ducts dirty

[Dick_B]

Too cold in Florida to go outside so we looked around to see what could be cleaned and found the heat ducts.
We removed and cleaned the four covers then vacuumed the duct area that could be reached with a vacuum with a narrow spout. Swiffer also works. An amazing amount of dust came out. It may be that this is the first time we did this task in 13 years!

[mosseater]

One biggie I noticed is the exterior screens. With the two new exhaust fans, I was astounded to see how much, and how quickly, the dirt accumulated on all the screens. Every little bit of dirt slows down air changes in the summer. Gotta keep them clean if you want the most out of your fans.

[wa8yxm]

Odds are you got the vast majority of the "Stuff" in the ducts, if you want to try for more there is a small tube designed to vacuum out dryer vents you can try.... But I do not think it is worth the effort,,

Most of the Crud falls in via the register and stays put. Where it is easily removed.

[westend]

I wonder how difficult it would be to fashion a filter bracket and install a filter into the forced air system? Acess to the filter would have to be one consideration.

[Trackrig]

Since you don't have anything to do, the air returns on your roof air conditioners should have a filter of some sort (foam?) that you can pull down and wash.

Then check all of the screws on your door hinges, drawer slides and latches.

Then clean the insides of all your windows.

Let's see what else we can think of for you.

Bill

[downtheroad]

I clean our ducts using a our long, flexible Shop Vac hose. I use the brush attachment and snake it down the duct, rotating as I move it back and forth.

But:
Make sure that any attachment you use is very securely pushed onto the hose so that it doesn't fall off way back inside the duct.

Mine did and it took me over an hour of "duct fishing" to retrieve it.

[DutchmenSport]

Clean my ducts at least once a year (usually in the Spring). I rigged up a shop vac that came with the fat suction hose and attached a regular size house hold vacuum sweeper hose to it. It's perfect for getting inside the ducts, shove it down them and suck everything out. It's long enough it almost reaches the next duct. But then you go to the next duct and go back to where you left off, and then go forward to the next one. Works great. It drives me batty to see dust and dirt and crud in those holes. I clean out the area you can see quite often, and it's amazing how much gunk collect in them.

I don't have to worry about ducts in my house, especially in the floor, it's all electric!