Allergies and Air Duct Cleaning: How Clean Ducts Help You Breathe Better

You may already know that air duct cleaning is essential for outdoor allergy season, but for those who also deal with indoor allergies, this is a year-round concern. Improving indoor air quality is a top way to ensure that the air you’re breathing day in and out–especially when you’re trapped indoors in winter–will help, not hurt, your respiratory health. Here’s how you can ensure that your home’s circulated air is as clean and beneficial as possible when it comes to the internal infrastructure of your HVAC system.

Duct Cleaning, HVAC Vent Cleaning, and Allergies

If you are already treating your allergies and keeping your home clean, but you’re still dealing with symptoms, dirty ductwork could be to blame. Improving indoor air quality is good for everyone in the home, as it’s well known that the products we buy and building materials used to construct our homes often pollute our indoor air. But beyond those contaminants, common allergens can also hang out in clogged or dirty ducts and air vents, circulating and recirculating through your home, wreaking havoc on your allergies and even triggering asthma.

To understand how this happens, it’s key to know how an HVAC system works. Put very simply, it draws air from within the home, heats or cools it, and then pushes it through the ductwork back into your home again. And it does this process continually, completely circulating air up to 5 or 7 times per day. If ducts are clogged and dirty, dust, pollen, mold spores, and other allergens and debris can overwhelm filters and become lodged within the ductwork. Recirculating air can then pick up and redistribute these tiny particles, leading to common symptoms like labored breathing, sneezing, itchy and watery eyes, a runny nose, or asthma flare-ups.

This isn’t about how clean you keep your home, either–even the cleanest of homes can have pet dander, dust mites, and outdoor allergens circulating through the air supply. These microscopic allergens can cause major problems for those who suffer from allergies, both seasonally and year-round. When ducts are not regularly cleaned, buildup and debris can end up trapping warmth and moisture, creating the ideal environment for dust mites and other allergens to proliferate. And during high pollen seasons–like when certain trees, grasses, and weeds are in bloom–these tiny grains can enter your home through open doors and windows. Once they are inside, pollen grains can recirculate, along with other potential allergens.

Mold is another very common source of indoor allergies, and the spores can quickly multiply in the right environment–warm, dark, and humid. If ducts are built up with dust and debris, mold can find a home there, and the potentially harmful spores can be recirculated throughout your home.

Insects and rodents bring in a whole host of other allergens to be worried about, aside from the natural ick factor. If things are not sealed properly, resourceful pests can find their way into ductwork and set up a home there. Even if there is not a full-blown infestation, their droppings and dander can be harmful to sensitive or immunocompromised individuals. As air blows through the ducts, pathogens and allergens can be picked up and distributed throughout the home, leading to increased allergy symptoms.

How Air Duct Cleaning Supports Allergy Relief

Professional air duct cleaning in Cleveland helps homeowners and business owners alike to ensure better indoor air quality for everyone who lives or works in their buildings. Clean ductwork not only removes some of the potential sources of allergic triggers, but it also creates a clean environment in ducts and vents, preventing certain allergens from taking hold and causing problems. Once ducts are professionally cleaned, you’ll naturally enjoy a significant drop in particle count, which spells better air quality and less respiratory aggravation.

How To Know If Allergies Are Linked To Duct Cleaning

For one thing, if your housework never ends, and you are constantly able to pick up visible dust from surfaces despite regular cleaning, regular filter changes, and keeping doors and windows closed, dirty ducts could be the culprit. Consistently dusty surfaces–especially visible dust, debris, pet hair or mold around vents–are evidence that indoor air quality is low, and that could correlate with worsening allergy symptoms. Lingering unpleasant, musty, or other odors can be another clear sign of a dirty duct system that’s in need of a cleaning.

Pay attention to when allergy symptoms flare. If it’s soon after the HVAC systems kick on, then you can surmise that there’s a connection there, and you can act to do all you can to clean the system. That could mean scheduling professional duct cleaning, air vent cleaning, or mini split cleaning if you do not have extensive ductwork.

If you’re experiencing problematic allergy issues indoors despite your best efforts, it could be time to schedule duct cleaning. In general, recommendations are to have a professional duct cleaning done every 3 to 5 years. But this is general advice. If you or someone in your home is suffering from allergy symptoms, and if you also have pets and/or a large family, then more regular duct cleaning is a must–we’d recommend every year or two. Other factors to consider when determining the ideal duct cleaning schedule are whether you’ve had recent renovations done, have recently moved into a new home, and seasonal timing–either before or after peak allergy season.

Respiratory Benefits of Regular Air Duct Cleaning

Regular air duct cleaning can significantly improve daily comfort and well-being for individuals with allergies or other respiratory conditions. When allergens such as dust, mold, and pet dander are removed, everyone can appreciate health benefits, the primary one being a reduction in allergy symptoms–less frequent sneezing, coughing, eye irritation and more. Other respiratory conditions may also improve, from asthma to bronchitis. With pollutants and irritants removed from the recirculating air supply, everyone can breathe a little easier. For those who have compromised immunity or lung health, or the very young or elderly, duct cleaning can have an outsized positive impact.

Reduce Allergy Symptoms With Professional Air Duct Cleaning

You can’t know what’s lurking in your home’s ductwork until you call a professional and schedule your next HVAC inspection and duct cleaning service! You’re great at cleaning your home, but when it comes to cleaning the inside of your home’s ductwork, this is a job best left to the experts. The team at Scrubber Ducts utilizes industry-specific, advanced equipment, including powerful vacuums, agitation rods, and HEPA filters to remove fine particles that cause allergies, transferring them safely outside of your home. We will ensure that your building’s ductwork is thoroughly clean, making sure that all contaminants are extracted and eliminated.

Allergies are miserable. You’ve done your part; now it’s time to take your solutions to the next level with professional air duct cleaning. Contact the team at Scrubber Ducts to learn more about our residential and commercial services or to schedule an appointment for air duct cleaning today! We proudly serve communities throughout Northeast Ohio.