Bartels Heating & Cooling Blog: Posts Tagged ‘Duct Cleaning’

I Have Air Filters, But My Air Doesn’t Seem Any Cleaner

Monday, November 25th, 2019

woman-blowing-noseYou’re concerned about the indoor air quality in your house, and that’s a good place to start. IAQ in homes is often remarkably poor, four or five times worse than that outdoors. But if you have air filters to improve the air quality, why aren’t you noticing any positive results? If you’re still experiencing the same dusty air, the same number of allergens, the same coughing fits, etc., then something must be wrong—but what?

There are several possible answers to why you aren’t getting the results you want. We’ll look at the most common of them.

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Can Duct Cleaning Help My AC?

Monday, June 8th, 2015

Certain areas of your air conditioning system can be more prone to attracting and accumulating dust and dirt, and one of these areas is your ductwork system. You don’t need to have your ductwork cleaned every year, but it is recommended that you schedule your ductwork for cleaning every 3-5 years. This is because dust and dirt can build into a significant layer that can, and will, adversely affect your air conditioning system. The experts at Bartels Heating & Cooling have been cleaning ductwork for a long time, and they have the latest tools and training to ensure that the job is done thoroughly and correctly. If it’s been more than 5 years since your last duct cleaning appointment, give us a call today!

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Ways to Determine That Your House Needs Duct Cleaning

Wednesday, January 21st, 2015

A disturbing percentage of homeowners with forced air systems are completely unaware that their ducts need to be cleaned on a semi-regular basis. If you’re asking this question, then you probably already know that your ducts need to be cleaned, but are unsure of when to act on that knowledge. There are a few ways to determine that your house needs duct cleaning. Let’s examine some of those ways together.

You Haven’t Had Your Ducts Cleaned Before

If you have just recently become aware of the need for duct cleaning, but you haven’t had it done yet, get it done as soon as possible. Some pretty frightening things have likely built up in your ducts over the years that they haven’t been cleaned, and you’ll want to get rid of those things as quickly as possible. There’s no point in waiting until a preset time; ducts have no optimal time of year for cleaning, like heating systems do. Just get it done as soon as you can to start reaping the benefits of duct cleaning. Ducts should be cleaned every 1-3 years after the first time.

Frequent Allergy Attacks and/or Illnesses

The primary reason that duct cleaning is necessary is that all the microscopic contaminants that circulate through the air often find a home and a means of transportation in the ducts. Things like dust, pollen, viruses, bacteria, insect dander, and mold are all common pollutants that can be found in the common home’s air ducts. These pollutants are circulated throughout the house whenever the air conditioning or heating is turned on, infecting the occupants of the house in the process. If you are an allergy sufferer, or if you find that you get sick often throughout the year, then you could definitely reap the benefits of having your ducts cleaned out. That’s not to say that duct cleaning will solve all of your health problems, but it can remove a lot of the organisms that contribute to things like the common cold and the flu.

If you haven’t had your ducts cleaned in a while, call Bartels Heating & Cooling to schedule an appointment today. We provide professional duct cleaning services throughout West Chester.

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Duct Cleaning Question: Why Do the Ducts Get Dirty in the First Place?

Wednesday, October 1st, 2014

You have probably heard that the ductwork in your home requires regular cleaning—usually once every three or four years—in order for the heater and air conditioner to work at their most efficient, and to prevent the indoor air quality from plunging. Regular professional duct cleaning is crucial for maintaining health, comfort, and energy-efficiency in a home.

However, people often wonder how a ventilation system can reach a level of dirtiness where it becomes necessary for trained experts with special equipment to come to a home to clean it. It’s easy to look over a clean house and think that it’s impossible the ducts could have enough contamination in them to create problems.

But no matter how clean a home appears, dust and dirt and other pollutants will find a way into the ventilation system until they reach a level that makes it necessary to call professionals to remove them. Bartels Heating & Cooling is available to handle the job of duct cleaning in Fairfield, OH when you need it.

Why Ducts Develop Contamination

To understand how your ducts become dirty, you need to first understand how the ventilation system operates. There are two types of ductwork in a home’s ventilation system: the return ducts and the supply ducts. The return ducts draw air in from the rooms in a home, where the blower sends the air through the heating/cooling system. The supply ducts then distribute the conditioned air to the registers around the home and into the rooms. The air is eventually drawn back into the return ducts.

