Duct Cleaning in Norfolk, VA
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Step 1 of 3: Equipment
Six months of heating pulls dust through the same ducts
Your furnace runs from November through April here, six months out of the year. Every one of those months, it's pulling household air through the same ductwork and pushing it back into your rooms. Dust and whatever else is in that air settles along the way, layer on layer, in places you can't see or reach.
Norfolk has had 50 damaging wind events and 6 winter storms over the past ten years. Storms like that can knock out power and shut a furnace down for a stretch. When it kicks back on, the first air through the ducts carries whatever built up while it sat idle.
- 6 months
- November through April, your furnace pushes air through your ducts
- 5 months
- May through September, your air conditioner does the same
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NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
- How often should air ducts be cleaned?
- Most homes do fine with a cleaning every few years, not on a fixed yearly schedule. If anyone in the house has allergies, or you have pets shedding into the return vents, or you just finished a renovation that kicked up dust and drywall grit, do it sooner. Homes that had ductwork exposed after a storm, or sitting with a damaged vent hood for a while, should get checked sooner too.
- Is air duct cleaning worth it?
- It is worth it when there is a real reason, like visible dust coming out of the vents, a musty smell when the air runs, or work done on the ducts themselves. It will not lower your energy bills or stop every allergy symptom, so if that is the only goal, it is not the fix. Where it does help is keeping the air moving through the system clean before the months of November through April when the heat runs here.
- What does air duct cleaning involve?
- A contractor connects a vacuum system to the ductwork and uses brushes or air tools to knock loose dust and debris from the inside of the duct walls, then pulls it out through the vacuum. Every supply and return vent in the house gets covered, along with the main trunk lines. The furnace or air handler itself, including the coil, usually gets a look too since it sits right in the airflow with everything else.