If you're looking to clean your ducts, it's essential to know how to properly prepare for the process. To guarantee that your air ducts are completely cleaned, it's best to hire a professional duct cleaning company with portable negative air machines. However, if you're looking to do the job yourself, there are a few steps you can take to get started. First, inspect every room in the house and clean the supply grilles with warm water, mild detergent, and a soft brush in the kitchen sink.
If the return vent is too large to be washed in the sink, wash the outside with a hose, brush, and detergent. Then, place all the racks against the wall to air dry. Next, if you're using a nozzle on the end of the hose, attach it securely with adhesive tape to prevent it from getting lost in the duct network. This is because dirty, unfiltered air inside the house is being swept up the return duct on its way back to the air conditioning system.
You can also clean your air ducts yourself after an extraordinary event such as installing a new air conditioning system, carrying out major repairs, or undertaking a home remodeling project that generates dust. To do this, use a chimney head that rotates with an electric drill to clean most of the ducts. However, this method cannot touch all sides of the duct nor does it move as hard as a compressed air cleaner from a professional duct cleaning company. For seasonal air conditioning systems that operate only at certain times of the year, clean the air ducts approximately one month before you plan to reactivate the air conditioning system.
Additionally, if your house smells damp when you turn on the air conditioning system or if you smell rodent droppings, clean your air ducts immediately. Finally, when using professional duct cleaning services, contaminants are removed with brushes or air whips connected to compressed air hoses and vacuuming by contact. Along with a whip to dislodge waste, duct vacuums can remove debris found in remote areas of the duct system as well as hard-to-reach corners and curves.
