Duct Cleaning in Burlington, NC
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Seven months of heating moves whatever is sitting in your ducts
Your furnace runs October through April here, close to seven months a year. Each time it kicks on, the same air moves through the same ducts, carrying along whatever has settled in them since the last cycle. On the winter nights that average 31°F, the furnace cycles often, so that air keeps moving through the house.
Alamance County has also logged 105 damaging wind events and 8 winter storms over the past ten years. A storm that knocks the power out stops the furnace along with it. When the system comes back on, the first air it pushes through the house is whatever built up in the ducts while it sat idle.
- 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?
- Most homes do fine having the ducts cleaned every few years rather than on any fixed yearly schedule. If anyone in the house has allergies, or pets shed near the return vents, it is worth doing more often. After a renovation, get the ducts cleaned once the dust from that work has settled, no matter when they were last done.
- Is air duct cleaning worth it?
- It depends on what is going on in the ducts. If you see dust kicking out of the vents, or a room stays dusty no matter how often you clean it, that is a sign worth acting on. Duct cleaning does not fix a furnace or air conditioner that is running poorly, so it is worth it for air quality and dust, not as a repair for equipment problems.
- What does air duct cleaning involve?
- A contractor connects a powerful vacuum to the duct system, then uses brushes or air whips to knock loose dust and debris from inside the ducts before it gets pulled out. Every supply and return line gets covered, along with the grilles and registers themselves. The furnace or air handler often gets a look too, since dust collects around the blower and coil the same way it does in the ducts.