Blower cleaning in New York City
The blower is the fan that moves all the air through your ducts, and dust packed onto its blades makes it move less. We take the blower out of the furnace or air handler where the unit allows, and clean the wheel, the housing and the compartment it sits in.
Blower cleaning, explained
Inside every furnace and air handler there is a blower: a motor turning a drum-shaped wheel with a ring of narrow curved blades around its rim. Each blade is a small scoop. As the wheel spins inside its housing, the blades draw air in through the open sides and throw it out into the supply ducts.
The cupped side of each blade is where dust packs in. It does not take a thick layer. Once the curve of a blade is filled, it stops scooping, and the wheel turns at the same speed while moving much less air. Dust rarely builds up evenly, so the wheel also goes out of balance. That is where the hum, the vibration and the wear on the motor come from.
Blowers get dirty when a filter is missing, the wrong size or left in too long, and after renovation work. New York makes it easy to fall behind: air handlers sit in hallway closets, in cellars and above ceilings, where changing the filter is awkward enough to get skipped. Many people learn the state of their blower only when the unit is opened for air duct cleaning.
What is included
- Power shut off and the blower compartment opened
- Blower assembly taken out of the cabinet where the unit allows
- Every blade of the wheel brushed clean, front and back
- Housing and blower compartment vacuumed and wiped
- Dust cleared from the outside of the motor
- Photos of the wheel before and after
Signs you need it
- Weak airflow at every register, not only in one room
- A hum, rattle or vibration from the unit that was not there before
- Gray dust caked on the blades of the blower wheel
- The furnace shuts off and restarts before the home is warm
- A dusty smell when the fan starts
How the job goes
Cut the power
The unit is switched off at its power switch or breaker before the door comes off, and the wheel is photographed as found.
Slide out the blower
The wiring is photographed and disconnected, and the blower assembly is unbolted and slid out of the cabinet. Where a unit does not allow that, the wheel is cleaned in place.
Clean each blade
Every blade is brushed on the cupped side and on the back while a vacuum takes the dust away. Sticky buildup is washed off with the motor kept dry.
Clean the housing
The housing and the floor of the blower compartment are vacuumed and wiped, so loose dust is not drawn straight back into the clean wheel.
Refit and listen
The assembly goes back in, the wiring is reconnected and the door is closed. The system is run while we listen for vibration and check the airflow at the registers.
Why it matters
A heating and cooling system is designed around a certain amount of air. When the blower delivers less, everything downstream suffers. In summer, too little air across the cooling coil can let it ice over. In winter, too little air through a furnace makes it run hot, and it may shut itself off on its safety switch and start again once it cools.
Longer run times mean higher bills and more hours on the motor. A wheel that is out of balance shakes the motor's bearings every time it spins, and a worn motor is a far bigger repair than a cleaning.
Dust on the wheel does not stay put, either. Bits of it break off and travel down the supply ducts into the rooms.
Blower cleaning: common questions
Does the blower have to come out to be cleaned?
Taking it out gives the cleanest result, because the cupped side of the blades faces inward and is hard to reach in place. Some units, especially ones built into tight closets or ceilings, do not let the assembly out without major work. Those are cleaned in place.
How does the blower get dirty if there is a filter?
Air takes the easiest path. A filter that is the wrong size, bent or missing for a while lets dust go around it, and a badly clogged filter can be pulled out of its track by the suction. Very fine dust also passes through thin filters a little at a time.
Should the blower be cleaned alone or with the rest of the unit?
If the wheel is the only dirty part, it can be done on its own. More often the dust that reached the blower also reached the coil and the drain pan, and HVAC unit cleaning covers all of them with the cabinet open once.
Related air duct services
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