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How to Prevent Duct Contamination
Whether or not you decide to have the air ducts in your home
cleaned, committing to a good preventive maintenance program
is essential to minimize duct contamination.
To prevent dirt from entering the system:
- Use the highest efficiency air filter recommended by the
manufacturer of your heating and cooling system.
- Change filters regularly.
- If your filters become clogged, change them more frequently.
- Be sure you do not have any missing filters and that air
cannot bypass filters through gaps around the filter holder.
- When having your heating and cooling system maintained
or checked for other reasons, be sure to ask the service
provider to clean cooling coils and drain pans.
- During construction or renovation work that produces dust
in your home, seal off supply and return registers and do
not operate the heating and cooling system until after cleaning
up the dust.
- Remove dust and vacuum your home regularly. (Use a high
efficiency vacuum (HEPA) cleaner or the highest efficiency
filter bags your vacuum cleaner can take. Vacuuming can
increase the amount of dust in the air during and after
vacuuming as well as in your ducts).
- If your heating system includes in-duct humidification
equipment, be sure to operate and maintain the humidifier
strictly as recommended by the manufacturer.
To prevent ducts from becoming wet:
Moisture should not be present in ducts. Controlling moisture
is the most effective way to prevent biological growth in
air ducts.
Moisture can enter the duct system through leaks or if the
system has been improperly installed or serviced. Research
suggests that condensation (which occurs when a surface temperature
is lower than the dew point temperature of the surrounding
air) on or near cooling coils of air conditioning units is
a major factor in moisture contamination of the system. The
presence of condensation or high relative humidity is an important
indicator of the potential for mold growth on any type of
duct. Controlling moisture can often be difficult, but here
are some steps you can take:
- Promptly and properly repair any leaks or water damage.
- Pay particular attention to cooling coils, which are designed
to remove water from the air and can be a major source of
moisture contamination of the system that can lead to mold
growth. Make sure the condensate pan drains properly. The
presence of substantial standing water and/or debris indicates
a problem requiring immediate attention. Check any insulation
near cooling coils for wet spots.
- Make sure ducts are properly sealed and insulated in all
non-air-conditioned spaces (e.g., attics and crawl spaces).
This will help to prevent moisture due to condensation from
entering the system and is important to make the system
work as intended. To prevent water condensation, the heating
and cooling system must be properly insulated.
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