What's Your Opinion on Duct Cleaning?

[paulsharvey]

If you use a filter, you shouldn't have any, or much crap in your duct work.
If your duct work is insulated on the inside, it's a bad idea to have them cleaned. I would just replace the duct work and have the ducts insulated on the outside . You are breathing more insulation fibers than you are the dust

It's not just the duct board, with accordian style, I would be worried about them damaging it.

If there is a problem, sure, fix it, and clean; but I think it's 90% scam, and 10% a temp fix to a symptom of a problem it doesn't fix.

 

[MossRoad]

If you use a filter, you shouldn't have any, or much crap in your duct work.
If your duct work is insulated on the inside, it's a bad idea to have them cleaned. I would just replace the duct work and have the ducts insulated on the outside . You are breathing more insulation fibers than you are the dust

If you use a filter or not, you'll have all kinds of crap in your return ducts. Especially in an older home. That's where everything gets sucked into. Human hair, pet hair/fur, human and pet dander, general dust. Dust bunnies. It's nasty.

 

[MapleLeafFarmer]

IMO I would say it all depends.

I live in a 25 y.o. house that is 100% hardwood floors and tile. Due to wife disability. NO CARPETS. I have recently painted and run wires through my cold air ducts and re-routed some hot air ducts (forced natural gas furnace) and re-routed the central vent/heat exchanges.

All were almost spotlessly clean except at the entrance of the cold air ducts which seemed to collect some of the 25 years of dog hair that moves through the house. So all I needed to do was remove the covers and vacuum with the vacuum hose.

So I would say with hard surfaced floors, even with big dogs, it would be wasted money here.

Now if you have lots of kids, wear outdoor boots/shoes in the house, carpeted floors, etc.... YMMV.

Pull a few vent covers and take a look. You will quickly see if they need attention.


ps: I only change my furnace filter 1X every year or so. It stays clean. If your gets dirty fast or stays clean would also be good indication of vents need cleaning. Carpets wear over time and make huge amounts of dust as well.

 

[kenmac]

If you use a filter or not, you'll have all kinds of crap in your return ducts. Especially in an older home. That's where everything gets sucked into. Human hair, pet hair/fur, human and pet dander, general dust. Dust bunnies. It's nasty.

If you got all that crap in your duct work you really should consider sealing all the air leaks and using a quality filter.
Been doing this a long time and I've seen just about everything.

Now if the previous owners of the older home had not used a good filter, has air leaks in their system, I would suggest (A) a good cleaning, seal all joints / cracks with tape and mastic, and use a quality filter
Or (B) Have the duct work replaced , seal all joints/ cracks with tape and mastic, insulate on the outside, and use a quality filter

 

[kenmac]

It's not just the duct board, with accordian style, I would be worried about them damaging it.

If there is a problem, sure, fix it, and clean; but I think it's 90% scam, and 10% a temp fix to a symptom of a problem it doesn't fix.

I'm going to guess you're talking about flex ? So, your ductwork is duct board and flex ?
Replace it with metal and insulate on the outside. I'm not into breathing insulation fibers.
I started insulating metal duct work on the outside some 15-20 yrs ago

 

[HawkinsHollow]

Well he came today to take a look and I think I am doing it. $1600 out the door with the cleaning, which uses mostly strong air and air whips in a highly negative pressure environment. Meaning, they suck it all out with a huge vacuum while they dust it. Then they will spray a liquid rubber biocide duct coating in our square interior insulated trunk line. Then they are going to fog the entire system with a biocide because the branch lines don't get rubber coated, this will kill any mold that didn't get vacuumed out.

I am going to call a duct guy to see how much it would cost for new duct work, but money is running out really quick on this project and I think it will be too much. Especially considering we have round solid metal ducts. Seems like a waste to rip all that out for the new accordion crap.

I this this process is much bigger than your average duct cleaning and I have drank the koolaid. I believe that a 60 year old house has some gunk in the ducting for sure and removing it from the equation can't be a bad thing. My entire house is starting on a clean slate, why not the duct work as well? I will report back when its done about the process.

 

[ponytug]

Well he came today to take a look and I think I am doing it. $1600 out the door with the cleaning, which uses mostly strong air and air whips in a highly negative pressure environment. Meaning, they suck it all out with a huge vacuum while they dust it. Then they will spray a liquid rubber biocide duct coating in our square interior insulated trunk line. Then they are going to fog the entire system with a biocide because the branch lines don't get rubber coated, this will kill any mold that didn't get vacuumed out.

I am going to call a duct guy to see how much it would cost for new duct work, but money is running out really quick on this project and I think it will be too much. Especially considering we have round solid metal ducts. Seems like a waste to rip all that out for the new accordion crap.

I this this process is much bigger than your average duct cleaning and I have drank the koolaid. I believe that a 60 year old house has some gunk in the ducting for sure and removing it from the equation can't be a bad thing. My entire house is starting on a clean slate, why not the duct work as well? I will report back when it's done about the process.

@HawkinsHollow I would still have a look with an endoscope/borescope first. We have 50+ year old ducts, and they are spotless and basically dust free on the inside. The prior owners had dogs and cats, and a bird. There's a tiny amount of dust around the inside of the furnace blower housing, but I put that down to running the HVAC for awhile with a defective electronic filter. I am not trying to talk you out of cleaning the ducts; wouldn't you like to know how bad the "before" is?

I know that the duct cleaning folks really like to spray that rubber sealant inside the ducts, but since I know folks with allergies to rubber, personally speaking, coating an air duct with rubber gives me the heebie-jeebies. What sticks to it? What happens as it ages? What happens if it outgases chemicals, and most polymers will do that as they age? If someone picked up a sensitivity to one of those chemicals or the rubber, what do you have to do? Rip out all of the ducting?

I would note that I have never seen a spray rubber or other polymer on commercial ducting, even in areas requiring clean air. I just worry that the coating is truly snake oil.

All the best,

Peter

 

[CalG]

Just a note:
I was recently up doing a bit of work on my daughter's 19th century Vermont farmhouse. (She should have never bought the place, it's rotted to the sills, but that is a different issue)
any way, while rebuild sills and a wall in the kitchen I pulled a couple of supply vents and a return.
The shop vacuum tank just about filled up!
She keeps dogs and is not a tidy person. I advised her to keep up on the filter for her furnace.

 

[mikester]

I have no ducts nor ducks in my house.

When I get those spam calls I ask if they clean geese as well as ducks.

 

[2manyrocks]

I wouldn’t want rubber coating inside my air ducts. My concern would be creating an odor and the coating would tend to slow the velocity of air flow. Is it fireproof?

Did the guy scope your ducts and show you pictures?

Would not expect mold to grow on metal air ducts.