How to Clean Air Conditioning Vents

If bouts of coughing and sneezing plague your family at home, perhaps your dusty air conditioning vents and ducts are to blame. Rather than learning to live with your allergenic symptoms, try cleaning your air conditioning and heating vents.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Broom
• Vacuum cleaner
• New air filters

1. Reach up with a household broom and dust the vents of registers in the ceiling. This helps to remove dust and dirt. You may have to sweep the floor afterward. For floor vents, you can also use a traditional duster.

2. Unscrew the vent covers and set them aside. Take your vacuum cleaner, put on an attachment and suck out the dust bunnies. Tape the vacuum attachments to the vacuum hose in order to avoid losing them in your ducts, especially when working on floor registers.

3. Hire a professional duct cleaning service for a deep cleaning. These companies have high-strength vacuums and industrial bristle-brushes that can reach far beyond the range of a household vacuum. You can rest easy because professional vent cleaners have insurance, so if they mess up your vents, they must remedy the situation. Negotiate for a discount during the duct cleaners' slow months of October, November, April and May.

4. Change the air filters in your furnace. Dust-choked filters and vents become overworked. A fresh filter blocks dust and allergens at the source, preventing them from passing through the ducts and registers. Similarly, the coils in an air conditioning or heat pump system need annual cleaning so that dust does not pass into your household.