I opened up the air vent the other day and I was getting ready to put the vacuum cleaner hose inside.
I was hoping to get rid of the dog hair that settled inside, along with the regular household dust and dirt.
Whenever my daughter swept the floors, I think she swept more dirt into the air vent than into the dustpan. I noticed that the dirt looked like it had some rust in it, and I did a closer inspection. I didn’t know if it was from the water that splashed inside the air vent when I was scrubbing, or if the rust was from the air vent crumbling. I stuck my hand inside and felt around the rim of the air vent. It definitely had some sharp edges around the inside rim of the air vent, and I was positive I felt the rust. I waited until my husband got home and I asked him to look at the air vent. When he was done, he told me I was right, and it was rusty and crumbling. We called the HVAC company and asked them to send out an inspector. He asked how old the ductwork was? All we knew is that it was there when we moved in and we assumed it was as old as the house, which was almost forty years old. I could tell by the look on the HVAC tech’s face that he was thinking we had to have new ductwork installed. My concern was if it was the money he was thinking he would make on the entire ductwork system or if it really needed replaced..