Duct Cleaning in Portsmouth, VA
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Six months of heating pushes air through ducts that rarely get checked
Your ducts carry heated air from November through April, six months a year. Every time the furnace runs, dust and fine debris move through the same runs of ductwork and settle in the low spots and bends. Over years that buildup thickens, and the blower has to push air through a system that is carrying more than it should.
Portsmouth has also seen 22 damaging wind events and 6 winter storms over the past ten years. Storms like that can drive debris into vents and knock loose what has settled in the ducts, and with 22% of Virginia households losing power for 24 hours or more in 2024, systems sitting idle during an outage give dust more time to settle before the air starts moving again.
- 6 months
- November through April, your furnace pushes air through your ducts
- 5 months
- May through September, your air conditioner does the same
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
- How often should air ducts be cleaned?
- There is no fixed schedule that fits every home, but a contractor can look at the ducts and tell you if they need it. If anyone in the house has allergies, or you have had rodents or a water leak near the ductwork, it is worth checking sooner. Homes that just went through construction or a major renovation should have the ducts cleaned after, since drywall dust settles deep in the runs.
- Is air duct cleaning worth it?
- It is worth it when there is a real reason for it, like dust that keeps coming back, a musty smell from the vents, or work that stirred up debris in the system. It will not lower your heating bill or fix a furnace that is running poorly. If you are thinking about cleaning with no particular problem in mind, have a contractor look at the ducts first and tell you whether it is needed yet.
- What does air duct cleaning involve?
- A contractor connects a vacuum to the duct system to pull it under negative pressure, then agitates the inside of each run with a brush or air whip so debris gets pulled into the vacuum rather than back into the room. Every supply and return vent gets done, along with the main trunk lines. The furnace or air handler cabinet and the blower are usually cleaned too, since that is where the air passes through on every cycle.