Hopefully, you’ve already had your air conditioner professionally checked out by a technician before we could get too far into summer. Even if you have, though, you’re not exactly done preparing your home for summer. There is still at least one thing that you could do to improve your home’s ability to deal with the summer heat, and that’s having your ducts cleaned. Let’s take a look at why you should have your ducts cleaned this summer.
It Improves Your Air Quality
The average home has all kinds of nasty airborne contaminants floating around in its air. These contaminants include dust, dander, pollen, germs, mold spores, and all kinds of other microscopic particles. Breathing in these kinds of contaminants can cause all kinds of issues, from allergy attacks to flu infections. Normally, these contaminants are disperse enough that they don’t frequently cause these kinds of problems. That is, with the exception of the ducts.
Contaminants tend to build up in the ducts, mainly because they’re one of the few areas in the average home that are not commonly cleaned. This allows the contaminants to collect in the ductwork until a climate control system is turned on, at which point a concentrated blast of them will be blown around the home. This will obviously amplify whatever negative effects the contaminants might cause. Duct cleaning removes all of these built up contaminants before they have the opportunity to negatively impact your indoor air quality.
It Improves Your Energy Efficiency
Allowing all of those contaminants and other stuff to build up in your ducts is bad for other reasons beyond affecting your air quality. The dust and dirt that often builds up in the ducts will actually insulate them if there is enough of it. This restricts the flow of air through the ducts, forcing your air conditioner to work for longer before it can accomplish the same degree of temperature change. This can actually cost you a pretty penny if you allow it to continue over multiple years, and it’s not a good thing for even a single season regardless. If you want to make your air conditioner as energy efficient as possible, you can’t just have it receive professional maintenance. You need to make sure that the ducts are healthy and clear as well. Duct cleaning is a great way to do that.
Duct cleaning is a proven way to both improve your indoor air quality and your air conditioner’s energy efficiency. If you have any questions or concerns about whether or not your ducts need to be cleaned this summer, we recommend having a professional check out your home for you. A professional HVAC technician will be able to tell you what kind of shape your ducts are in, and whether you should take steps to have them cleaned as soon as possible.
Comfort First Heating and Cooling, Inc. offers a full range of duct cleaning services in Joliet, IL. If it’s been a while since you last had your ducts cleaned, don’t worry! Just contact us today to schedule an appointment with one of our experts.