How to Clean Air Ducts Yourself

HVAC Duct Cleaning Tips for Easy DIY

With leap upon us and summer gaining on us, information technology may be a good idea to clean the air vents and ducts that the household air you lot exhale is traveling through. There is an regular army of dust, dander, dirt, hair, and bug fragments that are all likewise comfy hanging out in your air vents and ducts which can pollute the air you breathe.

If yous commencement thinking nigh all that dust and debris that find their way into your air ducts, it only makes sense you lot should probably clean those vents every now and then. Later on all, who wants dirty, dusty air circulating in their home?

Truth is, cleaning your air ducts is crucial when information technology comes to improving your home'south air quality. If you or someone in your household suffers from allergies, then all the more reason to pay attention to this!

Did yous know that the boilerplate family unit generates almost 40 pounds worth of dust annually? This doesn't even take into account the pet hair, mold, and dust that blows in through your open windows. Non cleaning your air ducts means that most of this dirt doesn't escape your home and lingers in constant apportionment throughout it, proving especially hellish to someone in your family who suffers from allergies.

Moreover, dirt and dust spread quicker in a home with muddy ducts. No thing how diligent you may grit and make clean your home, fine particulate contaminants, including dangerous allergens, flow quickly from room to room to encompass tables, smartphones, and kids' toys.

What's the EPA say? The Ecology Protection Agency (EPA) ranks indoor air pollution enquire one of the top 5 risks to public wellness and the millions of particles of debris and other allergens living in your air ducts are no help.

Are there various duct systems? There are many different designs of duct systems, such as attic systems and underground systems, just the theory of cleaning these systems is the same. Yous may not be able to access all parts of these systems (for example, secret ducts), but you can make a difference in your air quality by cleaning the parts of the system you can attain.

Why do it yourself?

About homeowners have never been given any sort of preparation on how to intendance for their homes and, as such, they spend a lot of time and coin learning things the hard style.

Just dwelling house air duct cleaning doesn't need to exist 1 of those things you pay someone else to do or you spend a lot of time and energy learning how to do it.

You probably don't own a loftier-powered, truck-mounted vacuum arrangement with 150-foot hoses. Just we're going to tell you how you tin clean the air ducts yourself. No, you won't get equally securely into your duct system as a commercial visitor will. That's fine. Almost of the debris in your ducts gathers toward the registers anyway and you can achieve those spots on your ain.

Cleaning Air Ducts with a Vacuum

Things y'all'll need to clean your air ducts

Here are the air duct cleaning tools that you demand to complete the task:

  • Furnace filter. You lot'll definitely need a new furnace filter at the end of the job. Make sure you choose the correct filter selection for your furnace.
  • Gloves. Heavy-duty gloves and a dust mask or goggles to clothing while cleaning.
  • Vacuum. Y'all'll need a vacuum to suck up the dust and dirt from your air registers. A standard household vacuum probably isn't powerful plenty. Make sure the vacuum you rent has a long hose to reach into the ducts.
  • Brush. Something that resembles a toilet brush volition piece of work well, but if y'all don't take one of these handy, a stiff-bristled paintbrush will do the trick.
  • Power drill. Using a ability drill to remove screws from the vents can be handy, but yous can likewise use a screwdriver. Make sure the screwdriver is uniform with the screws on the various types of registers in your dwelling.
  • Cleaning cloth. A microfiber cloth works best.
  • Newspaper towels. Y'all probably don't want to practise more than cleaning when you're finished. To make the most of your time, brand sure you have an ample supply of newspaper towels handy – they'll be quite useful.

Which vents are which?

If y'all're a new homeowner, you might not know or empathize that your home has various types of vents going into the ductwork of your home. An easy way to place each blazon is with a tissue test. If you lot place a tissue on the vent and it sticks, it'south a return duct, meaning the vent is at that place to bring air back to the HVAC arrangement from the firm. If the tissue doesn't stick to the vent, it's a supply vent, which blows out warm or absurd air from the HVAC organisation, depending whether your furnace or air conditioner is operating.

Don't be confused if there are vents on the outside of your home. These vents let air to flow into and out of your attic and are not part of your HVAC arrangement and don't need to exist cleaned for air duct purposes.

