How do I clean my air ducts?

Tyree
by Tyree

how to get your air ducks cleaned when no air flows through 3 of your rooms

  11 answers
  • 2dogal 2dogal on Nov 24, 2018

    Hire a professional. There may be more problems that don't show. Get three local bids first.

  • Mary lu Mary lu on Nov 24, 2018

    sounds like a job for a duct cleaning company unless your ducts are all short enough for your vacuum to reach to the furnace area.......


  • Tammy Tammy on Nov 24, 2018

    Ducts

  • Seth Seth on Nov 24, 2018

    Tyree,

    No air flow in 3 rooms is not just blocked ducts. There simply is not enough material to completely block an air duct like that. You need to examine your ductwork to start. Are your room registers (in the floor, on the wall, or possibly the ceiling open or blocked? If your trunk line has jarred loose, you could be losing a significant amount of air that way. The other thing to check are your dampers. These are used to balance the airflow in your system. They may look like little metal handles and can be in various places in your ductwork. Are they closed or open? If the handle is facing the direction of the ductwork, not off to the side, then it's open. If your ducts are insulated, they may be hidden by the insulation. Also check your filter. A clogged filter will slow your airflow down and rooms far away from your furnace/blower, will get much less air. In older homes, ductwork held by wire sags over time and connections can come loose and leak air. They should be sealed with mastic or foil tape. Adjust the hangers if necessary so they do not sag.

  • Gary McNamara Gary McNamara on Nov 24, 2018

    A simple test to start with. Place a Kleenex paper tissue in front of your return air vent (usually located on the wall not the floor). The tissue should suck up tight to the vent. If not, you have a return air problem. This where I would start.

    Also, check to make certain your vent dampers (usually on the floor) are open. Typically they are built into the grill vent. If they seem to be open remove them and reach down into the heat duct and see if you have an obstruction or if there is another damper located in the duct itself. One other thing to check would be to go down by the furnace (trunkline) and see if you can see any dampers there. They would typically located in the 6” round (takeoff) pipes. One for each room. What your looking for might be a small handle or what appears to be slotted screw located in the center duct pipe. If the handle or slotted screw is perpendicular to the duct pipe that means the damper is closed. Adjust them to be parallel or at least more parallel than perpendicular to the duct pipe. You may need to keep them partially closed to balance out the air flow.

    Hope this helps :-)

  • Lynn Sorrell Lynn Sorrell on Nov 24, 2018

    Are they open? take screw driver and turn screw or vent louvers to open them

  • Excellent suggestions Here! Sounds like you need more than air duct cleaning. I would have an inspection to find out exactly what is going on. Here is how to hire someone.


    https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0242-hiring-contractor


    Get at least 3 bids before hiring someone.

  • Leah Leah on Nov 24, 2018

    Have the pipes fallen off underneath the house or up in the attic come off? One year our bedroom was not getting any heat. Our furnace man came and went under the house and found the pipe down from that vent.

  • Kathe Kathe on Nov 24, 2018

    BTW it's ducts not ducks


  • Tyree Tyree on Nov 24, 2018

    wow what a lot of knowledge about this matter. I am so grateful for all the info you have given me. thanks a billion. ill take all in consideration. you all are great.

    thanks all

  • Denial Denial on Nov 23, 2021

    I believe that such work is not a DIY project, and it is better to entrust it to professionals. I used the site https://www.greenairhomeservices.com/ when I needed this kind of help in Texas