Air Duct Cleaning

By HomeAdvisor

Updated September 8, 2017

Overhead air ducts
Having your air ducts cleaned by a professional does many more things than just saving you money on energy bills and cleaning up the dust bunnies on your wood floors. The quality of the air in your home is directly related to the cleanliness of your air ducts. If you have young children in the house, dirty air ducts can lead to many health problems that can be avoided by a simple, quick process.

Changing Air Filters

Before you do anything, you need to change your filters. There are too many different brands and models of HVAC systems to address the filter change on each one, but you do not have to be a heating and cooling professional to change most filters. If you can pull out the filter, then you can put it back in. Take the old filter to a hardware store or a home improvement store, and have the employees give you a new one just like it. This really can’t be done too often. More than once a month might be a little excessive, but if you have a dusty house or live in a dusty part of the country this might be just what you need. Definitely change them once a season, or consider consulting a professional for an inspection of your vents if you’re unsure if you need a cleaning and filter change. Duct inspection costs can vary depending on the professional hired.

Air Duct Cleaning Cost

At certain times of the year, this can cost as little as $100, and it does wonders to the air quality in your home. Dust can harbor dust mites, allergens, the recipe for childhood asthma, and numerous other elements that can cause mild to serious respiratory problems on those living in the house. What’s more is this is an easy fix. Air duct cleaning professionals have a few different methods with which they can clean your ducts and vents. All of them basically use a vacuum, and sometimes a brush, to drag all of the dust from your ducts. The process does not take very long, and there is really no substitute for good air quality.
Click this link if you would like to use our free service to find a local air duct cleaning professional.

Other Benefits to Air Duct Cleaning

Having your air ducts professionally cleaned carries more benefits with it than just the health considerations. Removing all the debris, dust, mold, allergens and other items from your air ducts will also greatly improve the efficiency of your HVAC system.

House Mold & Indoor Air Pollution

House mold is another big issue that can be resolved by having the ducts cleaned on a regular basis. Any type of house mold or black mold that can live in the ducts and become airborne is a serious health risk to anyone in the house, but especially small children. It is easy to see if there is mold on your walls or in the shower, but you may never know if there is mold in the ducts unless you have a professional clean them. Indoor air pollution is a result of poor air duct maintenance and not having them cleaned often enough.

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5 Comments

  1. Judy Wilson, April 14:

    I thought that your statement for air duct cleaning costs was very interesting. You said that there are certain times of the year when it can cost as little as $100 to clean my air ducts. That’s a price I can afford to pay to have better air quality in my home. When would be the best time of the year to call in a specialist to clean my air ducts? There have been a few times when I thought that I couldn’t afford to have them cleaned, so it would be nice to be able to call in a professional if I would only have to pay $100 to clean the air ducts in my house.

  2. Kyler Brown, May 3:

    My wife and I have been considering having our air ducts cleaned out. They are several years old, and I don’t think they’ve ever been cleaned before. I hadn’t even considered that this could improve the efficiency of our HVAC system along with the health benefits that are associated. Thanks for posting this!

  3. casey, April 18:

    Many air duct cleaning companies offer cheap prices to clean your air ducts, beware!!!. these advertisements are offered so they can just get in your home. In order to properly clean your air ducts, the whole system needs to be cleaned. This means all your ductwork, return and supply, plus your evaporator coil and supply plenum. Keep in mind in my state for example, an air conditioning license is required by law before a contractor can even put hands on your ac or heating equipment. Cleaning and sanitizing your ac system will keep the air quality in your home healthy and also save on your electricity cost. Be sure to use an ac specialist and don’t fall for low cost advertisements some companies use.

  4. Dmytro, June 8:

    I dont know any reputable company, which would be able to clean the ducts for 100$.
    Air Duct Cleaning – In this case, duct cleaning usually means the removal of dirt, slime, mold, debris and other materials found in ductwork and other HVAC components.
    But in reality most companies, who are not carried EPA or HVAC certifications/licensing not touching the HVAC elements, as it additional risk to not start equipment again.

    Process of cleaning the ductwork take from 2 hours.
    Process of cleaning HVAC system takes minimum 2 hours, if it require cleaning.

    So you probably will be able to find 99$ discount (usually on winter months) but not a 99$ deal to get everything cleaned.
    That is a lot of work. But proper cleaning of only cooling coils can boost efficiency up to 40 %
    Sealing the ductwork between furnace and cooling coils another 10%
    Learning Thermostat another 10%

    Mold can grow only with moisture.
    Make sure your coils and humidifier are clean – you will not have these problems.

    Good advise “don’t fall for low cost advertisements some companies use”

    The price starts from 249$ for 1500sq ft house – that is minimum.

  5. Linda Jones, September 22:

    I live in an old apartment, but my management company does not clean the air ducts, I would like to have them cleaned myself, is that possible or is professional air duct cleaning for home owners only?

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