What is Air Duct Cleaning & Why is it Important?
Good question – in fact it’s the least asked question and yet the MOST important to your health!
Let’s ask a few questions:
- Do you suffer from Asthma, allergies, autoimmune or health disorders?
- Do you or others smoke in your home?
- Do you live in a home older than 7 years?
- Do you live in the country or a high traffic/construction area?
- Do you have well-sealed windows?
- Did you know that the EPA rated Oklahoma City as the 4th worst in “indoor air quality” in the U.S.?
The EPA reports that Americans spend more than 90% of their time indoors, both at home and work. That means that 90% of your time is spent breathing the air recycled through your home’s air ducts. Let’s review how your air is cycled through your ducts.
Your return air grill brings air from a room/rooms to your unit, (this is the grill or vent that you most likely filter at) where it is then pushed through the indoor unit, and either is dehumidified and cooled and/or in the heat mode, heated and through your Supply air grills delivered back to you.
Nothing in that process cleans or kills bacteria. Your filter is the only protection and 99% of Americans don’t filter correctly! So you are now breathing in a closed air circuit system that is forcing air through your home that has shed dead skin cells, germs, bacteria’s, viruses, pet dander, and dirt particulars to name a few.
So starting with a Good Duct Cleaning is the first step in a two-step process of having Excellent and 99.9% Germ, Virus, Dander, and dirt-free homes!
So the question is, do you need a duct cleaning? And can your ducts be cleaned?
99% of the time all ducts can be cleaned; rather they are in-floor or above in the attic. However, in very old homes where the duct has not been changed in a long time, there is a specific type of ducting, Mylar, that cannot be cleaned as it will even as gentle as our soft brushes we can get down to – will tear and break the ducting. Not only should those ducts be replaced due to age and the fact that they probably have never been cleaned, but they also are most likely NOT insulated or well enough, causing cooling and heat loss to go where you are not!

I am supposed to have my dryer vent cleaned?
Yes!
Most people believe that simply cleaning the lint trap is good enough. That is NOT true. The truth is that much of the lint passes by that trap and accumulates into your dryer vent and continues to build up over time. How much and how long depends on the amount of use of the dryer, pets, and how many elbows are in the dryer venting to the outside of your home. We are not just talking about the metal looking flex duct from your dryer to the main venting outside your home. That can be replaced quickly and inexpensively.
And if that were not scary enough, here are some facts that will shock you! Over 15,000 fires and 20 deaths and 300 injuries with over $80 Million in property The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reported damage in a 1999 study. The two areas that caused most of these issues were concentrated in the lint trap and dryer vents with both Electrical and Gas Dryers. Believe it or not an Electric dryer has over a 250 times greater chance of a fire-related to improper vent cleaning!In addition to the safety reasons, having your vents cleaned properly and time will allow your electrical and gas bill to lower saving you money and of course time to get that laundry done without multiple cycles. Recently we went to a customer’s home for an HVAC Replacement while in her attic could see the “damage” done by heat and fire-related to an attic vented dryer vent that had caught on fire! This is the beginning of a potential major house fire and complete loss of home and danger to lives!