True or False? Investigating 4 Common Myths About Duct Cleaning

Do you have air conditioning in your home? What about a heating system? Do your air conditioner and heater rely on ductwork to distribute air throughout your house? Then that ductwork probably gets dirty. Should you leave it be? Allow it to accumulate dust forever amen? Or is duct cleaning something you should pursue?

At Dust Doctors, we field plenty of questions about the legitimacy of duct cleaning and whether it’s actually an essential service. While we (obviously) think it is, we’ll let you make the call. Below, we investigate four of the most common duct cleaning myths to help you make the most informed decision possible.

Duct Cleaning Myth #1: Air Ducts Don’t Need Cleaning Because They Don’t Really Get Dirty

Okay, this is straight-up false. Have you ever changed your HVAC filter? What did it look like when you pulled it out? Was it white? Probably not. Chances are it was caked in grey dust. Where did that dust come from? Yep, your air ducts.

Ductwork accumulates plenty of debris, including dust, dirt, pollen, dander, hair, microbes, dust mites, chemical residues, volatile organic compounds — even insects and their carcasses. It might take a few years for this gunk to build to appreciable levels, but it’s there even if you can’t see it.

Duct cleaning should be performed on a routine basis in every home to ensure the HVAC system remains free of debris that can contribute to indoor air pollution.

Duct Cleaning Myth #2: Duct Cleaning Just Pushes Dust Into Your Living Areas

This one is flat-out false too. Professional duct cleaning does not push anything into your living areas that isn’t already there. Professional technicians use high-powered blowers and a truck-mounted vacuum that create negative pressure inside your air ducts.

They seal off all vent returns and openings to ensure the negative pressure pulls debris directly into the truck’s tank, keeping it out of your living areas. They also clean your registers, coils, housings, motors, and fans to ensure every component of the system is free of dust and debris.

Professionals are thorough, and more importantly, they understand the health hazards of dust accumulation inside your home. Their job is to eliminate dust, not push it around from one place to another.

Duct Cleaning Myth #3: Only Homes With Humidifiers Need Duct Cleaning

Another falsity. Homes with humidifiers may be more prone to mold development, especially within the ductwork, but mold can form anywhere moisture is present. You don’t need a humidifier to have moisture inside your home.

Even without a humidifier, mold can grow inside ductwork because the cool air that passes through the ducts always carries a small amount of moisture. When that moisture hits a solid surface — the interior walls of the ducts — it can condense and gradually accumulate. Since mold spores are virtually everywhere, eventually, mold can begin growing inside the air ducts.

Whether you have a humidifier or not, you should be having your ducts cleaned to ensure they remain free of potentially harmful species of mold.

You Can Clean Your Own Ducts

This is both true and false, depending on how you look at it. Sure, you can perform duct cleaning on your own, but be honest with yourself: How thorough of a job can you do?

If you have a high-powered vacuum, industrial blowers, heavy-duty hoses, and pneumatic brushes, you might be able to complete the job satisfactorily. But do you know how to seal off your vents and registers to prevent dust from entering your living areas? Can you reach the innermost portions of the duct system? Perhaps, but not likely.

In reality, duct cleaning is a job that’s best left to the professionals. At Dust Doctors, we employ a proprietary collection of high-powered, industrial tools to thoroughly clean the inside of your ducts and prevent any debris from entering your living areas while we work. No one else in the Twin Cities cleans ducts the way we do, and we aim to keep it that way!

Dust Doctors: Twin Cities Duct Cleaning Experts

If you’re ready to discover how duct cleaning can dramatically improve the quality of the air inside your home, schedule a duct cleaning appointment with Dust Doctors today. Give us a call at 651-319-9777, request a free quote, or send us a message online for more information.