Choosing the Best: Key Tips to Select the Right Air Duct Cleaning Services for Your Home

This article will empower homeowners with essential knowledge and practical tips for making informed decisions when selecting air duct cleaning services, ultimately ensuring a healthier and cleaner indoor environment.

Regular cleaning and your health

Regular air duct cleaning services are essential for your HVAC efficiency and indoor air health. There is a difference between DIY methods and hiring professional air duct cleaning services through:

With DIY cleaning, you might be able to reach the parts you see or clean around your system, but you may not have the manpower, tools, and equipment to take things apart and clean everything inside and out.

With residential air duct cleaning services, companies can improve the quality of your indoor air by cleaning all components in your system, including the following:

• Supply and return air ducts and registers
• Grilles and diffusers
• Heat exchangers
• Condensate drain pans
• Fan motors
• Fan housings
• Air handling unit housing

Professional air duct cleaning services can help you remove water and dirt from your system, apply products that can kill current and prevent future growth, and seal up sections that might not be sealed.

Why use an air duct cleaning service

According to the EPA, if you don’t have your air duct system properly cleaned, each of the small components can become contaminated with pollen, dust, pet dander, and other debris.

If, at any point, your system houses moisture, it can lead to mold growth and mold spores can get released into your home. These contaminants can cause serious allergic reactions as well as other symptoms to those living inside.

Common signs indicating it’s time for a thorough duct cleaning

While you may not be able to see all of the signs that it’s time to get your system cleaned, you’ll know it’s time to hire residential air duct cleaning services when you see any of the following:

Visible mold

If there is substantial growth on the ducts or on any other hard surface of your HVAC system, you should consider air duct cleaning services. This is especially true if you’ve recently had problems with rain or flooding.

Vermin

If you see evidence of rodents or insects inside your ducts, it’s time to consider professional help.

Excessive dust

If your ductwork is clogged, you should hire a professional air duct cleaning services company. This might be physically noticeable when your system turns on and releases dust or debris into your home.

What to expect from professional air duct cleaning services

• Professionals will have you show them around so that they can find all of your HVAC equipment and the vents in your home.
• They will use a special vacuum and potential mechanical brushes attached to that vacuum to clean the inside of the ductwork and other components.
• All vent grades will be removed so that the ductwork can be better accessed, and other tools will be used to safely clean the vent grates before reinstalling them.
• If there are air leaks in the ducts, they may or may not be able to fix them on-site, but they will ensure everything is running correctly before they leave.

Key factors to consider when choosing an air duct cleaning service

Certifications and Experience

Firstly, make sure that they are certified. They should have liability insurance and professional certifications to operate where you live.

Secondly, you might want companies that have been around for several years. Don’t be afraid to ask them how long they have been in business. It’s not a bad thing if they’re a new company, but if they are new, you’ll want to go above and beyond when it comes to checking references.

References and Reviews

Don’t be afraid to look at reviews and references from previous customers. You don’t want to settle for any reviews posted on their website because all companies cherry-pick the best reviews to publicly post on their website.

Instead, ask them for references and reach out to a few customers to see if they were satisfied with the job.

Equipment and Methods

You can talk to them about what chemicals or equipment they use. Several pieces of modern equipment can make a cleaning job faster and more effective, but some companies might use chemicals to prevent mold growth. You may or may not want this, considering it will subsequently be transferred into your indoor air.

Transparency

They should be transparent about their process, who they will send, how much it will cost, and what to expect. For example, you don’t want to call the boss and have him or her explain that they will be there the morning of the 27th, and then someone you’ve never heard of shows up in a van that doesn’t have the company logo on it.

They might very well have independent contractors who work for them, but that’s something you’ll want to know about ahead of time, especially regarding whether liability insurance applies to independent contractors.

Safety Measures

The EPA has guidelines for cleaning air ducts, and you can even download a post-cleaning checklist to ensure the contractor or company you hire can tell you about their safety measures before and after a job.

Warranty and Guarantees

Look into warranties and guarantees. You might want a warranty after a specific amount of time following cleaning services in case of undetected issues when the job is done.

Common questions to discuss with a potential air duct cleaning services company

Question: Can you provide proof of your liability insurance?

The recommended response: A good air duct cleaning services company will happily Supply you with proof of their liability insurance. You don’t want to work for a company that doesn’t have insurance on the off chance that a technician gets injured while working on your system or your home gets damaged.

Question: Is the quote I receive what I will actually pay?

The recommended response: A good air duct cleaning service will offer guarantees associated with your estimate. This might be something to the tune of no more than 10% over what was quoted, with certain exceptions for problems identified during the course of the cleaning job, like repairs.

What you don’t want is a company that gives you a low price, like $50, and then recommends a lot of unnecessary upgrades that suddenly result in hundreds of dollars beyond what you were quoted.

Question: Who should I expect to do the cleaning?

The recommended response: As mentioned, some companies providing air duct cleaning services have independent contractors, or it’s franchised, so they have several local affiliates they send to your property.

This isn’t necessarily bad, but you certainly want to know who might show up and what level of protection and insurance applies to them.

Summing Up

An air duct cleaning service can make a huge difference in the quality of your HVAC system. But with residential air duct cleaning services, it’s still up to you to select the best company possible and make an informed decision based on things like certifications, insurance, cost, warranty, and more.