Last night here in Phoenix, we saw a pretty spectacular dust storm where the skies over Phoenix went dark in a matter of minutes.  The video below shows the timeline where in under two minutes it went from a bright sky to pitch black.  I happened to be inside when it was all going down so I did not know what was going on.  All I know is that I went to my car and immediately the sky turned black. I thought it was odd, but I figured it was a typical monsoon season storm.  Little did I know it was one of the worst many has seen, also documented by video below.

Video 1 – Sky goes dark within a few minutes.

Video 2 – Shows massive “wall of dust” rolling in over Phoenix

So… this of course lead to the question of how much dust is actually in your home. I am sure there is a bit more now than two days ago, but the real question is “when last did you have your air ducts cleaned?” In Arizona, especially after having a few dust storms, you should have your system checked at least every two years and cleaned at least every three years.

Perhaps the signs are all around you, but you just haven’t noticed them. Here are 7 signs that you need you air ducts cleaned in your home.

1. Your cat is prancing around with a dust mask on.
2. You turn on the ceiling fan and your kids ask why it’s snowing inside.
3. Your kids are practicing their spelling… in the dust on the furniture
4. Your kids are trying to feed the “dust bunnies”
5. Your kids refer to the vacuum cleaner as a dust plow.
6. Vacuuming one room fills the bag with dust.
7. Your parrot is sneezing AND saying “polly wants a dust mask.”

If you have seen any of these signs in your home, call the Phoenix Air Duct Cleaning experts at Arizona Air Services today for a free in home quote.

We hope you had a good chuckle as we did when we put this together. Share this with someone who might need a good laugh today.

(photo credit – BoingBoing.net)

Unless you are a professional air duct cleaner, this is one household maintenance item you may want to keep off of your list for many reasons.

1. The cost to rent the equipment. Your home vacuum cleaner just won’t do the job here. You will need to use a vacuum that can produce enough suction to draw the debris through the air vents. You might also need additional equipment to seal off the vents and brush out the system.

2. You may not seal the system well enough. for the vacuum to work, the system will need to be sealed off. There are a few ways to do this, but the key is making sure you get a tight enough seal on the vents and air registers.

3. It’s not a good investment as a DIY (do it yourself) project. When you add up all of the time to do a job you have never done, combined with the money spend for equipment, and the fact that you may need to have a professional come in after you, you are far better off building a relationship with a trusted local company that can do the job for you whenever it is needed.

4. Your health. If you are cleaning your air ducts for health reasons, keep in mind you will be right in front of the thing you are trying to avoid whether it is duct or mold.

5. Can you identify mold? If you did have mold in your air ducts, would you really know? And if you knew, would you know how to treat it?

There are lots of great DIY homeowner projects that you can do and get both satisfaction of completion and savings of money, but cleaning your home air ducts just isn’t one of them.

The answer is… the color GREEN!

St. Patrick’s Day is typically associated with the color green, although sources say the day used to be marked by the color blue (who knew?)

Cleaning your air ducts is an environmentally conscious thing to do because it promotes clean and health air, as well as reduces energy consumption by having air purifiers work less and allowing your HVAC system to work more efficiently.

If you want to “go green” on St. Patty’s Day, contact your local air duct cleaning company. Just make sure you are wearing green when they show up

Air duct cleaning is one of those home maintenance items that people very often neglect.  Wanting to breathe fresh air should be enough, but if not, here are 10 reasons that you might want to consider having your air ducts professionally cleaned.

1. If you have recently bought a brand new home. I am sure this sounds crazy, but if you have even had a woodworking project, you can now imagine what lies in your duct work.  Sadly, they don’t normally clean your ducts for you after construction.

2. If you have recently bought a resale home. Unless the home seller has provided you with documentation, you have no idea if your air ducts were ever cleaned. Why not get off to a great start with some health air in your home?

3. If you have had water damage in your home. It’s sad to see all of the air duct cleaning scams where they tell the home owner there is mold in the ducts. That’s not to say it cannot or does not happen, but you generally see mold in drywall first and usually after a water damage issue.  Any time you have had repairs for mold or water damage, you should have you air ducts cleaned and sanitized.

4. If you constantly have to dust your home. Dust does not appear magically; it comes from the air ducts.  Cleaning them will help keep dust off of your furniture; as will changing your air filter every month.

5. If your air filters are very dirty. You should be changing your air filters every month on your HVAC system.  When you do, if there seems to be an overabundance of dust, you may have lots of dust built up in your air ducts.

6. If you have allergies (or seem to sneeze a lot.) If you have allergies, you will want to breathe the cleanest air possible while you are in your house. If you find that you sneeze a lot when you are in your own home, you might be allergic to dust or pet dander that has accumulated in your air ducts.

7. After completing a remodeling project in your home. There is not a really efficient way to protect your system from the dust and airborne debris (drywall dust, sawdust, fiberglass, etc) that occurs when remodeling takes place. The best way to ensure continued healthy air is to have the air ducts professionally cleaned.

8. If your air returns and vents are dusty. It’s very common to see dust on air returns and air vents.  It’s also a sign that you should have your air ducts professionally cleaned.

9. If you see “dust bunnies” flying around in your home. If you turn on your heat or air condition and start to visibly see dust particles in the air, you REALLY need to get your air ducts cleaned as this is a sign of lots of dust in the system.

10. If you are going to have your carpets steam cleaned. Why spend the money to have your carpets professionally cleaned if you are going to fill them back up with dust?