What Is All The Hype About Duct Cleaning?
The EPA says that there is no proof that duct cleaning makes any difference in your home. However, according to allergy sufferers that have had the procedure done in their home, it allows them to live without allergy flare ups. Persons interested in having the procedure in their home should consider some of the following items.
The cost of professional duct cleaning can run from several hundred to a thousand dollars. You can easily check your ducts by removing some registers and looking inside to see if there is any buildup located in the ducts.
In addition to checking in the registers, you should also shut off the power to the system and open the service panel to the heat exchanger. It is a good idea to check the exchanger at least at the beginning of heating and air conditioning season. It is possible that the coils here need to be cleaned.
Many of the professional duct cleaning companies, like Toronto's Laird & Son, include cleaning of the heat exchanger as a part of their overall service. Persons deciding not to have the system cleaned may decide to remove any contaminants from the heat exchanger by using a small broom to loosen the debris and a shop vacuum to collect them.
If the coils need to be cleaned, but you do not want to pay to have the entire duct system cleaned, many heating and air conditioning companies can do the cleaning as a part of the normal servicing of your system. This may be a less expensive way to get all the cleaning that is needed. It will also help your system to operate more efficiently and at a lower cost.
Avoid Being Scammed
Occasionally you will find a company that is offering the duct cleaning service at a cut rate. Many people have found out the hard way that these companies are inexperienced and lack the professional machinery to do an adequate job at cleaning your duct work. If the cleaner shows up with little more than a shop vacuum, do yourself a favor and send him on down the road. It is possible that without the correct equipment, he may actually spread more allergens into your home than if the system had been left along. In addition, it is quite likely that before the job is done that the cut rate will have grown with additional fees.
One thing both the advocates and adversaries agree on is that the key to keeping your ducts free of allergens is to use the best quality air filter that you can afford. The filter needs to be changed regularly to keep the system clean and to lower heating and cooling bills.
If you do opt to pay for duct cleaning, you will want to install a high quality filter after the cleaning is completed. Avoid the least expensive filters. One professional describes these as bowling ball filters, meaning the anything smaller or lighter in weight than a bowling ball could pass through them. If you do stay with disposable filters, the best ones are made of filter paper and are a z-fold in design.
