10 Simple Air Duct Maintenance Tips For Your Home

Keeping your air ducts clean can provide you with cleaner air inside your home. Irrespective of whether you have have a professional do it or if you do it yourself, some simple air duct maintenance steps can help cut down on the contamination of your air vents. Air duct maintenance revolves around 2 aspects, reducing the volume of foreign particles (rodent droppings, insects, insect droppings, pollen) which makes its way into your air vents, heating and cooling system and preventing moisture from getting into the air ducts.

Tips to reduce the volume of dust and debris in your heating and cooling system:

1. Utilize the highest efficiency air filter you can afford as recommended by the manufacturer of your HVAC system.


2. Replace your air filter regularly. How frequently is dependent on where you live, whether you have a pet, if anybody smokes in the home and how how often your system is used.


3. Be certain every filter is in place (a lot of heating and cooling systems use multiple filters) and they fit properly to prevent air from getting around the filters.


4. Anytime you have your heating and cooling system serviced, have the technician clean the coils and drain pans.


5. Do not operating your HVAC system and block the return and supply vents throughout any significant home renovations that generate a large amount of dust.


6. Dust and vacuum your house regularly. If at all possible use a high efficiency (HEPA) vacuum along with the highest efficiency filter within you're budget.

Moisture in your air ducts is never a good thing. It can cause mold, bacteria and fungi growth which may cause health problems. Moisture in air ducts believe it or not is not entirely rare and can be caused by HVAC system or by other elements leaky pipes or leaks in your roof. Research shows that condensation on or near cooling coils of air conditioners is a major contributor of moisture in air ducts. Condensation is normal and is produced when the temperature of air in the heating and cooling system is below the dew point temperature of surrounding air. Newer system, when operating properly, have features to remove this condensation without contaminating the duct work. Improperly installed heating and cooling systems, incorrectly serviced systems and malfunctioning systems can lead to damage related to condensation.

Steps to prevent your system from getting wet:

1. Repair all water leaks and water damage immediately and completely


2. Cooling coils, when operating properly, remove water from the air and drain pans remove the moisture from the system. Both coils and drain pain should be inspected on a regular basis. Drain pans should drain completely so standing water in the drain pan implies the pan is not functioning correctly. The drain pan should be free of debris which could possibly impact its ability to drain properly.


3. Airducts should be sealed and insulated when they are in areas which are not cooled such as attics, crawl spaces or garages. This helps reduce condensation by decreasing the temperature variation between the air within the ducts and the air directly next to the air duct.


4. If your are replacing your air conditioner be sure the new air conditioner is matched to your size home. An air conditioner which is over sized will likely cycle on and off more frequently which reduces its ability to remove moisture from the air.