Knowledge about the potential benefits and possible problems of air duct cleaning is limited. Since conditions in every home are different, it is impossible to generalize about whether or not air duct cleaning in your home would be beneficial.
If no one in your household suffers from allergies or unexplained symptoms or illnesses and if, after a visual inspection of the inside of the ducts, you see no indication that your air ducts are contaminated with large deposits of dust or mold (no musty odor or visible mold growth), having your air ducts cleaned is probably unnecessary. It is normal for the return registers to get dusty as dust-laden air is pulled through the grate. This does not indicate that your air ducts are contaminated with heavy deposits of dust or debris; the registers can be easily vacuumed or removed and cleaned.
If no one in your household suffers from allergies or unexplained symptoms or illnesses and if, after a visual inspection of the inside of the ducts, you see no indication that your air ducts are contaminated with large deposits of dust or mold (no musty odor or visible mold growth), having your air ducts cleaned is probably unnecessary. It is normal for the return registers to get dusty as dust-laden air is pulled through the grate. This does not indicate that your air ducts are contaminated with heavy deposits of dust or debris; the registers can be easily vacuumed or removed and cleaned.
Air duct cleaning should be performed if rodents have been seen or smelled in and around your air ducting. Rodents like to make their homes in ducts and they do tend to contaminate them with urine and feces. Under most conditions, if vermin are present in your ducting, duct cleaning will not be sufficient to rid your air ducts of the problem. Duct replacement is generally the only way to ensure clean healthy ductwork.
Unfortunately no amount of duct cleaning will solve an excessive dust problem, no matter what those hundreds of carpet cleaning and fraudulent duct cleaning ads tell you. If the ducts are generating dust, they are falling apart and disintegrating. Duct cleaning will only aggravate this condition. If your air ducts are in good condition, then resealing and installing a high quality air purification system, like the American Standard Accu-Clean, can alleviate those dust and debris problems. Air ducts do not usually produce dust, they transfer it through openings, gaps and poor air filtration.
The health benefits of air duct cleaning have been greatly overrated. If you are counting on air duct cleaning as a means to alleviate asthma and allergy conditions, you will be most likely be misled and seriously disappointed. Heating ducts and cooling ducts merely transfer the dust from one portion of the home to another portion of the home and without a quality air purification system that stops dust at the micron level, like the American Standard Accu-Clean, no amount of duct cleaning will have a substantial impact on the healthy breathability of your indoor air. Reports of alleviated allergy and asthma symptoms from air duct cleaning are anecdotal at best and outright falsified at worst. Clean ducts will just get dirty again the first time the heating and air conditioning system is used that is not equipped with a high quality home purification system.
Don’t believe everything you read or hear. Most air duct cleaning claims of health benefits are greatly exaggerated and come from fly by night companies purporting to perform duct cleaning from teaser rates as low as $35. A proper duct cleaning will take two trained cleaners 3 to 4 hours for the normal home. Most of the cleaning will occur in the furnace itself and should be performed by trained HVAC service technicians from a licensed contractor. The furnace and evaporator coil must be disassembled, cleaned and then reassembled. This is not something that a carpet cleaning company or a dedicated duct cleaning company is qualified to perform or should perform. Seriously damage can result from a improperly disassembled and reassembled furnace and evaporator coil.
This is something that has been promoted through the industry and some duct cleaning companies even state that duct cleaning should be performed every year. This is nonsense. A properly filtered system will never need duct cleaning.
This is meaningless. Your ducts were not designed to be cleaned and as long as your system has the proper high quality filtration and is maintained professionally according the manufacturer on a regular basis you will never need to have them cleaned.
This is not indicative of a need for duct cleaning. This is indicative of a error in maintenance, installation or damage to the system. If your system smells, you need it checked out today. Your health is most likely at risk. Bad smelling ducts usually means a break in the ducting that is pulling in outside contaminates or a mold and mildew growth in the evaporator coil section of your home’s air ducts.
Most ducts never get a very large buildup of ducts and unless you are changing the speed of the air flowing through your ducts, such as replacing your furnace with a new furnace, the dirt built up in your ducts will stay in your ducts. If you are having a new furnace installed is most likely the best time to have your ducts cleaned or replaced. This is because most of the dirt is in the furnace and evaporator coil and the ducts are typically very easy to get to when the old furnace is removed. This reduces the time dramatically to clean the ductwork and reduces the cost to clean the ducting. We offer free duct cleaning with a new furnace installation.
If your air ducts are more than about 10 years old they most likely were not built correctly. Codes have changed with the manufacturer and installation of ducts because of great btu losses in ductwork. Most studies show that about 35% of all lost btus in a heating and air conditioning system come from inadequately installed, maintained and manufactured ducts. Older air ducting is usually photo chemically sensitive and the light coming from the vents in the attic is enough to degrade the outer covering of the ducts and cause them to fall apart with age. Older duct systems are prone to blowing off at the joints. The older cloth backed duct tape used to connect the home air ducts is also photo chemically sensitive, tends to dry out with age and blow off leaving the ductwork to blow endless amount of your utility bills into your attic and crawl spaces. We offer free in home inspections.
You cannot perform a proper duct cleaning for $35, $99, $149 or even $249. Think about this for an instant. How can a company pay two trained service technicians for 3 to 4 hours and afford to operate at these dollar amounts? What about driving time, overhead, insurance, and profit? It cannot be done, even at minimum wage. Sometimes you get what you pay for and expecting people to work at such low wages makes you a partner in ripping you off.
Expect $500 to $800 for most quality duct cleaning in Southern California. If you want your ducts cleaned, do you really want someone rushing through it in 30 minutes skipping everything you can’t see?
Why even perform duct cleaning if you are not going to filter the air properly afterward. Installing a high quality filtration system, such as the American Standard Accu-Clean, will prevent your ducts from getting dirty again and save you money on your air conditioning bills and your heating and air conditioning repairs. The number one reason for system breakdown is the accumulation of plain old everyday dirt. Save yourself some hassle and heating and air conditioning breakdowns tomorrow by installing an air purification system today. No, you cannot go down to your home improvement store and buy a high quality air purification system. They don’t sell them and they do not just slip into the bottom of your furnace. It will take modifications obtain maximum air purifications, but the expenses bay you back month and month in the form of lower utility bills, healthier air and fewer system breakdowns.
If the dirt never makes it into the ducts system it cannot get dirty.
We are not doctors, but are told on a regular basis from our clientele of the great benefits of a proper high quality air purification system and besides, we’ll give you an entire year, 365 days, to think it over and prove us right. If we install a new high quality air purification for you and you are not absolutely ecstatic, you can, within the first 365 days of ownership, ask for and receive all of your money back. We are that certain that you will love your new air purification system. You simple cannot lose.
We here at the Empire Family of Services offer the finest plumbing service and repair in Southern California. With our highly trained journeyman plumbers and our friendly office staff we strive to ensure that your plumbing resolutions are on time, neat, clean and under budget.
Our primary focus is your convenience and safety. With two hour service windows 6 days a week, no overtime ever, we can meet you at your home at the appointed time for your home plumbing repair. We will meet your time table for your plumbing service, guaranteed.
