Preparing your Prattville home for the holiday season includes dusting, vacuuming and pulling out new towels and sheets. While these tasks are essential, it is just as important to have a look at your ductwork to ensure your home is circulating clean, healthy air.
Ductwork Duty Will Improve Indoor Air Quality and Heating Performance
Around 65 percent of all households in the United States use forced-air furnaces. They’re the most popular choice for home heating, and for good reason. Central heating systems circulate conditioned air throughout all the rooms of your home in minutes, providing the instant warmth and comfort you want for your family when outdoor temperatures plummet. The system’s performance, however, depends on the hidden network of ducts that distributes the warm air. Faulty ducts can negatively affect the air that you breathe and drive up your heating expenses. Fortunately, there are multiple ways to improve ductwork efficiency. Getting your ducts in a row can pay off big when it comes to your home comfort, air quality and energy bills.
Ductwork and Indoor Air Quality
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), up to 30 percent of the air that passes through ducts is lost to leaks in the average American home. Those leaks not only impact your heating costs but your home’s air quality too. Air ducts rely on a balanced system of supply and return channels, and even a small leak can turn a duct into a dust-sucking vacuum. With people spending up to 90 percent of their inside homes and businesses,indoor air quality matters. Airborne contaminants can trigger symptoms for those with allergies, asthma and respiratory conditions, and long-term exposure can affect otherwise healthy people as well.
Duct Sealing and Insulation
Sealing air leaks and adding insulation to ducts will eliminate leaks and their associated impact on indoor air quality. Because leaking ducts force your heater to run longer, duct sealing can lower your heating costs too. Most homeowners prefer to hire a professional HVAC technician to do the job, as improper sealing can result in an unbalanced system that actually increases inefficiency. If you choose to seal your ducts yourself, it’s a good idea to have them pressure tested afterwards to make sure that everything is working properly.
Ductwork Cleaning Services
Ducts in forced-air systems can re-circulate the air in your home multiple times each day. Over time, this constant re-circulation leads to a buildup of debris and pollutants inside the ducts. Dirty ducts provide the perfect breeding grounds for insects and rodents. Add moisture into the mix, and mold, mildew and bacteria can make their home their as well. Having your air ducts professional cleaned rids them of any dust, dirt and contaminants. Unobstructed ducts allow your heater to work more efficiently too. Ductwork cleaning can even reduce the need for future repairs and make ducts last longer.
Serving the comfort needs of the Greater Montgomery community since 1983, Air Conditioning by Luquire is dedicated to keeping your home healthy and safe in every season. Our experts can inspect your ducts and measure their efficiency to help determine if some ductwork duty is in order. To learn more or to schedule service, contact the pros at Luquire today.
