What's Your Opinion on Duct Cleaning?

   / What's Your Opinion on Duct Cleaning? #1  

HawkinsHollow

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As we wrap up our addition and house remodel I am seriously considering getting the ducts cleaned. My neighbor who is an HVAC guy swears it is snake oil and he says as long as you change your filters regularly it is not necessary. The HVAC guy who put my mini splits in says it is a good idea. I feel like it can't hurt! My wife has respiratory issues so it seems like a good idea.
I have a guy coming out today to give me an estimate.

I was just curious about your experiences with duct cleaning/duct cleaners.
 
   / What's Your Opinion on Duct Cleaning? #2  
My wife and I purchased a 37 year old, 1,950 sq ft residential unit which has been a rental for at least 14 years. When we inspected the ducts there was 2" of yellowed dust and pet hair in them. We paid $2,500 to have ducts vacuumed then wet cleaned. $2,500 money well spent, to me.

We are in our mid-70s and feel more susceptible to air borne health threats and senior allergies each day.
 
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   / What's Your Opinion on Duct Cleaning? #3  
As we wrap up our addition and house remodel I am seriously considering getting the ducts cleaned. My neighbor who is an HVAC guy swears it is snake oil and he says as long as you change your filters regularly it is not necessary. The HVAC guy who put my mini splits in says it is a good idea. I feel like it can't hurt! My wife has respiratory issues so it seems like a good idea.
I have a guy coming out today to give me an estimate.

I was just curious about your experiences with duct cleaning/duct cleaners.
I fall on the snake oil side, Unless there is a specific issue, like dogs ripped a duct under the house and it was left open for a while before repair. Part of what leads me that way, look at the guys doing duct cleaning. They are mostly pressure wash guys, or drywall texture guys; but not HVAC guys.
 
   / What's Your Opinion on Duct Cleaning?
  • Thread Starter
#4  
My wife and I purchased a 37 year old, 1,950 sq ft residential unit which has been a rental for at least 14 years. When we inspected the ducts there was 2" of yellowed dust and pet hair in them. We paid $2,500 to have ducts vacuumed then wet cleaned. $2,500 money well spent, to me.

We are in our mid-70s and feel more susceptible to air borne health threats and senior allergies each day.
That is kind of where I am at. I have owned this house for 9 years, but who knows what happened before then. In the middle of the summer there is a bit of a musty smell right when the a/c kicks on. Which leads me to believe we might have a bit of a mold problem in there. The cleaning is only $525 but if they find mold that treatment costs $900. But after all of the money I have just spent it is a drop in the bucket to have better quality air.
 
   / What's Your Opinion on Duct Cleaning? #5  
I have never had my ducts cleaned in my old house of 25 yrs. But they did have dust in them when I sold the place. My current home has no ductwork.
I do feel that cleaning ducts is worth it for the health issues. Not as important as keeping filters clean and you can probably vac the area around the vents and save money. I would be very careful about the crew doing the work. I saw an investigative episode once. They set up hidden camers and caught the crew red handed! The crew basically pretended to do the work. They would pull off the vent clean them and maybe vac as far as you can see in the pipe. Rest of the time stood around or whatever to make it seem like they did something. Of course they charged plenty for the work!


And as already mentioned you may find hidden problems. Broken ducts rusted ducts or mold.
I bet a good company would be able to snake a camera through most of the ducts with you present to see the results of their work.
 
   / What's Your Opinion on Duct Cleaning?
  • Thread Starter
#6  
I fall on the snake oil side, Unless there is a specific issue, like dogs ripped a duct under the house and it was left open for a while before repair. Part of what leads me that way, look at the guys doing duct cleaning. They are mostly pressure wash guys, or drywall texture guys; but not HVAC guys.
Not only that but look at all of the scammers trying to take advantage of the industry. I have watched a few youtube videos so I know what to look for and I 100% plan on being there when he does to to shadow his every move. We will see what kind of game the guy talks today. They have excellent reviews and the guy was very transparent on the phone today.
 
   / What's Your Opinion on Duct Cleaning? #7  
As we wrap up our addition and house remodel I am seriously considering getting the ducts cleaned. My neighbor who is an HVAC guy swears it is snake oil and he says as long as you change your filters regularly it is not necessary. The HVAC guy who put my mini splits in says it is a good idea. I feel like it can't hurt! My wife has respiratory issues so it seems like a good idea.
I have a guy coming out today to give me an estimate.

I was just curious about your experiences with duct cleaning/duct cleaners.
Unless you have looked in the ducts, and seen issues, like @jeff9366, it is in my snake oil bin. If you have floor level air returns, check there first, then I would check downstream of your main filter, and then a few registers.

We had a dog that loved to sleep in front of a floor level cold air return, and that duct, and only that duct, had a 3/4" layer of dog hair in it. It took me less than 15 minutes to clean it out, once I realized it was an issue.

Must when your AC kicks in is an evaporator issue, and the coil should be cleaned, and the drain checked to make sure that it drains easily. Your HVAC person should be able to do that pretty quickly, if you don't want to.

All the best,

Peter
 
   / What's Your Opinion on Duct Cleaning? #8  
Open a duct and see how dirty it is. I change my filters and that seems to have sufficed since 1984.
And I have looked into them.
 
   / What's Your Opinion on Duct Cleaning? #10  
We have cats. Our house has 6" round metal supply ducts to each register. The returns are just a piece of flat sheet metal nailed to the bottom of the floor joists. Where they have to cross joists, they are just rectangular boxed duct work.

Over the years, I've opened both the supplies and returns for various reasons like remodels, wood burning stove install, etc...

The round metal ducts had a thin coating of waxy dirt, maybe 1/8" at most.

The returns, with their three sides of wood and one side of metal were disgusting. Clogged down about 1/3 in total volume with pet hair stuck to the wood. The same waxy dirt about 1/8" on the flat metal. The areas in the returns where they used rectangular duct work to span the joists had wads of hair and dust stuck in the joints.

Yes, the filters do their job because it filters the return air. But the entire system would be loaded down to some point by the constricted returns.

For about $25 you can get a scope that connects to your smartphone, drill a couple holes and see what's in your ducts yourself. Patch the hole with metal duct tape.

 

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