Nothing in your video is worth abscessing about but you might check farther. It's possable things were vacuumed off in prep to sale house. Try and get a peek deeper in where it would be hard to reach with a vacuum cleaner.

Make sure air can't enter through cracks without going through filter. If i understood,you said outflow vents have dirt behind in ducts. If it's worse than behind filter in vid,you might take a look at evap coil. If you can't see fins on evap coil for lint coverage,coil should be professionally cleaned. Up to this point I don't see need for duct cleaning.

Thanks guys, I plan to take some closer pictures tomorrow to showcase the coils and surrounding areas. Today, I worked on encapsulating the area where the plywood boxn is and I found what appears to be mold and drywall dust in there.

Congratulations Benjamin Aspillaga on joining the ranks of home ownership.

Dirt, dust & smaller still dust mites (small little creatures that feed on the smallest of dust particles) Dust in the home is a continual problem, never goes away. There are and can be homes that are worse than others. What you show in your video is as Klem put it -- nothing to freak out about.

Some things you can do that will help:

1. make sure the filter you are using isn't too restrictive for the number of filter returns you have in the house. Air filters are common choke points to illustrate this simply put a mask on your face and then try to run a marathon without taking it off. This is what happens to your HVAC system that is tied to a very restrictive filter. Gasping or choking for air will cause and elevated rise in system failures.

2. The filter is there to get dirty. If it's not getting dirty there is usually a 'bad' reason for it. Air will always take the path of least resistance. Remember to check and change your filter every month. At least check it if you are in a more mild climate in which the equipment doesn't run as much. For my area in Katy, Texas I recommend people change filters every 30 days, because our HVAC systems here are run quite hard here. The more people in your household, the more dust there will be. Pets? yeah even more.

3. You can go a step further by sealing the return. This step is argumentative for such a small return like your system and in some cases may be impossible to carry out due to accessability.

4. Find a licensed HVAC contractor in your area that is good at HVAC repair. Things are changing for HVAC systems in the next 2 years you want to make sure you have someone to call that you trust.

5. Educate yourself as to what is going on. Don't just take one person's word for it. I can't tell you how many times I am called to a house where there's some minor problem and the opposing view is to rip out an replace everything. (In some cases that is the best bet, but I have a job just this past summer where the home owner didn't have the funds to do that... as a licensed HVAC contractor I can't always do that. I have to have confidence that what I am doing is going to work. That confidence comes from doing HVAC for 29 years as of 2023 and 15 years running my own HVAC company. Not to brag but to illustrate why or how you should go about finding an HVAC contractor you can trust.

6. Climate. The more your system is forced to run due to climate concerns-- to paint a picture for you I rarely ever get an AC service call if the weather outside is 60-70F. The counter argument to this is waiting until summer when it's hot everywhere. For a climate like mine, once that happens to everyone my area has been at those levels for months. So if your information gathering is from a more mild climate the information you get from these sources is often lacking for a hotter climate. We run our AC's in Katy, Texas area nearly 10 months of the year most years. This isn't the end all be all --- comfort is a fickle beast and varies from person to person as well as climate to climate.

Where do I start? Take your time. Do it in small baby steps there isn't anything right now that I see with your home that is drawing a major alarm. There is a lot of information to digest... am I the end all be all for information? No. But the information I put out is factual... the internet as they say is a dangerous place to get information from it's often times hard to tell legitimate info from fake news. This will only get worse in my opinion.

R22 Freon Vs R410a Puron Vs R454b Vs R32 --- I lay out the entire spectrum of possibilities when it comes to air conditioning for your home. click here.

I service the Katy, Texas area.

I am a long time homeowner with no formal HVAC school training. Here is what I would do if I were faced with your situation.

1. Contact the code official in your municpality and ask if using an unfinished chase for an HVAC return conforms to the building code. Speak to the fire marshall and send the video for review. I don't think this would be allowed where I live in NJ. If this is a code violation then you need to read your purchase contract and see what it says about the builder addressing code violations found after the closing. If you used an attorney for the purchase, then ask for guidance if it gets to this point.

2. Get quotes on how difficult and how much it would cost to install a hard or flexible duct from the filter to the furnace or air handler. It is probably going to be very expensive and messy. If you do add a return duct it will need to be sized to handle the air flow needed for heating and cooling.

3. If the first two options don't work out, then I suggest you get a quote to install a filter at the entrance of the furnace or air handler. Your current filter can't stop all the dust, debris, and bugs which will accumlate over time in the unfinished chase. This is why I recommend moving it. If space allows I suggest installing a properly sized 4 inch media filter with easy replacement access. The filter you currently have is a one inch type and seems smalls. If ypu provide the size of the AC in tons and furnace in BTUs, the size of the filter required can be estimated.

Hi, Benjamin,

Your issue is a case study demonstrating the difference between code requirements, common practices in the trade, and best practices. The 2018 International Residential Code, which forms the core of most statewide building codes, allows the use of stud cavities as return air "plenums" although the use is really as a duct and not a plenum. The building code is concerned with propagation of fire--not occupant health or periodic maintenance. It's not likely that the construction of the return air system in your home violates local codes. Indeed it could be common practice in your area. But it wouldn't be considered a best practice.

It's virtually impossible to clean stud cavities used as return air paths. Best practice would be installation of proper sheet metal ducts and plenums. Here's what the Building America Solution Center says about the use of stud cavities for returns:

"Do not use building cavities alone for return air pathways. Return pathways should be ducted from the return grille to the return plenum of the central air handler. The return ducts should be sealed with mastic or metal tape at all seams and joints." https://basc.pnnl.gov/resource-guides/ducted-returns

Hi everyone!

First of all i wanted to thank everyone for taking the time to respond to my post. it means a lot that you are going out the way to help me. For an update, i recorded two videos. 1 is the area by air handler showing all the crap collected over time. wondering if that is a normal amount. 2 is a video of one of the ducts. wondering if that is a nornal amount of dirt.

https://youtube.com/shorts/IjAdy44TvsI?feature=share

https://youtube.com/shorts/sSx9b1cGMdU?feature=share 

and then here is my progress on closing up the space. I am about 70 % done. thanks to lowes for the 24 x 36 aluminum sheets