How Vent Cleaning Can Help You Breathe Easy In New Jersey

New Jersey is looking at a long winter ahead, and you're sure to have the house closed up with the heat blasting. But have you thought about how this can affect your home's air quality?

If you can't remember the last time you've had your vents and ducts cleaned, it's a good time to contact your professional. This oft-overlooked chore may boast surprising health advantages. It can also reduce energy bills and extend the life of your forced air system.

What’s Your Indoor Air Quality?
In many ways, developments in high-efficiency windows and doors have drastically improved heat and cooling retention in the home. However, along with increased insulation, these advancements have also reduced the amount of air transfer between the outdoors and inside your home. This can cause the quality of the air indoors to decrease.

There is some debate whether duct and vent cleaning can take strides to actually improve air quality. There is literature supporting both sides of the debate, but proper ventilation and clean ducts are a must. And, in many cases, duct cleaning is helpful in finding and removing harmful mold, fungus and microbes from an infected system.

How Does It Work?
There are two different ways to clean your duct and vent system. One process connects to your ducting to provide suction. Then, an air-pressure hose is passed through the ducting to remove particles from the interior. Another way to do it is to use a large vacuum attached to a hose and a brushing system that runs through the ducting. Both systems are efficient and effective when executed by a trained professional.

Additionally, the furnace fan should be cleaned, as well as the coils inside your air conditioning or heat pump system. Finally, a disinfectant can be fogged through the cleaned system to remove any remaining bacteria, mold and dust mites.

How Much Does It Cost?
Proper vent and duct cleaning should take at least three to five hours, depending on the size of your house. (Note that if you home has more than one heating and cooling system, or your system is located on the roof, it can take longer.) With that in mind, most professional duct cleaning companies charge between $90 and $125 per hour.

HomeAdvisor is a Patch promotional partner.