It is now the season to start turning on the heat in your home, but what has been building up in the air ducts while they've remained unused during the summer? Take a look at the possible effect your air ducts may have on your health this fall

Your airducts could be releasing allergens back into your home.

When autumn rolls around, the leaves change, Halloween decorations come out and, you should have the air ducts in your home cleaned.

"With the pet dander, allergens, it just makes sense to have the ducts cleaned," said John Ferlicca, homeowner.

"It's dirty; it's very filthy," said Clary Gonzalez, from Isaac Heating & Air.

YNN made a trip to visit John Ferlicca's home with a duct cleaning crew.

"We purposely have not turned the furnace on yet this season, to wait until we had this job accomplished," said Ferlicca.

Workers opened up the heating system so YNN could take a look inside. Afterwards, YNN took a sample of the dirt to allergy specialist Dr. Douglas Jones.

"Well this looks like a nasty group. It's an accumulation of pet hair and just dust particles. When you first turn on the heat, there's going to be a lot of that blowing around," said Douglas Jones, M.D., Rochester General Hospital.

Symptoms for those allergic to dust, mold or dander will be the usual: sinus congestion, itchy-watery eyes, and wheezing or coughing, especially for asthma sufferers.

"If it's been a long time since you've cleaned ducts, cleaning the ducts out of the material that builds up is helpful," said Dr. Jones.

A proper duct cleaning takes several hours. You should make sure the technicians work to manually remove all the dirt and dust from your system.

"Particularly for an older home that's been here for a number of years, it's important to have a clean environment for my family, for my kids, and myself," said Ferlicca.

Your local heating and air conditioning company should provide duct cleaning service, or can recommend a duct cleaning company for your home.