Duct Cleaning in Albertville, AL
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Seven months of heating pushes air through your ducts
Your furnace runs October through April in Marshall County, and every one of those months it pushes air through the same ducts. Dust, pet hair, and whatever settles in the return sit there and get stirred up and recirculated each time the system kicks on. With winter nights averaging 34°F, that is a lot of cycles moving air through the house.
Most homes here are single-family and owner-occupied, so it is the same ductwork carrying the same buildup year after year, not something a new tenant or a fresh system resets. Wind events and storms in this area can also drive dust and debris into a house through gaps around doors and windows, and that ends up in the ducts along with everything else. A dirty duct system does not move air as well, and the buildup ends up back in the rooms it was supposed to heat.
- 7 months
- October through April, your furnace pushes air through your ducts
- 5 months
- May 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, but a good number of years without a look is a reason to check. Watch for dust that resettles within a day or two of cleaning, a musty smell when the furnace kicks on, or a room that never seems to get enough air. If anyone in the house has allergies that flare up worse indoors than outside, that's a reason to check sooner rather than wait.
- Is air duct cleaning worth it?
- It's worth it when there's a real reason behind it, not just as a routine chore. Dust blowing out of the vents, a burning smell on startup, or ducts that were exposed during a renovation are all good reasons to have them cleaned. If the house has been trouble-free and the filters get changed on schedule, the ducts are probably doing fine without it. A contractor can look at the actual ductwork and tell you whether cleaning will make a real difference in your case.
- What does air duct cleaning involve?
- A contractor connects a vacuum system to the ductwork and uses brushes or air whips to knock loose dust and debris from inside the duct walls, then pulls it out through the vacuum before it can resettle. Each supply and return vent gets opened up and cleaned individually. The furnace or air handler itself usually gets attention too, since the blower and coil sit in the same air path as the ducts. A thorough job also checks the vent hood and connections for gaps that could be pulling in dust from the attic or crawl space.