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An attic space with wooden rafters, loose fiberglass insulation on the floor, and a metal air handler connected to flexible silver HVAC ducts.

Duct Cleaning in O'Fallon, MO

Tell us about your home, and a licensed contractor who covers St. Charles County will get in touch.

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Step 1 of 3: Equipment
An insulated HVAC air handler unit connected to a reflective foil-wrapped flexible duct inside a residential attic.

Seven months of heat, running through the same ducts

Your furnace runs October through April here, close to seven months a year. Every one of those months the blower is pulling air through the same ducts, and the dust and hair riding in that air settles along the way instead of passing through.

Dirty ducts do not just blow that dust back into the rooms. They narrow the path the air has to move through, so the furnace has to push harder to get the same heat to the same rooms.

7 months
October through April, your furnace pushes air through your ducts
5 months
May through September, your air conditioner does the same
Isometric grayscale illustration of a cutaway two-story house showing interior rooms with furniture and a network of round ventilation ducts connected to air handling units, under a dark shingled gable roof.
Your ducts carry heat October through April and cooled air May through September.

NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals

How often should air ducts be cleaned?
There's no fixed schedule that fits every house. If anyone in the house has allergies, or you've had work done that left drywall dust or sawdust in the vents, get it done sooner rather than later. A musty smell when the furnace or AC kicks on is also a sign it's time.
Is air duct cleaning worth it?
It's worth it if you're seeing dust settle fast, noticing a smell from the vents, or someone in the house has allergies that flare up indoors. It won't lower your heating or cooling bills, and it won't fix a duct that's leaking air into the attic or crawlspace. It's about the air you breathe, not the furnace's workload.
What does air duct cleaning involve?
A contractor connects a vacuum to the duct system to pull it under negative pressure, then uses brushes or air whips to knock loose dust and debris from the inside walls of the ducts so it gets pulled into the vacuum instead of blown into the room. Every supply and return vent gets opened and cleaned. The registers, the furnace blower compartment, and the coil area usually get attention too, since dust collects there as well.
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