Your home or building’s air ducts play a crucial role in its greater HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) system. They facilitate ventilation and create a path for conditioned air to move throughout the premises, thereby creating a comfortable indoor environment for all occupants. Considering all these benefits, it is essential that you take proper care of your air ducts. Failure to do so will most likely lead to them becoming contaminated. Such a situation will in turn cause them to operate inefficiently resulting in poor indoor air quality.
Tips to Keep Your Air Ducts Unpolluted
In order to prevent air duct contamination, the EPA (U.S Environmental Protection Agency) suggests the following tips listed below to guarantee proper air duct maintenance:
- Use only the highest quality air filter recommended by the manufacturer of your home or building’s heating and cooling system in order to boost efficiency.
- Change the filters at least annually.
- Check the filters monthly. If your filters get clogged easily, change them more frequently.
Ensure that there are no gaps around the filter that allow the air to pass around the filter holder. - During a heating and cooling maintenance check-up, always remember to ask the service provider to clean the drain pans and cooling coils.
- In case there is any renovation or construction work to be done that could cause dust to find its way indoors, seal off the supply and return registers (call us for instructions). Avoid operating the heating and cooling system until the dust is cleaned up.
- Remove dust from your indoor air by vacuuming regularly using a high efficiency vacuum cleaner (HEPA), and the highest quality filter bags that your vacuum cleaner can take.
- If your heating system includes in-duct humidification requirements, make sure you operate and maintain the humidifier as per the instructions provided by the manufacturer.
Your air ducts are an essential part to your HVAC system.
If the air ducts in your home or building become dirty or contaminated, this can lead to a variety of issues for occupants with allergies and respiratory disorders, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or asthma. Also, poorly maintained air ducts will lead you to live with indoor air of poor quality. If you don’t remember the last time you had your air ducts cleaned, don’t wait until they are contaminated, contact Element Home Solutions for professional air duct cleaning services in the Bay Area.
