Raising the Standard Episode 68
Something most homeowners don’t think about: Cleaning their ducts. It makes sense that when we talk to clients about duct cleaning, many say they have never had their ducts cleaned. While your ducts may be out of sight and out of mind, they are affecting the quality of the air you breathe in your home and the overall efficiency of your HVAC system every single day.
Want to learn why duct cleaning is important for the health of your home and for your family’s health? We cover all of that and more in this week’s podcast and blog.
Why Should You Clean Your Ducts?
Think about it: If you have central heating and air, all the air you breathe in your home is being pushed through your ductwork and vents. If your ducts are dirty, those particles are being circulated throughout your home and making your HVAC system work harder to push air through your home.
Pollutants like dust, debris, rodent fecal matter, and more often accumulate in ducts over time, affecting your air quality. This can cause more allergy flare-ups, more illness, and higher energy bills. Duct cleaning also kills odors, mold spores, and bacteria as an added benefit! This is why it’s important to have your ducts cleaned regularly to prevent any of these issues.
The easy way to think about it is dust accumulating on a shelf. If you don’t dust a shelf in your house for seven years, you can expect dust in your ducts to accumulate in the same way except likely more dust and particle build-up. Since all the air through your home is circulating through your ductwork and rodents sometimes make a home in your ducts, you would be surprised at what our duct cleaning experts find in a vacuum bag after a duct cleaning!
When Should You Clean Your Ducts?
It is recommended that homeowners clean their ducts every 5 to 7 years or less. The variable for whether or not you should clean your ducts more often than every 5 years is the number of people and pets living in your home. Especially if you have more than a couple of pets, you are likely to have to clean your ducts more often due to pet fur and dander building up in your ducts.
What Type of Duct Cleaning System Will Clean My Ducts Best?
Many duct cleaning companies will use a portable duct cleaning system that can clean ducts, but likely won’t suck all of the particles and pollutants out of your ductwork. At BOSS Services, we used to use a system like this but wanted something that would provide an even deeper clean. Now we have upgraded our duct cleaning system to the best equipment on the market. We use a high-powered negative pressure vacuum system. This system cleans everything out of your duct work, leaving nothing behind.
What You Should Expect When Having Your Ducts Cleaned
Many companies will charge more for duct cleaning depending on the size of the home. So if your home is larger and has more vents, they will charge per register or a rate per square foot. At BOSS, we have the same flat rate for every home because no matter the size of the home, the time and effort is all in the setup of the equipment, which takes about the same amount of time for a small home and a big home.
If you are curious about the pricing for a duct cleaning from BOSS Services, you can purchase it online and the pricing is all upfront, and not an estimate. So that is our final cost without any hidden fees.
Book your duct cleaning here: https://thebossservices.com/online-store/#/services/IAQ_DUCT_CLEANING_1
How Long Does a Duct Cleaning Take and How Does it Work?
The duct cleaning process takes anywhere from 4 to 6 hours. Our BOSS duct cleaning system is trailer mounted and sits outside of your home as it runs to suck everything out of your ducts. This is a benefit since it is pretty loud due to the suction being more powerful than most systems. Essentially, it’s a large vacuum system, with a large hose and a vacuum bag so big that it looks like a parachute when running (see below).
All of the particles are collected in this large bag through the vacuum hoses. We hook up the hoses and run them into the ducts in your home. More specifically, we access the supply line and return line. The return line is taking the air from your home and putting it back into your furnace. The supply line is taking it from the furnace and putting it back into your home or your air conditioner. So we have to access both of these lines in order to clean your ducts properly. Essentially, everything is vacuumed out of one spot and not too invasive with the exception of the loud noise.
How Can I Tell If I Need My Ducts Cleaned?
Without even looking at your ducts, we recommend that if you have been living in your home for 7 years or more and have not had the ducts cleaned, you should definitely consider having a thorough cleaning. If you are handy with tools, get a screwdriver, take the return or register off and put your hand in there and see what comes out. If your ducts haven’t been cleaned regularly, it’s amazing what you find in there just by doing that. If a lot of dust and debris comes out when you do this, that is a surefire sign you need to have your ducts cleaned.
Questions about Duct Cleaning?
If you live in West or Southwest Michigan and would like to have your ducts thoroughly cleaned, we can definitely do that for you! Just call our office at 269-468-6682, and we will send our BOSS Duct Cleaning Experts to your home with our new state of the art duct cleaning equipment. We provide duct cleaning for areas from Niles and New Buffalo to St. Joseph and South Haven, and as far north as Grand Rapids, and as far east as Kalamazoo. If you would like an indoor air quality check-up, we also can provide that for you! Hope your ducts are in good shape, but if not, we can make them as good as new with just one call!
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