1) Mold

While we all know how dust can negatively affect our health, mold is a whole different ballgame! Not only can it exacerbate allergies and respiratory problems, it can also spread quickly throughout your home. 

Your heating and cooling system can develop condensation, leading to the growth of mold in your ductwork (especially if you live in a humid climate). You may spot mold around your vent covers, but unfortunately, many components of your heating and cooling system aren’t easily accessible, so mold in your air ducts is especially difficult to detect visually. However, while mold can be difficult to see, it usually presents itself in the form of a musty odor.

If you do have mold in your air ducts, it’s important to take action quickly to preserve your home’s indoor air quality. An air duct cleaning technician will be able to identify and remediate any mold issues, and also help to prevent its return. In addition to duct cleaning, you should also take additional precautions against excess moisture in your home. You can do so by installing a whole-home dehumidifier or by optimizing settings on your thermostat. Keep in mind that if the conditions causing mold growth in the first place are not corrected, mold growth will recur.
 

2) Dust

Is your home dusty, no matter how often you clean? While dusting isn’t a fun task, it’s something we all have to do from time to time. If you notice that every flat surface in your home is coated with dust almost immediately after you’ve put away your cleaning supplies, you probably need to have your ducts cleaned!

Even the cleanest homes can have dirt, dust, pet dander, and all sorts of harmful contaminants lingering in the air ducts. You may even notice dust coming out of the vents every time the HVAC system kicks on! Take a look at the air supply and return vents around your house. Are they visibly dirty or dusty? If so, carefully remove a vent cover and/or filter and take a look into the ductwork. Is the metal covered in dust? If you see dust and dirt both inside and outside — especially by the vents that blow cool air out — your ducts most likely need to be cleaned. 

To prevent future dust buildup, make sure you replace your HVAC system air filters frequently. You can also run an air purifier. Both filters and air purifiers work with your HVAC system to trap a variety of airborne particles like dust, tobacco smoke, and bacteria before they enter the ductwork.
 

3) Ducts are Infested with Rodents or Insects

From time to time, mice, squirrels, and insects can make their way into your air ducts. Naturally, these vermin leave behind all sorts of bacteria. When rodents find their way into your ductwork, they make nests and leave droppings behind, sending tiny fecal spores sweeping along the ducts. These spores can then make their way into your home and contaminate the quality of the air you breathe. 

Unfortunately, rodents like to take up residence in ductwork, and will chew their way in, or find some sort of unsealed access. Once they move in, your home’s duct work becomes a personal highway for rodents, as they make their way all around your home. If rodents are in your ductwork, they will leave some telltale signs — not only will you see droppings, you may find chewed up materials or unpleasant smells, all of which indicate an infestation. 

Keep in mind that a rodent infestation might require more than air duct cleaning! If you ignore the issue, it could lead to serious structural damage, not to mention an HVAC system that doesn’t work efficiently, leading to higher energy bills.
 

4) Your Home was Just Built or has Undergone a Major Renovation

Construction is messy. Even when contractors are diligent about cleaning up and closing off work areas to keep the rest of the site tidy, dust and debris will always find its way in. Unless the HVAC system is not turned on and kept completely covered during the entire construction process (which isn’t realistic for most homeowners), that dirt and dust will most certainly make its way into your ductwork.

Construction and remodeling dust can contain some pretty nasty particulate matter that you really don’t want to breathe, so it’s best to get this issue remedied quickly before respiratory problems develop.
 

5) Rising Energy Costs

Your heating and cooling costs should be relatively predictable from year to year. If you receive a bill that is noticeably high, especially compared to the same time a year ago, dirty ductwork might be to blame.

At times, ductwork can become so dirty that air isn’t able to flow freely and efficiently through your home’s HVAC system. When this happens, both your furnace and air conditioner are forced to work harder to maintain a comfortable temperature. This added energy expenditure means higher utility bills for you and your family.

You also may notice that a bathroom, bedroom, or other room in your home doesn’t receive the same level of airflow as other rooms. In most cases, vents that are fully open should deliver relatively consistent airflow from room to room. Inconsistency could be the result of dirty air ducts. 

