If you’re like most northern Virginia homeowners, chances are you never contemplate your home’s ductwork. While the ducts route conditioned air from your heating and cooling system back and forth to your rooms, what’s getting left behind? What is that duct debris doing to your home’s indoor air quality? Let’s visualize what could be damaging your HVAC system’s ducts and discuss strategies for preventing dirty ductwork.
Benefits of Preventing Duct Contamination
Preventing dirty ductwork helps to:
- Create a healthy household by avoiding growth of mold and other biological contaminants that can ruin indoor air quality. Poor home air quality can lead to serious health problems for your family, causing headaches and fatigue and aggravating asthma, allergies and other illnesses.
- Maintain home comfort by allowing free conditioned airflow.
- Lower energy bills because the air conditioner and furnace don’t have to work extra hard to circulate heated or cooled air.
- Protect your investment in HVAC equipment. The system stays in good shape since clean ducts don’t circulate dirt and debris through the equipment.
- Prevent the need for professional duct cleaning and repairs.
Tips for Keeping Ductwork Healthy
The U.S. Division of Occupational Health and Safety (DOHS), part of the NIH (National Institutes of Health), suggests these steps:
- Clean your home often, using environmentally friendly cleaning products, preventing chemical emissions from building up in your ducts.
- Run properly vented exhaust fans in kitchens and bathrooms to quickly clear out airborne moisture that might otherwise cause household mold problems.
- Before renovation work, be sure building contractors seal the duct system to keep sawdust and debris out.
- Have new ducts cleaned of installation debris, chemicals and oil before first running the HVAC equipment when retrofitting or building a house.
- Schedule annual preventive maintenance for your home comfort system. Deep cleaning of equipment prevents dirt, mold and bacterial accumulation.
- Have ductwork inspected every few years.
Get more information about preventing dirty ductwork in your Chantilly area home by contacting the pros at Griffith Energy Services. today.
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