Duct Cleaning in Ellsworth, ME
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Step 1 of 3: Equipment
Nine months of heat moving through the same ducts
Your furnace or heat pump runs September through May here, close to nine months a year. That is a lot of air moving through your ductwork, and every bit of dust in your house rides along with it. Over time it settles in the bends and joints where the airflow slows down.
Hancock County sees its share of winter storms, 67 of them over the last ten years, along with 75 damaging wind events. When the power goes out, the system stops pulling air, but as soon as it comes back on, whatever settled in the ducts during that downtime gets pushed right back into the rooms you're heating.
- 9 months
- September through May, your furnace pushes air through your ducts
- 1 months
- July through July, your air conditioner does the same
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NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
- How often should air ducts be cleaned?
- There's no fixed schedule that fits every house, but a good rule is to have them checked every few years and cleaned when a contractor finds a real buildup. If anyone in the house has allergies, you've had construction work done, or you can see dust coming out of the vents, it's worth looking into sooner. Homes here run the furnace September through May, so ducts have more months to collect dust than they would somewhere with a shorter heating season.
- Is air duct cleaning worth it?
- It's worth it if your ducts actually have a buildup of dust, debris, or signs of rodents or mold. It won't lower your heating bills or fix an airflow problem caused by something else, like a clogged filter or a closed damper. A contractor can look at your ducts and tell you honestly whether cleaning will help or whether the money is better spent elsewhere.
- What does air duct cleaning involve?
- A contractor uses brushes and a high-powered vacuum to loosen and pull dust and debris out of the supply and return ducts. Each vent is sealed off one at a time so nothing gets pushed back into the room while it's being cleaned. The furnace or air handler itself, along with the coil and blower, usually gets cleaned in the same visit since they're part of the same air path.