We moved into a new house a few months ago, and we seem to have had some health problems ever since. My asthma flared up badly during the move, but I attributed this to dust being kicked up. Several months later, the dust should be settled, but my asthma still is worse that it was in the old house. My husband seems to catch a lot of colds, whereas before he rarely did. Would these things be related to having a lot of dust in the ducts? If so, would duct cleaning be helpful? My husband thinks that just getting the best filter for the heat/AC and changing it frequently (say once a month) would accomplish the same thing for cheaper. Anyone have any good reasons to have the ducts cleaned, or to not have them cleaned?
You say “new house” but is it brand-new or is it an older one?
We live in a 50-year-old house, and had a new furnace installed about 7 years ago (3 years after we had moved in), and they cleaned our ducts. I saw some of the crap they pulled out. Big wads of dust and hair (both dog and human) and whatever else was in there. It was really nasty.
We had an air cleaner installed at the same time, and that (combined with the duct cleaning) really helped with my husband’s asthma. We clean it every month (it’s a metal plate thing that has to be pulled out and wiped off).
I’d do it. Some places offer winterizing specials. If you can get a good deal, go for it.
It’s about 20 years old. I’m a bit concerned because we’re finding out that the former owners jury-rigged a lot of stuff instead of making proper repairs. We have a fairly pricey Honeywell HEPA air filter-- it might be worth buying a new filter for that and seeing how that affects things, as well as good filters for the furnance. It would be less than the duct cleaning.
Forced-air systems will probably cause more problems for respiratory-sensitive people generally. If your former residence didn’t have forced air, the difference you’re noting might be partially due to that difference alone.
Having said that, though, it sounds like your vents are probably dirty enough to warrant at least a look. What I did at my previous rental was to remove the vent covers (they were all along the floorboards) and remove the stuff there within reach, which was considerable. (It could best be described as a sooty buildup, since the clogging matter was like coal-colored cotton wadding.) Then I opened up the access vents to the aluminum ducts in the basement for a peek (you might need a small mirror and a strong flashlight for this). Surprisingly enough, the main vents weren’t clogged up; that was apparently happening only at the curves leading up to the floor vents, where there was more friction and less air pressure to keep things scoured.
In the year after that DIY partial vent cleaning, I had fewer problems with my allergies and the house just seemed cleaner, less sooty, and requiring less dusting.
If your house had ever had pets in the past, I’ll bet that that is also part of your problem. Pet allergies often kick in over a period of years, so that even if your family had no dander allergies before, they might have them now.
I also bought a good-quality vacuum cleaner (with a HEPA filter), as well as a large HEPA air filter (with wheels, so I can easily move it from room to room, as needed). Every bit helps.
we did all those things (about to spring for duct cleaning on our 7 year old house, we are the sole owners) and also got A/C system filters that are sticky on one side and you throw away once month.
We had ours cleaned years ago. Just last month, we opened some cold air returns, and found them almost whistle clean.
Yea, I’d do it. But I wouldn’t do it every 6 months.
I should mention our family has no allergies, so YMMV
I checked the ducts in our 23 year old house and they were clean.
I have always made sure our filters were changed when needed.
We have no pets that we keep in the house.
My daughter is divorced and she always forgets to change her filters. Every time I check them they are terrible or have bent from being plugged and the filter is being bypassed. She also has two house cats and that makes it all more necessary to change filters monthly or sooner if they are dirty. I would think her ducts are a mess.
I have searched the scientific literature several times over the past few years to see if I could find any convincing evidence that duct cleaning or expensive furnace filters have any predictable effect on allergy symptoms. I couldn’t find any. If anyone can find such evidence, please let us all know.