04 Dec What Types of Contaminants Can Be Found in Air Ducts?
Your air ducts maintain circulation in your home and allow your HVAC system to transport warm or cool air to your rooms. Since they are empty, hard-to-reach spaces, all sorts of particles can gather inside them, negatively affecting your air quality. What type of contaminants can be found in air ducts? Find out here.
Dust and Dirt
Dust and dirt tend to collect on just about any interior surface, and this is also true for air ducts. The dust usually comes from your fabric items, while dirt blows into the ducts from outside. Keeping your home tidy can decrease the number of particles that end up in ducts, but dust and dirt will eventually enter because of how air moves through the ducts. These contaminants are small and light, so drafts from the HVAC system can easily carry them inside your ductwork.
Mold and Organic Allergens
Mold spores and other organic allergens such as pollen often mix with outdoor air. Hair and dead skin cells from people and pets could contaminate your ducts. In small amounts, these organic substances will not do much, but after continued accumulation, people in your home may experience negative reactions. These include aggravated allergy symptoms, asthma attacks, or respiratory conditions. If your ducts are sufficiently moist, mold can also grow and turn into a serious air pollutant.
Building Debris
In some instances, building material debris can also act as a type of contaminant found in your air ducts. Examples include asbestos and small bits of drywall. These kinds of particles are more common in homes close to active construction work. Deteriorating internal pipes and HVAC parts can also shed debris. It is important to remove building debris quickly when you notice it, because it can be quite harmful when you breathe it in. Asbestos particles, for instance, can cause scarring in lung tissue.
Make sure that you don’t experience any health problems due to contaminants in your home’s air by calling Duct Squads. We provide duct cleaning in OKC and utilize the right tools to rid your home of particles.