For the most part, this is a closed loop. Modern homes have heavy air sealing on them to prevent heat loss and gain. But this means scant fresh air enters the house to clear away dust, dirt, pollen, dander, and other debris. The contamination in a home enters the return vents along with the air, and then circulates in the closed loop through the ventilation system and the home. Over the space of a single year, the average six-room home will circulate more than 40 lbs. of dust through its ventilation system.

This amount of contamination will start to catch along the sides of the duct walls, beginning a process of accumulation that increases as more dust, dirt, lint, etc. gathers. It only takes about a year for a layer of dust to coat the insides of ducts, and another one or two for this buildup to start creating serious airflow issues for the HVAC system. At this point, cleaning is necessary.

Professionals must handle duct cleaning because it takes special equipment and training to access all of the ventilation system and change the pressure inside it in order to agitate the contamination from the ductwork walls. The process only takes a few hours, and it will restore the ducts to like-new condition, resulting in energy savings and a healthier indoor environment.

Since 1973, Bartels Heating & Cooling has delivered quality duct cleaning to Fairfield, OH and the rest of Southwest Ohio. Give us a call to schedule your duct cleaning with us today.

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Here’s How Professionals Clean Your Ductwork

Wednesday, August 27th, 2014

Professional duct cleaning employs the use of tools that are most likely not readily available to the average person. Moreover, ducts can be tricky to clean; it can be difficult to see the entire duct without the help of visual aid tools, and removing certain contaminants, like mold, can be challenging. These are just a couple of reasons why it’s best to call professionally-trained experts, like the ones at Bartel’s Heating & Cooling, for your duct cleaning service in West Chester.

Equipment Used by Professionals

Following is an overview of the kinds of equipment a technician can bring to a scheduled duct cleaning:

Access Tools

Technicians need access tools to create entry points in the HVAC system in order to properly inspect and clean your system. Access points can range from small holes for optical imaging to entry panels large enough to accommodate bulkier equipment.

Inspection Tools

These tools help the technician assess the scope of cleaning necessary for your ductwork. Tools may include hand-held mirrors, a periscope, closed circuit TV camera or a regular camera.

Hand-Held Cleaning Tools

Hand-held tools can include pneumatic devices that help remove stuck-on debris, as well as power and manual brushes.

Vacuum Collection Devices

Vacuum collection devices are used to collect the dirt and debris from your ductwork without spreading contaminants. The collection device does this by creating negative pressure in the ductwork. There are two main types of collection devices: those mounted on trucks and those that are portable.

Hand-Held HEPA Vacuums

HEPA vacuums are used to help remove debris from small or hard-to-reach places, and the HEPA filter inside the vacuum helps reduce the chances of contamination.

How It Works

The technician will access your ductwork by existing access points as well as any he/she may have to create. Your ductwork will get a thorough inspection, and then the cleaning will begin. Typically, a technician will start the cleaning with the truck-mounted vacuum to remove as much dust and debris as possible, and then focus on the more difficult spots. Once he/she has finished cleaning, your ductwork will be inspected again to ensure that the system was completely cleaned. Upon conclusion of the cleaning, the system will be re-closed and the workspace cleaned up.

A professional duct cleaning can improve your energy efficiency, comfort level and indoor air quality. If it’s been more than 5 years since you’ve had a duct cleaning, or you’ve moved into a new home with ductwork, call Bartel’s Heating and Cooling today and schedule a duct cleaning for your West Chester property.

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3 Reasons Why Duct Cleaning Is Necessary

Thursday, June 26th, 2014

Try this test right now: Go to one of the vents in your home and unscrew the grate. Now reach inside holding onto a digital camera with a flash (your smart phone should do). Take a photo of the inside, the area just out of your sight. Now look at the image you just captured.

If it isn’t a pleasant sight—something like the lint-catcher of dryer after a large load—then you need to schedule duct cleaning service as soon as possible.

If more than two years have passed since you had your ducts professionally cleaned, you don’t even need to do the test; you’re overdue to have a team come in and use powerful vacuums and agitation equipment to cleanse all the contamination trapped inside your ventilation system. Call Bartels Heating & Cooling today to schedule duct cleaning in Fairfield, OH.