Stride-past-Step duct cleaning

  1. Remove the screws from air duct covers and return-air grill plates.
  2. Comprehend up your supply vents (those vents that supply rut or air to the rooms) with newspaper towels. Comprehend the vents not being cleaned at the time to continue the dust and dirt from blowing in and out while you're cleaning other areas. Merely lift the supply vents and place a paper towel between the vent encompass and the wall or floor. The vent should hold in identify without having to put all the screws dorsum in since you'll exist returning to remove the paper towels and cleaning each air vent.
  3. Set your thermostat to the "fan on" position. The fan will assistance move the dust that yous loosen while cleaning. make sure the heat and cool mode is off. If y'all have an older thermostat that doesn't take a "fan-only" setting, run the estrus.
  4. Loosen dust in ducts. Knock loose whatsoever buildup of dust in the ductwork. A light tapping will loosen clumps of dust sticking to the inside of the ducts. Merely take the handle of your castor and begin borer on whatever attainable ductwork yous accept in the basement. This will help break up any deposits of dampened grit that may accept stuck to the insides of the duct.
  5. Clean supply registers. Now you tin begin sweeping out the dust in your supply register. With the vacuum running and the cease of the hose near the annals, lift the annals. Use the hose to take hold of any grit that's beingness pushed out by the fan and proceed to sweep as far into the register's pipage as the hose tin can achieve. Use your brush to scuff loose any congenital-up dust in the register. Now, using a damp microfiber cloth, reach down into the duct every bit far as yous can and wipe the interior make clean. You'll want to rinse the cloth repeatedly because chances are, you'll find a lot of dust and gunk up there the offset time you practice this. As you become through the house sweeping out the supply registers, yous can remove and dispose of the paper towels you've put in place.
  6. Make clean the return registers. Sweep out your return air registers. Again, brush and sweep equally far back into the register cavity as possible.
  7. Shut off fan and furnace. Shut the fan off at the thermostat and the power off to the furnace via the service switch or billow panel. Exercise not just shut off the thermostat because that doesn't turn off the unit's power.
  8. Make clean out blower compartment and return air boot. With the power off, yous can remove the panels on the front of the furnace and access the blower compartment and the return air kick. Use your vacuum to sweep up the grit built up in the blower compartment and return air kicking. This is where the nifty majority of you lot grit will be. Since you're in here, you should make clean the furnace fan as well.
  9. Replace the furnace filter. You lot won't get the complete benefit of make clean ducts if you accept HVAC filters clogged with the dust and contaminants they are designed to catch. Purchasing a better filter will certainly cut downwards on the dust in your home but the better the filter, the more oftentimes yous should alter it. A muddied filter limits the airflow to the fan resulting in the blower motor running hotter and reducing its lifespan. Savvy homeowners know that to reduce grit in their homes, they should make clean or change furnace filters at least in one case a month.

Replacing Dirty Air Filter

Here's an of import piece of information about air filters, second-mitt smoke and your wellness.

The filters in your ducts part similarly to your lungs. It's common cognition that breathing in 2d-paw smoke is harmful to your body. Well, consider that your lungs never properly lose all of the impurities that assemble in them when y'all smoke, and remember that the filters in your air ducts piece of work in much the same way. Without knowing information technology, you could be inhaling second-manus tobacco fume for weeks after the actual offending cigarette has been snuffed out because the residual smoke that's caught in your air ducts remains there for a long, long time.

What if you find mold during your DIY duct cleaning?

If you call up you've found mold, accept it tested to verify. Call in a professional if you have a mold problem. HVAC duct cleaning services accept the expertise to remove dangerous mold. They also have the equipment to go to difficult-to-reach areas that your house vacuum cannot.

How frequently should you clean your air ducts?

One to two times a twelvemonth, the most common times are the start of spring and fall.

Woman breathing clean air after she cleaned her home's air ducts herself.

Preventing duct contagion

Whether or not you determine to clean your air ducts, committing to a good preventive maintenance programme is important in minimizing duct contamination.

To assistance foreclose dirt from entering the system:

  • Utilise the highest efficiency air filter recommended by the manufacturer or your HVAC organisation.
  • Change filters routinely. If they become clogged, change them even more frequently.
  • When having your HVAC system maintained or checked for other reasons, be sure to ask the service provider to clean cooling coils and drain pains.
  • seal off supply and render registers and don't operate the heating and cooling arrangement until after cleaning upwards whatsoever dust.
  • Vacuum your habitation regularly. If possible, use a loftier efficiency (HEPA) cleaner or the highest efficiency filter bags your vacuum cleaner can take.
  • If your system includes in-duct humidification equipment, brand sure to operate and maintain the humidifier strictly as recommended past the manufacturer.
  • Make sure air ducts are properly sealed and insulated in all not-air-conditioned spaces (attics and crawl spaces). This volition help prevent moisture due to condensation from entering the organisation.
  • Set up any water leaks and remove any standing water.
  • Steam cleaning and other methods involving wet should not be used on any kid of duct piece of work.

Nosotros hope we've been helpful in providing these tips for cleaning your air vents.

Should you have any questions almost your HVAC needs, please don't hesitate to contact the HVAC professionals at J&A South Park.