Help Maintain Your Furnace By Cleaning Out The Ducts

If you want to make sure that your furnace is working as well as it possibly can be, the best way to make sure that happens is to make sure that you are doing regular maintenance on it. Doing things like making sure that you change the filters regularly and that you have a service tech come and inspect it regularly. But that's not the only thing that you can do to maintain your furnace regularly. You can also make sure that you clean out your ducts. 

Cleaning the Ducts

There are a lot of reasons that you want to clean out the ductwork of your HVAC regularly, but the main reason is to take care of dust and other contaminants. Those things will be blown all through your house as the air from your furnace or air conditioner blows through the ducts. Dust and such in the air return vent will cause all that stuff to get pulled into the furnace and then into the filters. The filters are designed to keep that stuff from blowing around, but they can get clogged and make your furnace work harder. It's just easier to clean out the ducts. It's pretty easy for you to do. 

Tools

You are going to want to make sure that you have all the proper tools before you get started. You are going to want to have a screwdriver so that you can remove the screws holding the grates down. You are also going to want to make sure that have some rags or paper towels, a stiff wire brush, and a vacuum, preferably with extension tools. You might also want to have some kind of protective eyewear and a dust mask, as well as clothes that you don't mind getting dirty, because you are going to get dusty. 

Process

The first thing you need to do is to remove the screws and the grate. Make sure you put the screws somewhere safe. Then get a rag and try to get up all the easy-to-reach loose dust. After that, you are going to need to get your wire brush and start brushing down the sides of the duct to get the harder stuff. You can also use a rubber band to tie a rag around the brush and use that to get more dust. Then, you can stick the vacuum hose down into the vent and suck up everything you possibly can. 

Cleaning your vents can help to make your furnace last longer, but it can also help to keep the air in your house cleaner. For more information, contact a company like Summit Heating and Air Conditioning. 

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