Duct Cleaning in Columbia, MD
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Seven months of heating pushes air through your ducts
Your furnace runs October through April here, seven months of the year. On the cold nights, down near 26°F, it cycles on and off for hours at a stretch, and every cycle pushes air through the same ductwork. Dust, pet hair, and whatever settles in the return sits there and gets stirred up and blown through the house each time the system kicks on.
Columbia sees its share of winter storms, and Maryland households lose power often enough that furnaces sit idle and then restart. Each restart is another cycle of air moving through ducts that may not have been cleaned in years. In most single-family homes, that means the same air recirculating through the same buildup, winter after winter.
- 7 months
- October through April, your furnace pushes air through your ducts
- 4 months
- June through September, your air conditioner does the same
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
- How often should air ducts be cleaned?
- There is no fixed schedule that fits every home. Homes with pets, a smoker, or someone with allergies tend to need it more often than others. If you notice dust building up around the vents, or the ductwork was open during recent construction work, that is a sign it is time to have it looked at.
- Is air duct cleaning worth it?
- It depends on what is actually going on inside the ducts. If there is visible mold, a heavy buildup of dust and debris, or signs that rodents or insects have gotten in, cleaning solves a real problem. If the ducts look fine and the air in the house feels fine too, there may be nothing to gain from it. A contractor can look at the ductwork and tell you whether cleaning would help your situation.
- What does air duct cleaning involve?
- A contractor uses specialized tools to loosen dust and debris built up inside the ductwork, then a high-powered vacuum pulls it out of the system. This usually covers the supply and return ducts along with the grilles and registers, and sometimes the coils and blower if they can be reached. The furnace or air handler gets checked too, since it connects directly to the ducts being cleaned.