Max Air Duct Cleaning
3401 Liberty Rd Suite 107A, Houston, TX 77026
(713) 682-9119
Indoor air quality starts when construction begins and it should be one of your top priorities. The EPA estimates that indoor air is two to five times more polluted than outdoor air, and this applies even to new and shiny abodes.
People assume that with new construction standards and an overall reduction in outdoor air quality, the quality of your air inside the house should be better. Unfortunately, this is not true. In our efforts to reduce energy costs and waste, builders and manufacturers have been working together to create more efficient ways to keep a home airtight. We now have windows that keep heat in the house during the winter and the cold air in during the summer. We also have equipment that can help detect leaks in the house and to plug them. Insulation, moisture barriers and waterproof basements along with much-improved seals around windows and doors have created a house that no longer breathes.
An environment like this can become a catalyst for bacteria that cause a decline in indoor air quality. This is where air duct cleaning comes in. Using special equipment, your air ducts can be cleaned periodically so that any extra moisture or disease-carrying bacteria are eliminated.
Top 5 Duct Cleaning Benefits
1. Save Money
The EPA has conducted studies proving that by removing even four-tenths of an inch of dust from cooling system coils, you can reduce energy usage by up to 21 percent.
2. Extend Life of HVAC Systems
It is estimated that nine out of 10 HVAC systems fail or break down due to inadequate maintenance. Replacement parts and labor for an HVAC system can be very costly. People tend to ignore this, thinking that they are saving money in the short term. Unfortunately, in the long run, it often means that they have to replace their HVAC system a few years earlier than necessary.
3. Indoor Air Quality
A lot of people consider air vent cleaning essential to maintaining healthy indoor air. Dust, allergens (pollen, pet dander) and toxins (mold, mildew, rodent droppings) are routinely found in air ducts. Even when homeowners vacuum their house or use a carpet cleaning service, a certain amount of dust goes up in the air and settles in your air ducts. When this mixes with any moisture in the ducts, it becomes a breeding ground for bacteria.
4. Allergies
Duct cleaning may be required to provide a healthy environment for allergy suffering members of your family. Air duct cleaning can drastically reduce the amount of allergens that are present in a home.
5. Smell
Dust, mold and bacteria in ducts will generate a musty smell in a house that no amount of air fresheners or candles can get rid of. Regular duct cleaning will get rid of the smell almost completely.
If you have a forced-air furnace, you have air ducts. They're what allow the air to be channeled to each outlet or register in the building to provide heated and/or cooled air. Sooner or later you're going to need to have these ducts cleaned and you'll be calling the air duct cleaning guy. Even in a new building (or maybe ESPECIALLY in a new building) the ducts get full of dirt and debris and need some maintenance.
Back in '76 the term Legionnaire's Disease hit the media and started a real change in the duct cleaning industry and in people's levels of awareness. Bad stuff can be lurking in those hidden recesses that can make people sick. They need to be cleaned.
One of the most important things you can do to improve your indoor air quality is to have the ducting cleaned. The duct cleaning industry has seen some good, innovative advancement in the past few years, including the introduction of robot technology to do the job. This has created quite a stir, literally.
In traditional duct cleaning methods, a big vacuum hose is fed down the duct work and all the dirt and debris is, ideally, sucked into some kind of containment receptacle. These rigs can either be truck mounted or of a portable nature, using either gasoline or electric power to run the big sucker (sorry, couldn't resist). The Robot uses a vacuum too, but the hose is smaller and he carries it down the shaft for you. This is a labor saving device.
Agitation tools meant to dislodge the dirt and debris trapped within the duct work have evolved nicely. Rotating brushes, high pressure air and the bird's eye view of a moving video camera all make the job easier and better than in the old days of 'chimney sweep' technology. Clients like the camera view which lets them see what's really up there above their heads, hidden from view.
One company who says they don't just clean your ducts but your whole system has the right idea. There's more to a good cleaning job than just doing the ducts. The entire HVAC system should be inspected and cleaned, including (especially) in brand new buildings. Filters should, of course, always be maintained.
The EPA has a good site on the Web. It tells all about indoor air quality and the importance of assuring it by cleaning your system. It's full of information about air duct cleaning and all the options. It's worth checking out.