Well i have made an appointment on Saturday February 5, for some duct cleaning by “Home Air Solutions.”
The previous owners of the house had a dog and a cat - which I’m sure is filled with pet hair - and I too have a problem with the “dust-bunnies” rolling around on my floors. Anyone know/hear of good/bad things about this company - I got a coupon in the “valu-pak” mail i received in the mail for a “Winter Special,” priced at $59.95 which includes 8 vents/1 return/1 main - each additional vent is $10.00 and an additional return is $15.00. I figured you cant beat it. I’m just trying to get some insight of the quality of work they do…
In for the results.
In for results as I need this done as well.
Duct cleaning is a waste of money. It’s a scam. Think about it. The cold air returns go back to the furnace, where the air gets FILTERED, then the clean air gets heated and blown through the warm ducting. It’s a self cleaning system. The reason you have hairballs and dust bunnies blowing around your floor is because you need to vaccuum.
Its a scam, google it. Dateline actually did a little deal on it. A REAL duct cleaning costs upwards of $500-$700. What you’re going to get is someone pulling off your vent covers and vacuuming in there, which you can do. A real duct cleaning is much more thorough.
Edit: If I could click “like” on Fry’s post I would.
Trust me…there is ALOT that gets stuck on either end of the filtration in the ducts. Especially in older houses like mine where the duct work is 3/4 metal with the top of the “duct” being floor board/slats.
Also forced air is fairly low pressure…it’s not like it’s a vacuum with the filter in between both cycles catching everything. If that were true you wouldn’t even need a vacuum. 
ieatpaint said what I’m thinking. For that price it’s probably a limited clean. Might be better than doing nothing tho, I dunno?
Waste o money.
What do you want the duct cleaning to do? Blow the dust and dirt out of the ducts? The furnace does that every time it runs. If you think that duct cleaning is going to cut down on dust bunnies then you aren’t thinking clearly.
Think critically about it for a minute. The cold air returns aka the furnace intake doesn’t matter. If anything it’s cleaning your house by sucking air dirtied by whatever you do every day. Then it gets filtered, then it gets warmed and blown into the house. Every time the furnace runs it’s blowing out the discharge ducts and filtering the house’s air. If it’s dirt that doesn’t get cleaned by the furnace blowing then it’s not entering the house anyway so who cares?
What exactly do you want a duct cleaning to accomplish?
You guys do know that I’m not talking about the vent covers right? There is an actual filter at the furnace intake that needs to be changed monthly? If you’re worried get a good HEPA rated filter (HEPA being a filtration standard stating that 99.97% of all particles 0.3 microns or larger are removed) and clean/replace it frequently.
While I can see some of it being considered a waste… the companies that actually go in their with a brush and get rid of buildup I can see being useful.
The amount of pure CRAP and 1" thick buildup I had in the return ducts that I removed/replaced/redid in my house was amazing to say the least. Some were a solid 1-2" thick of who knows what, lint, fur, hair, particles like crazy, etc. I can see that cutting down the airflow in the house, and contributing to allergies and reduction of efficiency of the furnace. I was replacing the furnace filter about every 4-6 months and it was CAKED with crap, and I have one of the good ones that’s about 24" square and 5" thick. I’ve since redone all the return ductwork and added filters to the inlets in the house to supplement the main furnace filter. The ones in the house I replace about every month or 2 due to my dogs/cat.
I know what you’re saying…but I dunno if you’ve ever looked inside an older/dirty duct. I have shit caked and stuck to the slats from over the years. The filter can only filter what passes through the system. It cannot filter shit stuck in the actual duct.
Who did you use 97? I KNOW my ducts are caked up but don’t want to pay out the ass without a solid recommendation.
I feel like it’s a scam too, but when replaced the furnace, I changed a few of the pipes routed upstairs, and they had about an inch of pethair in the bottom of them (only on the ones located on the floor, not wall ones)
X…
Here you go.
Chris Hansen. Enough said.
I didn’t use anyone. I completely replaced the duct work on my first floor from the basement because whoever the dumb fuck who installed the forced air furnace into my house originally did it backwards (Returns under the windows/on the outside of the house, and Outlets in the center/middle of the house).
ok
I vaccuum probably every other day… what i do notice is my vents collect a lot of dust (hairballs) - if you look closely at the my white vents you can rub your finger on the gills and collect a lot of dust. WTF am i getting this from.
Also, i replace my filter in my furnace twice since november, and it’s not even that dirty (the filter).
---------- Post added at 04:29 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:25 PM ----------
found this on google… interesting…
http://www.homeimprovementsdepot.com/is-cleaning-your-air-ducts-worth-it/
Ill check the video out when i get home…
It’s an absolutely excellent (but rather long) document and it covered just about every question I had about this whole process. It’s interesting to note that no studies have actually shown definitively that cleaning your air ducts really made the air in your home any cleaner.
Here’s a quick summary of all my research about air duct cleaning:
You DO want to consider having your air ducts cleaned if you have any of the following:
•Any sort of significant construction in your home involving dust, fiberglass or other airborne particles. These can cause breathing problems and these can end up in your air duct system only to be blown out later.
•Any sort of visible mold growth or any sort of positive testing for mold in the air ducts. Professionals can run air tests, or you can get a kit to collect a sample and send it to a lab.
•Any sort of blockage (full or partial) in your air ducts due to debris.
•Any sort of evidence of animal activity (droppings, nesting) in your air ducts. Eww…
If you don’t have any of those problems, then you can probably forgo the expensive professional air duct cleaning and simple do a little vacuuming inside the returns yourself.
Sounds about right, other than if you have mold growth you need to find and fix the cause of the mold growth not just clean the duct.
I’m not saying it’s not needed. I’m sure old vents do need to be cleaned, but you’re not getting that thorough cleaning from a $59 cleaning.
what fry said.
If your filter is not dirty and there are no blockages then you’re probably fine.
Watched that this past week. I am very curious if this company is going to try to pull the same scam. The price is right in line.
I’ll speak from experience here. I just replaced a furnace from the mid 1980’s in my house. My buddy who is a HVAC contractor put it in, I helped him with the heavy lifting.
I asked him about duct cleaning, he said in most cases it really isn’t necessary unless you have a shitload of pets, and their hair gets sucked into the duct work.
We went ahead to remove my old furnace, then we looked up into the cold air return ductwork. Mine was very clean. He took a dryer lint brush, and brushed it around, only a little bit was picked up.
Then we shined a flashlight into the ductwork where the heat flows. It was much cleaner than the return, nearly spotless.
If you want to do it, then take the vents apart in the summer time, and clean them up with a long dryer lint brush. Once you see it, you probably will not see the need for it again.
He also said to use a cheap disposable filter on the furnace. They allow for more airflow, the 3m ones are too restrictive. He put a 3m one into my ductwork, and showed the difference in airflow using a guage. He also explained that in my situation with older undersized ductwork, it might even cause the furnace to hit a limit, and shut down due to overheating from lack of airflow.
I use the home depot green flanders air filters, about 90 cents a piece. I replace them every two weeks.
interesting… thanks
i just pulled up Home Air Solutions on bbb.com, and their rating them a C+ - i looked into stanley steemer, and their rated an A… hmm might have to save the money and go to stanley steemer. any thoughts on Stanley Steemer?