It’s the first cold night of the year. You flip the thermostat to heat, and a few minutes later the house smells like dust. Sound familiar?
That smell is months of dust, pet hair and debris that settled in your ductwork over the summer. When the furnace kicks on, it all starts moving. So should you clean your air ducts before heating season? Here’s the honest answer from a company that’s been cleaning ducts in New Jersey since 2004.
What Happens When the Heat Comes On
All summer, your AC moved air through the same ducts, but cooler air and a lot of open windows mean you notice less. In the fall, three things change at once:
- The furnace runs for the first time in months, and the dust sitting on it and in the ducts gets heated and pushed through every register.
- The windows close, so the same air recirculates through your home all winter.
- The system runs more. In a New Jersey winter, your heat may run for hours a day, every day, until spring.
Whatever is in your ducts in October is what you’ll be breathing until April.
Signs You Should Clean Before Winter
- A dusty or burning smell that doesn’t go away after the first day or two of heat
- Dust blowing out of the registers, or dust settling on furniture right after you clean
- Visible dust or debris when you take a register cover off and look inside
- You renovated recently. Drywall dust and construction debris get pulled into ductwork, and it’s one of the dirtiest things we find.
- You have pets, especially ones that shed
- Someone in the house has allergies or asthma and feels worse once the heat comes on
- You just moved in and have no idea when the ducts were last cleaned
- It’s been more than 2–3 years
How Often Should You Clean Your Air Ducts?
For most homes, we recommend every 2–3 years. Commercial buildings should be cleaned every 2 years. You don’t need to clean every fall. But if it’s been a while, or you’re seeing the signs above, fall is the smart time to do it, before the system runs nonstop for five months.
What a Real Duct Cleaning Includes
Be careful with cheap coupon deals. A real whole-house cleaning takes hours and serious equipment. Every Duct Dudes cleaning includes:
- All trunk lines, the main supply and return ducts
- All branch lines, all the way up to the registers
- Every register and return
- Air cleaning of the lower part of the furnace
We put the system under suction with a truck-mounted vacuum that pulls 16,000 CFM, then knock debris loose with 200+ PSI compressed air so it’s pulled out of your house, not into it. When the ductwork is very dirty, we take before and after photos so you can see exactly what came out.
Optional Add-Ons Worth Considering
- Deodorizer. If the smell sticks around, we offer EnviroCon, an EPA-registered, unscented deodorizer that breaks down odors from mold, mildew and bacteria instead of covering them up.
- Blower motor cleaning. We remove the blower motor and clean it. A dirty blower moves less air and works harder.
- HVAC coil cleaning. Wet and/or dry cleaning, depending on what your coils need.
What It Costs
Our prices are upfront. One HVAC unit is $550–$700 and takes about 2 hours. Two HVAC units are $800–$1,200 and take about 4 hours. Homes with three or more HVAC units get a custom quote. No hidden fees. See our full price guide.
Don’t Forget the Dryer Vent
Fall and winter are also peak season for dryer fires, and the leading cause is a vent that hasn’t been cleaned. If you’re booking a duct cleaning, it’s a good time to have us do the dryer vent too. See how we clean dryer vents.
Book Before the Cold Sets In
Call our Woodbridge office at (732) 899-0400 (Mon–Fri, 7am–5pm, select weekends) or get a free quote online. We’ll get your system clean before winter, so the only thing coming out of your vents is warm air.