Duct Cleaning in Dubuque, IA
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Step 1 of 3: Equipment
Eight months of heating pushes a lot of air through those ducts
Your furnace runs from October through May here, close to eight months of the year. On winter nights that average 15°F, it cycles on and off often just to hold the house steady, and every cycle pushes air through the same ductwork. Dust and fine debris move with that air and settle back into the ducts a little differently each time.
The more a system runs, the more that buildup builds. Ducts carrying more than air make the furnace work harder to move it through the house.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace pushes air through your ducts
- 3 months
- June through August, your air conditioner does the same
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NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
- How often should air ducts be cleaned?
- Most homes do fine with a cleaning every few years, though there is no single number that fits every house. Pets shedding into the return vents, a household member with allergies, or a recent remodel that kicked up drywall dust all push that timeline up. Homes here run the furnace October through May, eight months of the year, so the system is pulling air through those ducts most of the year and can load up faster than it would somewhere with a shorter heating season.
- Is air duct cleaning worth it?
- It depends on what your ducts are actually doing right now. If dust is visibly kicking out of the vents, a room stays dusty no matter how often you clean it, or someone in the house has allergy symptoms that ease up when they leave, cleaning will help. If none of that is happening, the ducts are probably fine, and cleaning them will not do much for your air or your energy bills.
- What does air duct cleaning involve?
- A contractor connects a vacuum system to your ductwork and uses brushes or air whips to knock debris loose from the inside walls of the ducts. Every supply and return vent gets opened and cleaned, along with the main trunk lines running to them. The blower and coil inside the furnace or air handler usually get cleaned too, since debris collects there as air passes through.