Here Are 3 Reasons Why You Need Duct Cleaning

  1. Protect your indoor air quality: The U.S. EPA has identified low indoor air quality as a major health threat in the country. Clogged up air ducts filled with dirt, dust, pollen, dander, dust mites, and other debris are a major contributor to the issue. You don’t want all this material collected through the return vents form your home to continue to circulate in the air that you and your family breathe every day. Duct cleaning removes this major reservoir of airborne pollutants from your home.
  2. Shield your HVAC system: The forced-air heater and air conditioner that use the ductwork of your home can suffer damage due to the contamination inside the ventilation system. Dust that enters the cabinets of air conditioners, heat pumps, and furnaces will increase stress on mechanical components, block up burners, clog filters, and restrict the function of evaporator and condensing coils. This will lead to numerous repairs and a reduced life for your system.
  3. Maintain energy efficiency: Aside from keeping the HVAC system in good shape, maintaining clean air passages for the air conditioner and heater is crucial for system efficiency. Even a small layer of dust coating the inside of the ductwork will create friction against the airflow that will force the HVAC system to work harder than it need to. As the ducts become more congested, you can expect to see a steep climb in your utility bills. Duct cleaning makes certain that your heater and air conditioner have the least resistance possible to providing you with comfort.

Don’t try this at home (at least, not on your own)

Duct cleaning requires professional equipment and technicians who know how to use them; you cannot clean the ducts are your own by sticking a vacuum hose into an open vent. Call the experienced professionals at Bartels Heating & Cooling when you need duct cleaning in Fairfield, OH. Along with duct cleaning, we also offer other indoor air quality services such as installation of air cleaners, air purifiers, UV sanitizers, and energy recovery ventilators.

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Why You Need Professional Duct Cleaning

Thursday, May 29th, 2014

Your house may look clean from where you stand, but you don’t know what sort of dust, dirt, lint, dander, hair, and other pollutants could be hiding in your ductwork. In fact, if more than two years has passed since you had professional duct cleaning done—or if you’ve never had it done—your ventilation system could hold a reservoir of dirt and dust that is constantly getting blown out into your air and circulating through the ductwork, causing all sort of health problems, cutting into your HVAC system’s efficiency, and contributing to a build-up of dust inside the house that you will have a hard time clearing away.

You need to have the ductwork cleaned out, and it will take more than a broom or a vacuum hose shoved down an open vent to do this job. You must have professional cleaners on this task. Fortunately, it isn’t difficult to locate skilled duct cleaning technicians: you only have to call Bartels Heating & Cooling. We have a team ready to restore your ventilation system to its best shape with duct cleaning in West Chester, OH.

Why is it necessary for professionals to do this job?

The ductwork in a home, even a small home is quite complex and intricate, and most of it is out of the reach of the homeowner. To properly clean out the many types of debris that can become lodged inside ducts requires special high-end equipment and the knowledge to use it.

The most important tool of professional duct cleaners is the power vacuum, an enormous vacuum that dwarfs the size of any commercially purchased home vacuum cleaner. This vacuum not only provides suction, it also places the whole duct system under “negative pressure,” which allows for the easier removal of contaminating particles from the duct wall.

Duct cleaners also use agitation equipment, such as rotary brushes on long hoses, to target specific areas of the ductwork that need special attention. You shouldn’t attempt to buy professional-grade rotary brushes and use them yourself; you’ll risk damaging the interior of the ducts with the brush action. Let the professionals handle this work.

Finally, the cleaners use special kinds of sanitizers and deodorizers—again, nothing you can find in mainstream stores—to eliminate bacteria, odors, and other microscopic nuisances form your ducts. These substances are non-toxic and will have no negative effect on the health of you or your family.

Stay on top of duct cleaning

Most homes should have duct cleaning performed every two years, although if you encounter early trouble with dust and dirt coming from the vents, it’s fine to schedule it earlier or more frequently.

Let the technicians at Bartels Heating & Cooling help you with scheduling duct cleaning and other indoor air quality services in West Chester, OH. When you put our skill to work on your cleaning job, we’ll have the work done fast and leave you with the cleanest home you’ve ever had. Contact us today to schedule an appointment.

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