Winter is traditionally when you will be breathing the driest, dustiest air of the whole year.
No wonder winter is nicknamed “cold and flu season”!
But the reason for this isn’t entirely due to winter’s natural lower humidity levels. Your home may also be contributing to the sneezes and sniffles making you and your family miserable.
Decluttering has become so popular in recent years and yet there is one place no one is talking about where clutter quite simply abounds – your indoor air ducts!
In this post, find out how to send the clutter inside your air ducts packing and start feeling better fast.
Meet the Clutter Hiding In Your Indoor Air Ducts
Here are some of the major categories of clutter inside the air ducts in a typical Canadian home:
- Dust and dust mites
- Dirt
- Pet dander
- Pollen
- Mildew and mould spores
- Insect/rodent waste
- Volatile organic compounds
- Secondhand smoke
- Bacteria/fungi
- Viral germs
- Insulation fibers
As you can see, this is not the type of clutter you would ever want to hang onto. But since it isn’t easy to look inside your air ducts, in most cases you would never even know they were littered with toxins unless someone told you!
5 Major Warning Signs Your Ducts Are Cluttered
But should you worry about clogged, cluttered air ducts? This is the number one most frequently asked question our indoor air quality technicians receive.
Our answer is simple: you should worry if there are any signs the clutter is impacting your family’s health or your household budget.
There are five major categories of health symptoms associated with dirty air ducts:
1. Chronic respiratory distress
Coughing, sneezing, wheezing, shortness of breath, nasal drip, headache and earache are all common symptoms of sinusitis. A respiratory system that is constantly breathing in toxins never gets the chance to heal fully.
2. Recurrent sore throat
One common sign of mould and mildew, dust mites and allergens inside the air ducts is a recurrent sore throat. The soreness is a sign that your body’s immune system is working overtime to try to keep you healthy.
3. Worsening allergies or asthma
Most people suffer from some degree of seasonal allergies. But if your allergies seem to be getting worse out of season, or if someone in the family is experiencing more severe asthma symptoms and nothing else seems to help, this is a sign your air ducts may be reintroducing allergens to keep you sick.
4. Chronic daytime fatigue
There is no doubt it gets harder to sleep at night if you have allergy symptoms, respiratory distress or a sore throat. This, in turn, can create chronic daytime tiredness.
5. Repetitive sickness
Finally, if you just feel like your immune system is falling asleep on the job more and more lately and you can’t put your finger on the cause, it may be that your home’s air is what’s making you feel sick!
6 Signs Your Ducts Need Your Attention
In the previous section, we highlighted two main reasons you should worry about clogged, cluttered air ducts. The first was your family’s health and the second is your budget.
Since it isn’t easy to inspect your ducts from end to end, it is all too easy to forget ducts have a useful life just like every other major system in your home. They wear out, leak, tear, sag and degrade over time, as does any insulation protecting them.
What does this mean for your bottom line?
The typical Canadian homeowner reports spending about $1,500 on heating and cooling costs annually. Energy Star estimates that an older, leaky duct system may be letting out as much as 30 percent of the temperature-controlled air you are paying for, which means you are essentially just throwing that money – so about $500 in the average Canadian home – in the trash.
How can you know your ducts are wasting your hard-earned cash even as they are making your family sick?
- Your energy bills are increasing for no apparent reason.
- You have to dust and vacuum more frequently.
- There is uneven airflow, humidity and/or temperature from one room to another.
- It smells and you can’t put your finger on where the odour is coming from.
- You hear strange sounds coming from the general direction of your air ducts.
- You see dust, dirt, mould or mildew forming in and around your air registers.
As well, if you have recently completed a home remodel, have pets that live indoors with you, regularly do crafts that require adhesives and chemicals, smoke or vape inside your home, use commercial cleaning products or air “fresheners,” use a wood stove or wood/gas fireplace, your air ducts are receiving the byproducts from all of these activities and recirculating them continually.
If you don’t have any record that your air ducts have ever been cleaned and sanitized, chances are good they have never had this service done and now is a great time!
Save 10 Percent on Air Duct Cleaning to Ring In the New Year
Now you know why winter is a perfect time to give your air ducts a long-overdue cleaning. Are you ready?
When you schedule your cleaning appointment now, you can save 10 percent on all of our three popular professional indoor air duct cleaning packages.
Act now to claim your special seasonal discount – this promotion only lasts until January 31, 2020.
Get in Touch
Contact us online or give us a call at 905-544-2470.
