When is it Time to Clean your Air Ducts? Pt 2

When is it Time to Clean your Air Ducts? Pt 2

When to Clean

As you can find out from just about any provider of HVAC services in Beverly Hills, the air ducts in your home need cleaning if one or more of the following things is true.

• They carry vermin (insects or rodents) infestation.
• They are clogged with excessive dust and debris, or with particles that could get released into the home.
• There is major mold growth detected or suspected inside a hard surface duct, or even in other areas of the cooling and heating system.

Points to Consider for Mold Detection

When it comes to detecting mold growth in a cooling and heating system, the following things need to be considered.

• Many parts of the cooling and heating system would not be open to visible inspection, which means if a service provider tells you there is mold, then you should ask them to show it to you in some way.
• Some substances may simply look like mold, in which case you would need an expert to tell you whether or not yours actually is. Even a laboratory analysis may be required for that to be done properly. Some labs have you send over a sample on a strip of household tape, along with the charge for checking it out to see if it is really mold.
• It your air ducts are insulated, and the insulation has become wet or moldy, then simply cleaning it will not do – the whole thing needs to be taken out and replaced with brand new insulation.
• In order to make sure the mold growth does not recur, you will need to ensure that the conditions allowing or helping it are removed.

Other Major Things to Consider

Duct cleaning in itself is not necessarily capable of preventing the health problems caused by growths or infestations, nor has it been conclusively shown to reduce the dust levels in homes afterward. The main reason for this is that dust which accumulates sticks to the surfaces of the ducts themselves, without actually entering the living areas of the house. Such dirty air ducts may be partially responsible for the particles that circulate inside, but then you also have indoor smoking, cooking, and even plain moving around to blame for the same problem.

Simply put, there is no evidence that a minor amount of particulate matter inside of air ducts will pose a health risk. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommends cleaning as and when needed, based on results after checking the factors mentioned above. When it is hard to decide if it is time for cleaning, it is generally better to seek help of a home insulation expert.