Clean Air Ducts, Clean Home

What happens in your air-ducts that would cause them to require cleaning? Of course there are the obvious answers such as dust. Dust settles everywhere and once in your air-ducts can spread throughout your home. Do we really think about everything else that accumulates in these dark, hidden areas of our homes? What about the small animals taking shelter from cold or warm weather? What about the air-borne bacteria from that stomach bug the family got over last week? What about the natural everyday air-borne particles floating around every day?

The other day on weather.com there was a video showing a squirrel cooling himself off by the fan of the air compressor/condenser unit.  As cute as it was to see a squirrel sprawled out across the unit catching “some air,” it makes it reality that these animals know – they understand that hot air and cool air comes from these devices. Why would it be so far off for them to look to these places to go for warmth and in the winter and cool air in the summer? Here’s our challenge. Are these animals housebroken? Do they actively think let me step outside to use the bathroom? Obviously not. So now just as that odor from the kitchen travels throughout the house, just as that dust is spread throughout the house, now we have the feces, the bacteria, and the pollen particles these animals may carry traveling throughout our home as the air brushes by them. What happens in your air-ducts that would cause them to require cleaning? Of course there are the obvious answers such as dust. Dust settles everywhere and once in your air-ducts can spread throughout your home. Do we really think about everything else that accumulates in these dark, hidden areas of our homes?

Rodents and animals aren’t the only things that stash themselves in our air-ducts. Ever notice how sometimes you can’t shake that virus or cold from traveling around the family? The best example was an office that started spreading a stomach virus. It started with one person and six weeks later, it was still being passed around. Granted everyone used alcohol pads to wash down their phone sets and their computer keyboards, changed to disposable coffee cups instead of the regular ceramic ones, and took all the precautions necessary to prevent the spread of this bug, but what about the air ducts? Did anyone notice that this air-borne virus was circulating through the office over and over again in the air? Bacteria and viruses travel through and pit-stop within your air-ducts.

Of course, we cannot forget allergens. Doctors tell those who suffer from allergies and asthma that keeping our homes closed up and using air-conditioning is one of the best solutions to offer relief from allergies, right? So what do we do when our duct work is collecting these allergens? Little Johnny brings one of his toys inside that is covered with unseen pollen, mold spores start forming in one area of the home, rodents bring in a fungus, dust mites fly up as you change your bedding. Not to mention, when vacuuming and dusting, particles fly throughout the air getting sucked into the system. Over time, this adds up and accumulates and suddenly, your allergen free home has you sneezing and wheezing.

Many of us take the extra precautions to ensure that our families are free from bacteria, allergens, and viruses. We wash hands, we vacuum, we use Lysol, and we dust. For many it is a daily to week process of keeping our homes clean and fresh. We change our air-filters regularly, but what we do not realize is that we are talking about particles, bacteria, and allergens that are not visible to the naked eye. We are talking about the system that keeps air circulating throughout our homes on a daily – hourly – momentary basis. Isn’t it only natural that we would clean and sanitize the ducts that carry and circulate our air just as nicely as we care for our carpets and furniture to ensure that they not only last, but they keep us healthier and cleaner?