Can I Clean Heating and Air Conditioning Ducts Myself?
Here at Duct Doctor, we get a range of questions, including, “Can duct cleaning be done yourself?”
Whilst a ‘surface level’ clean may be possible, if you want to thoroughly clean your ducts, we highly recommend having a professional technician make your life easier and do it for you!
The truth of the matter is that duct cleaning requires specialised tools, such as rotary brushes and a very high powered vacuum cleaner.
For example, at Duct Doctor, we use a high-powered Brush Beast vacuuming machine, imported from the US. This machine uses a 5-stage process that cleans and sanitizes your ducts and promises 99.97% HEPA filtration.
The 4 Stage Duct Cleaning Process
Below is the 5 stage process that our specialised Brush Beast machine goes through when cleaning ducts:
Roto Brush cleans and Vacuums into commercial-grade dust and debris collection bags.
99.97% HEPA filtration - Air flow:2700 CFM free air (2100 with HEPA filtration)
Vacuum motors – the Brush Beast TM is equipped with a total of 4 vacuum motors! When compared to other solutions, this is an increased vacuum power of 90%.!
Sanitiser fogger. Used to apply EPA registered antimicrobial chemicals to disinfect air ducts. Rated as a category IV, the lowest EPA toxicity rating, EnviroCON, can be used directly to HVAC system ductwork in populated areas. The lowest EPA toxicity rating means there are no harmful dermal (skin), ocular(eyes), inhalation (breathing), or ingestion (swallowing) effects when using EnviroCON.
Professional cleaning the ducts
The Dangers Of Trying To Clean Your Own Ducts
When attempting to clean your own ducted heating vents, it’s almost impossible to achieve as thorough of a clean as would ordinarily be possible with the help of a professional with professional duct cleaning equipment.
In addition to this, we’ve seen many instances of people having damaged their ducts whilst trying to clean them themselves. This obviously leads to a hefty repair bill.
However, if you’re insistent on cleaning your own ducts, then here is what you should do.
How To Clean Your Own Ducts
To clean your own ducts, you should use whatever vacuum cleaner you have lying around.
Remove the floor grills and duct covers. Clean them with the vacuum-brush attachment.
Then, using just the vacuum cleaner with no attachments, gently vacuum as much of the duct vent walls as you can reach.
As you can imagine, this doesn’t give your entire ducted cooling and heating system a very thorough clean. However, there’s not much more you can do without the aid of professional equipment.
Linda’s Duct Cleaning Story
Linda from Narre Warren gave us a call to clean her 14 vents for both her heating and cooling systems.
You can tell the difference between heating vents and cooling vents by the actual shape of the vents.
Round down jets are for heating, and the square multi-directional outlets are for cooling.
Our lovely technician Rob spent about 4 hours cleaning each of her vents, with our highly efficient system leaving Linda with filtered air and peace of mind.
Whilst doing things yourself can sometimes cost less, it doesn't always mean it's the best!
Cleaning Linda’s Ducts
We Cleaned Linda’s Ducts