dirt and debris in ducts

[renegaderailfan]

I have noticed alot of dirt and debris in my floor ducts. I found some filters at Wal Mart that you can put underneath them to stop the debris. Do you guys think that this will hurt my furnace at all, I.E. restrict the airflow too much? They are just made out of some filter material, they are designed for residential ducts.

[cfsoistman]

You run the risk of creating too much back pressure and having your furnace kick off by over heating through the limit switch. Besides if that material would come loose it could blow down into the duct and wedge where getting it out may present a big problem. Personally I wouldn't do it, the time it takes to remove the registers and vacuum out the dirt isn't that bad as opposed to creating a bigger problem when the furnace overheats and shuts down. I've been in the HVAC Business for over 33 years.

[renegaderailfan]

That's what I thought, thanks. Also what is your opinion on the screens on the outside furnace vents? I have read several opinions on these restricting exhaust flow, and damaging the furnace.

[chevy02]

Those screen shouldnt restrict air flow but they do keep thing from building nest in there which can cause a fire

[donjuanss]

When I had floor vents I used regular window screen material. Just cut it to the size of the vent not the hole then set it down and put the vent back on it. It really helped keeping big things out of the vent.

[NWJeeper]

Originally Posted by donjuanss

When I had floor vents I used regular window screen material. Just cut it to the size of the vent not the hole then set it down and put the vent back on it. It really helped keeping big things out of the vent.

That's a good idea. The gas furnaces on RVs requires a certain amount of air movement or the burn chamber can overheat. I don't think that the filters would initally be a problem in most cases but you would have to be very carefull to change them out regularly. I like the window screen idea though, might just have to do that myself.

I would think though that if you were to put a metal cover with say a 1" dia. hole over the vent at one end of the run, then complely cover the other vents along the line, then put a shop vac at the other end of the run you could suck just about anything out of the vent system to clean it out once a year.