Duct Cleaning in Ann Arbor, MI
Tell us about your home, and a licensed contractor who covers Washtenaw County will get in touch.
Tell us about the job
It takes about a minute.
Eight months of heat running through the same ducts
Your furnace runs October through May here, eight months a year. On winter nights averaging 19°F, it cycles on and off for hours at a stretch, and every cycle pushes air through the same ductwork. Dust, pet hair, and the fine debris that settles in a house get pulled in and pressed along the duct walls over a season of running that long.
Michigan households saw real power loss in 2024, with 34% going at least 24 hours without it. When a furnace stops mid-cycle like that, air stops moving through the ducts too, and whatever is loose inside settles rather than getting carried to the filter. Over enough winters, that buildup narrows the path air has to travel, and the furnace has to push harder to heat the same rooms.
- 8 months
- October through May, your furnace pushes air through your ducts
- 3 months
- June through August, your air conditioner does the same
NOAA nClimDiv, 1991–2020 normals
- How often should air ducts be cleaned?
- There's no fixed schedule that fits every house. If anyone in the house has allergies, or you've had renovation work that left drywall dust or insulation debris behind, get them cleaned sooner rather than later. Homes with pets tend to need it more often too. If you can see dust blowing out of the vents when the furnace kicks on, that's a sign to stop waiting and have a contractor take a look.
- Is air duct cleaning worth it?
- It depends on what's actually in your ducts right now. If there's visible mold, a pest problem, or heavy dust buildup, cleaning them is worth doing. If the ducts are just doing their job quietly and nobody in the house has breathing trouble, you may not get much out of it. A contractor can look at the ductwork itself and tell you whether there's something there worth removing.
- What does air duct cleaning involve?
- A contractor uses brushes and a vacuum system to loosen and pull debris out of the supply and return ducts. The registers and grilles come off first, and each duct run gets cleaned individually rather than just at the openings. Some contractors also clean the coil and blower housing while they're in there, since dust in those spots affects airflow the same way dust in the ducts does. The furnace filter still needs regular changing after this. Cleaning the ducts doesn't replace it.