There are many reasons to have your ducts cleaned in Northern Arizona (Flagstaff, Prescott, Prescott Valley, Chino Valley, Cottonwood and Sedona)

Depending on where you live it can be a very critical part in keeping your home free and clear of allergens and dust that causes many health issues. First let us explain how the dust gets into your duct system. There are two parts of the duct work for every Heating and Cooling System. The positive pressure side of the duct is called the Supply Duct. This is the one that blows air through the register and into the conditioned space. The other side of the duct system is the Return Duct which is the negative pressure side of the system. This is the duct that has your air filter incorporated into it.


What most of us don’t understand is how the dust and particulates get into the system to begin with. It easy to understand that when the system is turned on, the return side of the duct will pull that dust matter into the duct because it is under a negative pressure. It is compounding when there is a low return duct at the floor level verses a return grill in the ceiling. Dust is heavier than air and the majority of it is on the floor. If you have carpet, than there is a great deal of dust matter embedded into the fibers. If you have the carpets cleaned it still has a way of coming out and getting pulled into the return duct because most carpets are not cleaned to that level.


A good filter will keep the dust from coming into the rest of the duct system and should be replaced often. If the return duct is old there is a good chance that it has air leaks which can be a big problem. If the return duct has air leaks (Duct connections not sealed) than it will bring in dust, allergens and particulates into the duct system behind the filter which will not stop the matter from going into the rest of the duct system and eventually entering the living space.


There is a test for this problem and a good repair. See Aeroseal duct-sealing technology by Energy Savings Heating and Cooling. If you have air leaks in the supply side of the duct system you are not introducing more dust to your system but you are wasting a lot of energy due to the fact that you are not getting the air that is being conditioned into your home and a small percentage is being wasted.


Make sure that your duct system is air tight before you hire someone for a duct cleaning otherwise you will be wasting your money. It doesn’t take long for the system to get dirty again if the ducts are leaking. Another reason for keeping the ducts cleaned is for the health of young infants. Babies are usually crawling along the floor and are much more susceptible to inhaling the dust particulates and allergens than adults. Infants in this kind of environment usually need medical attention and are hard to determine the cause.


The last reason you would have your ducts cleaned is probably the biggest reason. If you get your ducts cleaned you will have a lot less dusting to do in the home.

More Information:

Duct Sealing Service

Duct Cleaning Service

Heating Maintenance

Cold Weather Energy Saving Tips

January can be the coldest month for all of us who live in northern Arizona. We can have some days in the single digit degrees which if you are not ready for it can be very disrupting to your normal way of life. There are many things that people can do outside of the normal wrapping of your pipes in order to keep and stay warm this season. Most of these ideas are very simple and we sometimes take them for granted.

If your home has a lot of windows there are some simple things you can do to prevent that cold convection that comes from the glass entering your home and robbing it from your heat. One of the most effective ways is to have some block out blinds installed on the inside of the window which act as another insulator. They work great and you can put them in where the greatest loss of heat is coming from in your home. You can put them down at night while you are sleeping and your heater won’t have to work as hard to keep your home comfortable.

Make sure that your fire place chimney flue is closed when you are not using the fire place. A lot of heat leaves the home when this damper is open.

Speaking of heat loss, check all of your doors that open to the outside. This is another huge air leak that infiltrates cold air into your living space. They are easily repaired and you can find most of those door sweeps and gaskets items at the hardware store. Windows have the same issues and can be addressed the same way. An easy way to check for leakage is to use smoke. Light a match and blow it out. Quickly place the smoking match next to the window seal and see if the smoke moves. If the smoke is still than you don’t have any leakage at that window. Move on to the next.

Another sign to look for in your home are the small spider webs that you see sometimes up the sky lights, window frames or any of the many can lights that you might have in your home. Spiders always build their webs where air is moving. This is an indication of an air leak and needs to be addressed. Simply change the gasket, use caulking to seal the crack or use drywall spackle.

As you inspect your home you will see many of these areas. As you fix each and every one of the leaks it will not only reduce your heating bill but make you home more comfortable and have less dust.

More Information:

Energy Saving Tips from a Heating and Cooling Repair Company

HVAC Repair in Flagstaff, Sedona, Conttonwood, Camp Verde, and Prescott

Get the most out of your heater - schedule a duct cleaning today!