Worth noting, it isn’t always the accumulation of debris in your air ducts that causes your system to have to work harder. Any leaks you have in your ductwork is lost energy, decreasing the efficiency and increasing your energy bill. Hiring an air duct technician to clean your ducts won’t only remove harmful contaminants, but can also rule out potential leaks.

A technician connects the power vacuum to the home’s air handler with an 8″ hose. Then he inserts the high-velocity air sweeper into the ductwork. He controls it with a hose connected to the truck’s air compressor which supplies up to 200 pounds of air pressure.

Our proven process of patented vacuum truck is the industry’s most powerful. With the vacuum and cleaning aparatus, all contaminants are removed from the ductwork and stored outside in the truck’s debris collector for safe disposal.

Typically we can get a job scheduled for a cleaning in 2-3 days.

We have leading industry experience.  The power of proprietary vacuum truck provides negative air sufficient to extract debris and contaminants from very large duct systems in very large buildings. An example of its advantage over portables was demonstrated by our foreign franchisee in the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) where they actually deployed our 10″ vacuum hose up through the stairwell to the 17th floor of an apartment building. They had sufficient vacuum to simultaneously clean apartment on both sides of that floor pulling the debris down to their Duct Doctor truck at the street level.

Duct Doctor’s patented vacuum truck is second to none in the industry when it comes to the ability to clean air ducts and ventilation systems.The cleaning systems on this truck are powered by the diesel engine of the truck.The vacuum unit develops suction power capable of moving 6 to 8 times more air than the average system in residential homes.The air compressor, also driven by the truck’s engine and safely mounted inside our truck provides the power to drive agitation devices specifically selected for the type of ductwork in your home.

ALLERGIES 

If allergies, asthma, or other breathing-related medical conditions are a problem for your family, you need to have your ducts professionally cleaned. Your ducts attract and trap dirt, allergens, and pollutants.Once the ducts are clogged with those particles, your air will no longer be clean, which means you and your family will breathe in more of the contaminants. If you have dirty filters, the problem will be exacerbated. That’s because dirty filters increase the amount of dirt and allergens that flow through your ducts.

If you’re like most people, you look for effective ways to reduce your energy bills. One simple way that is often overlooked, is to have your air ducts cleaned whenever you see dirt on the walls around your air vents. In most cases, that’s once every one or two years.

ENERGY COST 

If you live in a particularly dusty environment, or you deal with high pollen counts on a regular basis, you should stick to the once a year schedule. A clean air duct system helps your HVAC system operate more efficiently, which reduces those monthly energy bills.

MOLD GROWTH 

Have you suddenly developed breathing problems out of nowhere, with no history of allergies, asthma or other respiratory issues? The problem might be related to mold growth in your house, and the culprit could be your HVAC or your air ducts.

Over time, the air duct can become the perfect incubator for mold as your HVAC attempts to cool down the air from the outside and pull the moisture out of it. When water vapor comes out of the outside air, it creates a moist environment that’s perfect for mold growth to take place. If you don’t have an air duct cleaning service take a look on a regular basis, you’re likely to put your home at risk of coughing, sneezing and other breathing problems.

The good news about mold growth is that it’s rather easy to tell if it’s already happening in your ducts. If you notice any kind of musty odor coming from your HVAC, there’s a good chance that you’ve got mold growing somewhere in your air ducts.

Because of that, if anything smells weird in your home, it’s important to contact an air duct cleaning service and make sure to get your ducts checked out as soon as possible. Best-case, you’ll discover that the smell has some other explanation and get peace of mind that you don’t have mold growing in your air ducts. Worst-case, you’ll discover a problem and get it taken care of before mold has a chance to infect your household.

A standard air duct cleaning would be two to three hours and would cover the HVAC unit, the main return, the vents in the rooms and the air ducts themselves.

Duct cleaning improves your utility bills is by removing blockages that can reduce your central air conditioner’s or furnaces energy efficiency. When the ducts are clean, the system does not have to work as hard to keep your home at a comfortable temperature, which means less energy is needed.

Dust and dirt tend to collect on just about any interior surface, and this is also true for air ducts. The dust usually comes from your fabric items, while dirt blows into the ducts from outside.Mold spores and other organic allergens such as pollen often mix with outdoor air. Hair and dead skin cells from people and pets could contaminate your ducts.