Duct Sanitizing for a healthier home

Reducing the Odor Coming From You Air Ducts

Do you ever notice that strange odor you smell when you first walk into someone else’s home? Did you ever wonder what your home smells like when other people enter your house? You may even notice the smell in your own house when you first walk in after being away for an extended time such as a vacation. Your olfactory system quickly becomes sensitized to routine smells so this is the reason you do not smell the odor in your home everyday. A bigger question is – what is causing that smell?

The smell may be from contaminants in your home’s ductwork. As your heating and air conditioning system cycles on and off several times every day, it moves every cubic foot of air in your house through those ducts several times. As the air passes through the ducts, it absorbs odors that are lingering in your duct system.

The odor in your home’s ducts could be caused by bacteria, mildew, mold, smoke or animal dander. How do you remove the odor? The first step is a thorough duct cleaning. The duct cleaning process uses a series of rotary brushes, high-pressure air and vacuum to remove all the contaminants that have accumulated on its surface through the years. Even after a thorough duct cleaning, trace contaminants can remain which still produce bad odors.

After the duct cleaning, a thorough sanitizing is needed to kill all those odor causing organisms. The sanitizing includes the complete disinfection of all air duct surfaces, grill registers, coils, and blowers in the supply and return air chain. The process includes oxidizing and eliminating bacterial growth, which is feeding on all those contaminants that were in the ductwork. The sanitization process minimizes the current bacterial growth and protects against future growth.

To see if the odor in your home is caused by contaminants in your duct system, give Empire Heating & Air Conditioning a call at 404-294-0900. A technician will come out and determine if your home is a good candidate for our duct cleaning and sanitizing services.