Duct Cleaning in Indianola, IA
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Eight months of heating leaves a mark on your ducts
Your furnace runs from October through May here, close to eight months a year. That's a long stretch of air moving through the same ductwork, carrying dust, pet hair, and whatever else settles in the return before it gets pulled back through. Most of that gets caught by the filter, but some of it lines the inside of the ducts themselves over a season this long.
Winter nights averaging 17°F mean the system is working hard, and it's moving a lot of air to do it. Warren County has seen 21 winter storms and 66 damaging wind events over the past ten years, and outages that come with them can shut a system down and start it back up more than once in a season. Each restart stirs up what has settled in the ducts. Over enough winters, that buildup can restrict airflow, and a system pushing against blocked ducts has to work harder to heat the same house.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace pushes air through your ducts
- 4 months
- June through September, your air conditioner does the same
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
- How often should air ducts be cleaned?
- There's no fixed schedule that fits every home. Homes with pets, a smoker, or someone with allergies tend to need it sooner than others. A renovation or repair work that left the ductwork open to dust and debris is also a reason to have them checked. A contractor can look inside the ducts and tell you whether buildup has reached the point where cleaning would help.
- Is air duct cleaning worth it?
- It depends on what's actually going on in the ducts. If dust is visibly blowing out of the vents, there's a musty smell when the furnace or air conditioner runs, or you can see debris when a vent cover comes off, cleaning solves a real problem. If none of that is happening, cleaning without a reason usually doesn't do much. A contractor can inspect the ducts and tell you if there's something worth clearing out.
- What does air duct cleaning involve?
- A contractor uses brushes and a vacuum system to loosen and pull dust and debris out of the ductwork. The supply and return vents get cleaned along with the main trunk lines, and the blower compartment usually gets attention too since it pushes air through the whole system. Once the ducts are clear, the air moving through them isn't carrying that buildup back into the house every time the furnace or air conditioner runs.