​October is Fire Prevention Month and Dapper Ducts wants to make sure you do some of the quick and easy things around your house that will keep you and your family safe.
 
Did you know that 3 out of every 5 deaths from home fires happened in homes with no working smoke alarms?  I’m sure you’ve seen the reminders on highways signs that the two times we change the clocks each year are also the perfect reminders to check your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.  Now smoke and CO detectors are good for 10 years and that is definitely worth the peace of mind knowing you are protected.
 
Dryer vents are also a big source of home fires.  Frequently, dryer vents aren’t cleaned on a regular basis (Dapper Ducts recommends annually) and if you run a few dryer cycles in a row, the buildup of lint and debris in the dryer vent duct can get hot enough that it may actually ignite and cause a fire.  Always clean your lint trap, but you also need the duct that vents to the exterior of your home cleaned by a professional.  We also frequently see that builders and contractors are not using the proper materials for dryer vent ductwork leading to increased likelihood of fires as well.
 
And of course we can’t talk about fire prevention if we don’t mention your chimney. If you regularly light a fire in your fireplace, creosote builds up on the walls of your chimney.   Over time, this buildup can become the source of a fire as it is quite flammable.
 
We are not trying to scare you, just want you to take the steps within your power to prevent a fire.  Definitely get your dryer vent and chimney cleaned once each year to be on the safe side. If you are not sure about the last time your dryer vent or chimney was cleaned, you should contact Dapper Ducts to schedule a service.

Most indoor allergens are airborne. They spread through the air ducts where they are circulated throughout different areas of your home 5-7 times per day. As part of NADCA’s Breathing Clean initiative to educate homeowners, Dapper Ducts wants to help you understand that over time, this re-circulation can cause a build-up of contaminants in the ductwork of your HVAC system.
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For those who are sensitive to indoor allergens, it makes sense to minimize exposure to them. The Breathing Clean initiative suggests air duct cleaning as a way to do just that. While duct cleaning won’t eliminate dust and other contaminants completely, it can help control indoor allergens and have a positive impact on your home’s indoor air quality.  

With so many possible allergens that have come and gone, Summer is a great time to clean your air ducts.  Between the pollen in the Spring and the high temperatures of the Summer, a layer of dust, dirt and other debris along with the pollen. 
 
Call Dapper Ducts, a NADCA certified company since 2004, to remove the pollen, debris, dust and other contaminants in your ducts.  Dapper Ducts will help you breathe easy. 
 

Now that it’s officially summer in the Mid-Atlantic, there are fewer and fewer moderate days where you can get away with just opening your windows to help circulate a breeze.  Most of us have our air conditioning turned on most days if not every day. 
 
With that in mind, Dapper Ducts would like to share a few tips for keeping your HVAC system running smooth, your house cool, and your wallet happy.

1. If your house is multiple levels, close off most of the vents in the basement or lowest level.  Warm air rises and cool air sinks so you want to force most of the cool air to the top level of your home.
2. Use ceiling fans and floor fans to help move air.  Did you know that most ceiling fans have a switch on them to change the direction the blades rotate? 
3. Change your air filter monthly.  As the filter does its job and collects the dust, lint and debris circulating in your air ducts and ventilation system, it is likely to become quite clogged and makes air circulation that much harder. 
4. Get a programmable thermostat.  We’ve all heard this but have we all done it?  You’d be amazed at how much more efficient your system is (translation, how much more affordable your electric bill can be) when you don’t have it work so hard during the day when nobody is home. 
   1. The US Dept of Energy recommends 78 degrees while you are home and 85 degrees while you are away.  In our opinion, both of those are a little high and can be uncomfortable for sensitive populations. We keep ours between 74-76 degrees when we are home and 79-80 degrees during the day.  We don’t recommend setting the ranges more than 8-10 degrees apart because then your system has to work quite hard just to get to the set temperature.
5. Get your air ducts cleaned (call Dapper Ducts!).  When air ducts get clogged with debris, dirt, and dust, it takes longer for your system to cool or heat your home, meaning that it has to work harder to reach the desired temperature.  The harder and longer an HVAC system has to work, the more likely components are to wear out. 

 
Feel free to call Dapper Ducts for any heating, cooling or indoor air quality questions.  If you do decide to have your air ducts cleaned, we hope to earn your business.  And if not, be sure you choose a NADCA (National Air Duct Cleaners Association) certified company.

We’ve talked about this before.  We even have a page of our website dedicated to this topic.  Coupon Companies.  Blow and Go.  The picket signs at intersections.  Call them what you want – you know what I’m talking about.
 
These companies, regardless of how legit they seem, are only focused on charging you as much as they possibly can because you will never, ever be calling them again. 
 
It works like this: you see a coupon for air duct cleaning that offers $49.99 or $59.99 or even $99 for a full house air duct cleaning.  You’ve been thinking about getting your air ducts cleaned for a while and this sounds like a deal so now is the perfect time.  You call, schedule and the crew shows up.  Either right from the start or very shortly into the job, they stop to show you something that will result in what was previously “a great deal” now costing you close to $1000 or more.  I can’t tell you exactly what story they will give, though we’ve heard hundreds of examples from people who have been burned by coupon companies over the years.
 
But let’s just look at this from two angles.
 

1. In any other situation, if you were expecting to pay $50 for something (dinner, a haircut, a pair of shoes), could the waiter, stylist or salesperson come to you in the middle and say “I’m so sorry but I just found out the actual price is going to be $500”?!?!?  Wouldn’t you say, What is going on here?  This seems a little fishy.
2. From the practical side, how could a company reasonably charge $50 or $60 to send 2 guys to your house for 2-4 hours?  The gas to run the vehicle alone probably costs that much, let alone the hourly rate they are being paid, plus other overhead.

 
I don’t want to say that this is common sense because when we call a service company, we typically know very little about the service and trust that the individuals are going to be honest.  However, I will say that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is (like your momma always said).
 
Dapper Ducts provides straightforward pricing.  We are not going to be the cheapest option but you are going to know, down to the dollar, exactly how much you can expect to pay before we even show up.  If you are tempted to go with a less expensive company, please do your homework.  Make sure they are NADCA (national air duct cleaners association) certified.  Read their online reviews.  Get pricing up front, in writing. 
 
And if you still find yourself having an experience like what I described above, you can always say No.  Stop the job and say that you want a second opinion.  Ask them to leave.  You work hard for your money and shouldn’t throw it away.  I can’t tell you all the homes we’ve been to after a scamming company was there.  Not only did the customer pay an exorbitant fee, but then they didn’t even get a proper air duct cleaning. 
 
Call Dapper Ducts to get an air duct cleaning quote so that you can breathe easily.