air duct cleaning facts
did you know?
Air duct cleaning improves indoor air quality by removing dust, allergens, and mold from your HVAC system, which helps reduce allergy and asthma symptoms and creates a healthier living environment. It also enhances HVAC efficiency and airflow, lowering energy bills and extending system life. Additionally, cleaning ducts can eliminate odors, reduce fire hazards by removing flammable debris, and is a practical step when buying or selling a home.
air duct cleaning
How We Handle Air Duct Cleaning
1. Initial Assessment and System Preparation
The process begins with a detailed inspection of your entire HVAC system, including the ductwork, plenum, coil, and blower motor, using specialized tools and video cameras to evaluate the level of contamination and identify any unique concerns like mold growth or fire damage residue. We carefully map the system layout and determine the most effective access points for cleaning. Prior to starting, we protect your property by covering carpets and furnishings near access and return points, and we shut down the HVAC system to prevent the circulation of contaminants during the service.
2. Establishing Containment and Negative Pressure
To ensure that dislodged debris and contaminants are fully removed and not dispersed into your indoor air, we connect a powerful, truck-mounted or high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filtered vacuum system to the main air duct line. This specialized vacuum creates strong negative pressure throughout the ductwork, effectively sealing the system and drawing all debris toward the vacuum unit during the cleaning process.
3. Agitation and Debris Removal
Once the negative pressure is established, our certified technicians use a variety of specialized tools, such as pneumatic whips, rotational brushes, and compressed air tools, to physically agitate and dislodge years of accumulated dust, dirt, dander, mold, and other residues from the interior surfaces of the supply and return ductwork. This mechanical agitation ensures contaminants are loosened from every corner and surface, allowing the powerful vacuum to pull the debris completely out of the system and into the containment unit outside.
4. Component and HVAC Unit Cleaning
We meticulously clean other crucial components of the HVAC system, which are often overlooked but collect heavy contamination. This includes cleaning the air handler, blower motor, evaporator coils, and accessible components of the furnace. All supply and return registers and grilles are also removed, thoroughly cleaned, and sanitized before being reinstalled.
5. Sanitization, Deodorization, and Final Sealing
If the cleaning is being performed following water, mold, or fire damage, or if microbial contamination is present, we apply EPA-registered antimicrobial and sanitizing treatments to the cleaned interior duct surfaces to inhibit future biological growth and eliminate any lingering odors. Finally, all access openings created for the cleaning process are carefully and permanently sealed and insulated. We perform a final check of the system to ensure functionality, then conduct a final visual inspection with the client to guarantee complete satisfaction with the enhanced cleanliness and air quality.