How NOT to Clean Air Ducts – the Problems with DIY

Whether you suffer from allergies or not you may want to learn more about improving the air quality in your home. So, how can you improve the indoor air quality in your home? One solution is cleaning your HVAC air ducts. But if cleaning your air ducts yourself seems like an effective way to save a bit of money, especially if you’ve looked up how to clean air ducts yourself, read this article before you get started. 

First, DIY air duct cleaning may not give you the results you’re looking for. It’s important to weigh the cost of cleaning air ducts against the potential to cause damage to your system and put your own safety at risk. While you can safely and effectively clean your home’s air vents by yourself, it’s usually best to leave air duct cleaning to the pros. A professional air duct cleaning is the best way to improve indoor air quality without all the problems that come with trying to do this dirty job yourself. 

Household Tools Insufficient 

One of the best reasons to hire a pro to clean your air ducts is because the pros already have the right tools. You may think that a simple shop vacuum might be all you need to remove dust from your ducts, but most vacuums – even those designed for use in construction – are simply not designed to clean air ducts completely. This can lead to missed areas that will continue to spread dust, unpleasant smells, and pollutants throughout your home. To effectively clean your HVAC air ducts, specialty vacuums with long hoses are needed. These long hoses can run deep into every duct, removing dust and pollutants from every part of your system.  

Inadvertent Damage to Ducts 

Another reason you may not want to clean your air ducts yourself is that you may inadvertently damage your ducts or other parts of your HVAC system. If you don’t have a lot of experience cleaning air ducts, you may not know the right way to go about it. This can lead to damage inside your ductwork that may reduce your system’s efficiency and shorten the lifespan of your unit. Also, not knowing how often to clean your air ducts could mean you are cleaning too often or not enough both of which are bad for the health of your system. 

Related Topic: Improve HVAC Efficiency with Regular Air Duct Cleaning 

Proper Pollution Control Tools Required 

While we don’t like to think about it, there is also the potential that you might find something really hazardous in your air ducts. Sometimes hazardous materials do find their way into a home’s air ducts, which include things like mould, dead vermin, or vermin droppings. In fact, bad odours from these types of materials are often one of the first signs that your system needs to be cleaned. Each of these things is a potential hazard to your family’s health and needs to be removed properly. If you are trying to clean your air ducts yourself and encounter a potential hazard, would you know what to do? A professional service tech has the proper tools to remove all hazards safely and will know how to clean air ducts in such a way that it prevents the spread of pollutants through your system. 

Safety Risks 

Not only can dirty air ducts pose hazards to your health but trying to clean them could also result in other types of injuries. For example, accessing air ducts that are in the ceiling, attic, or other areas of your home may require that you climb up or use a ladder to get inside. If you don’t have a ladder or the ladder you do have isn’t the right height, you could easily fall and sustain serious injury. Also, some ductwork may have sharp metal edges or require squeezing into tight spaces to reach. Without the right protective equipment, tools, and know-how, you could easily put your own personal safety at risk. 

Get Professional Duct Cleaning 

To truly improve indoor air quality in your home, it’s important to hire a pro to clean your air ducts. Not only will professional duct cleaning ensure that your ducts are cleaned correctly and safely, but that your entire system is functioning as efficiently as possible, too. At Aire Serv, we thoroughly inspect your HVAC system, address all components, then clean and check all of your ductwork. This way, you know that when you trust your HVAC system to Aire Serv, you’re getting the best possible service – every time! Visit us here to learn more or to schedule an appointment.