Why duct cleaning comes up in Melbourne
Ducts in a lot of roofs and subfloors
Gas ducted heating, ducted evaporative and ducted reverse cycle, which 18% of the same survey's home owners had, all push air through ducts. Seeley says a ducted gas heater can sit in the roof, under the floor or outside, and its ducts follow it.
Heaters that work hard in winter
Environment Victoria and Renew say Victorian gas demand on a cold winter day is about three times a summer day's. A heater running that hard moves a lot of air, which makes the return air filter worth checking before the cold arrives. Seeley's technician guide names a dirty one among the common causes of overheating faults.
Renovations and sealed-up homes
Renovation dust is one of the clearest reasons to clean ducts. Energy Safe Victoria also warns that renovating or weather-sealing a home can change the ventilation a gas heater needs to clear carbon monoxide, so after a renovation, book the heater's service as well as the clean.
Good reasons to book, and weaker ones
Worth booking: dust puffs out of the outlets when the heater or cooler starts, you've renovated or sanded floors with the system running, something has been living in the roof, a smell arrives with the airflow, or you've bought an older Melbourne house and nobody knows when the ducts were last looked at.
Not much of a reason: a flyer or a phone call saying your ducts are due. We haven't found an official interval for cleaning household ducts, here or elsewhere.
If one room never gets warm, a clean probably won't fix it. A crushed, kinked or disconnected duct is the more likely cause, and that needs repair. Our national duct cleaning page goes through the checks.
Line it up with the heater's service
Energy Safe Victoria's rule of thumb is a gasfitter's service at least every two years. Book the duct clean for the same autumn, so the heater and the ducts both go into winter sorted. The duct cleaner does the ducts and outlets, the gasfitter does anything inside the heater, and anything touching the refrigerant on a reverse cycle system needs an ARC-licensed technician.
What to expect from a Melbourne duct cleaner
- A look at the system before a firm quote.
- Questions about the home's age and what kind of heater or cooler it has.
- Crawl boards in the roof. WorkSafe Victoria warns about falls through plaster ceilings and tells workers to lay boards across the joists.
- Outlets removed and washed, and each run cleaned without tearing the inner liner of flexible ducting.
- The return air filter cleaned or replaced.
- Photos and a written note of any damaged, loose or uninsulated runs.
What you can do yourself
You can
- Clean or replace the return air filter with the system off, the way the manual shows.
- Wipe or vacuum the outlet grilles you can reach from the floor.
- Keep rugs and furniture off floor vents before the heater comes on for winter.
Leave to a licensed installer
- Anything in the roof space or under the floor.
- Cleaning inside the duct runs.
- Anything inside the gas heater or the indoor unit.
Questions to ask before you book
- Will you inspect the system before giving me a firm price?
- How do you clean flexible ducts without damaging them?
- Will you photograph anything damaged in the roof or under the floor?
- Can you work around my gas heater's service date?
What we'd do
What we'd do first
We'd clean the return air filter and the grilles before paying anyone, and only book a duct clean for a real reason. If we did book one, we'd time it with the autumn gas heater service so the house goes into winter with both done, and we'd want photos of anything damaged rather than a promise that it's all fine.
