way to find this out is that if you are hiring professional people to help clean your duct then you should definitely ask them to show you the molds or the dirt which they took out. In this way, you will know and be sure that you were not played by them.

On the contrary, there are various ways that explain how to clean air ducts yourself. If you clean your air ducts every two years or from time to time when you think that cleaning is necessary then you can save yourself from big issues like hiring professionals and paying them hefty amounts to clean the ducts. In this case, many of the times you are not even sure if the ducts are cleaned thoroughly or not.

In addition to this, there are various articles also available which explain the whole process of how to clean air ducts yourself. In this article, we are also going to explain to you the do it yourself method of cleaning the air ducts. However, this will be much more convenient as well as the best method to clean air ducts on your own.

In order to clean the air duct, you need to have a good vacuum that can suck out all the dirt. Moreover, before starting the cleaning process make sure that there is no way for the dirt to enter the house while the cleaning process. It means that you should cover up the ducts. Further, have a brush that can help you shake loose the dust stuck on the duct pipes. Also, furnace and other parts of the air duct system like the motor and the ventilator must also be cleaned. The cleaning process must be thorough. Keep in mind that you have to sneak as deep as you can and reach as many places as you can so that the whole system gets cleaned.


This article is write by Vitaly ,His company MMI Home Improvement LLC,Georgia provide best service for Air Duct Cleaning in Alpharetta .