If you have a dog or cat, you already know that pet hair has an amazing ability to get just about everywhere.
It collects on the furniture. It gathers along baseboards. It sticks to your clothes. And no matter how often you vacuum, there always seems to be more of it.
But there’s another place pet hair can end up that you probably don’t see:
Inside your HVAC system.
At Mr. Duct Cleaner, pet hair is one of the contaminants our technicians commonly encounter when cleaning HVAC systems. And while your HVAC filter is designed to capture airborne particles before they reach the equipment, pet hair and other debris can still make their way past it.
How Does Pet Hair Get Into Your HVAC System?
Your heating and cooling system is constantly moving air through your home. Return vents pull air toward the HVAC equipment, where it passes through a filter before being heated or cooled and redistributed through the supply ducts.
When pets shed, their hair and dander can become part of everything moving around your home.
Some of it gets vacuumed up. Some settles onto surfaces. Some gets caught by the HVAC filter.
And some can make it farther into the system.
Pet hair can also accumulate around return vents and inside ductwork. Over time, that material can combine with ordinary household dust and debris.
Your Filter Helps — But It Isn’t a Force Field
A good HVAC filter is an important part of protecting your heating and cooling system, but even a properly installed filter can’t capture everything.
There are several reasons contaminants may get beyond it.
A filter that doesn’t fit properly can allow air to travel around its edges. A filter that has become heavily loaded with debris can restrict airflow. And particles already inside the duct system aren’t necessarily going to encounter the filter before reaching other areas of the HVAC system.
That’s why changing your filter regularly is important — especially in a home with pets — but it doesn’t necessarily mean the rest of the system stays perfectly clean.
Where Pet Hair Can Become a Bigger Problem
One of the places our technicians sometimes find pet hair is on the HVAC coil.
The coil contains rows of thin metal fins designed to maximize surface area so heat can be transferred efficiently. Because those fins are closely spaced, hair, dust and other debris can become lodged between them.
When enough pet hair accumulates, it can form a surprisingly dense mat across portions of the coil.
That’s not something you want covering a component that depends on airflow to do its job.
Sometimes It Takes a Fin Comb
Heavy accumulation can require more than simply vacuuming around the equipment.
Our technicians sometimes use a specialized tool called a fin comb when dealing with material that has become embedded around HVAC coil fins.
A fin comb is designed to work between the delicate metal fins of a coil. Depending on the condition of the equipment, it can help technicians carefully remove stubborn debris and address fins that have become distorted.
It’s a specialized tool for a specialized job — and one most homeowners probably never knew existed.
But if you’ve ever wondered just how much pet hair can make its way into an HVAC system, seeing what comes off a coil can be an eye-opener.
Does Having Pets Mean Your Ducts Need to Be Cleaned More Often?
Not necessarily.
Every home is different.
A house with three large dogs that shed heavily may have very different conditions than a house with one short-haired cat. The type of HVAC system, filter, housekeeping habits, amount of carpeting and even how much time the pets spend indoors can make a difference.
That’s one reason we don’t believe duct cleaning should simply be put on an arbitrary calendar.
What matters is the actual condition of the system.
A Cleaner System Starts With Paying Attention
If you have pets, there are a few simple things you can do to help reduce the amount of hair and debris entering your HVAC system:
- Check your HVAC filter regularly and replace it when needed.
- Make sure the filter fits properly without large gaps around the edges.
- Vacuum around return-air grilles where pet hair tends to collect.
- Keep return vents unobstructed.
- Pay attention to visible accumulations of dust or pet hair around registers.
And remember that what you can see around the house may only be part of what’s happening inside the system.
Pet hair is a normal part of sharing your home with animals. But that doesn’t mean it belongs on your HVAC coils.
If you’re concerned about what may have accumulated inside your HVAC system, Mr. Duct Cleaner can help.
Contact us for a Free Estimate at mrductcleaner.com or call 844-444-DUCT.