Air duct cleaning

[DrSally]

Has anyone had this done? Is it worth it? We have a new construction home. For some reason, turing on the forced air makes me more sleepy than usual. I know that sounds strange, but i'm wondering iif cleaning the air ducts would help. Also, the dryer vent seems like it needs to be cleaned out. The dryer isn'r working as efficiently as it used to. Or is the whole thing just a scam?

[Tinochka]

We bought a home last year (1986), it was looking clean, but I wash shocked to see thick layer of dust in the vent, once I started painting. The guy told us that by some sign, he guess that it was never done. Oh, my how much dust he cleaned. It took him some time...
I think that you need to do it, if you had some major work in a house or once in a while. I would suggest to look for a good company, because some of them advertise sale price, once they get into house, there are going to be lots of things additional. At least it is good to know, what are they using, what are the rec and prices. So, you can choose ahead of the game, what are you going to do, what you are going to skip (like cleaning the dryer vent).
I had stuffed nose in our old house, we cleaned the vents last year and I felt relieved. Our dryer vent was clogged with socks;). No, wonder why I was loosing my socks:)
Short version, I will highly recommend it.

[DrSally]

Thanks! Our house is new construction, we finished the basement, and btwn all that, there prob is a lot of dust/debris. I'm scared of the add ons. There's a groupon for $49, but that seems too good to be true

[Tinochka]

I forgot how much we paid, I think either $169 or close to $200:(, but I chose to clean some kind of chimney in furnace. Last guy was very patient, didn’t push, but he showed that “thing” was stuffed, so, we decided to add. Other guys came in with one price, went out with a lot more:(, my DH decided to agree to sanitized the system.We moved out shortly:(
Our neighbors had kitchen re-do and new main floor this year. They also had this company shortly after us;)

[DebbieJ]

We had our ducts cleaned this past summer after getting a new a/c installed. Our house is 40 years old and I'm pretty sure it was never done. The amount of crap that came out of my vents was absolutely horrifying. The guys said they have found dead rodents and even cats before! Ewww!

We paid $500 for our cleaning. They took down every single vent and air return in our house. Those cheap deals usually do just a certain number of vents, usually not all of them.

Since having our ducts cleaned, our house is way less dusty.

[DrSally]

Omg, rodents and animals!!,

[Tondi G]

OH MY ... thats frightening! RODENTS AND CATS!!!!

We live in a very old apartment building with a very OLD heating system. I know for a fact that the vents haven't been cleaned in the last 13 years that we have lived here. We haven't used our heat in almost 5 years cause DS1 started getting bronchitis every time we kicked it on. Our management company told us "oh yeah it smells a little.... just turn your heater on and open all of your windows". Um yeah..... no thanks! We spoke to a couple of companies but didn't actually schedule someone to come out.... I think we need to have a few people take a look and see if they can even work on this old venting. It's time!

[DrSally]

I'm not the only one who starts feeling icky after the heat comes on.

[Tinochka]

In our case first time around we paid close to $500, but it was with sanitizing, I believe. This guys used an old technic (DH found an add on a paper). Second time around our FIL found another company through best buroug (I don’t know how to spell it correct), smth like that. They had a video on web-site and explanation. They made small holes in a furnace area, insert “snake”, then went through every single vent in the room... I saw after guy was gone, what kind of dust was under the “sack” outside (they took it). The holes were patched with a a rubber “knobs”. It took him some time to do all the things, he told that looks like it was never done before... My kids were sick last year as soon as we moved last year. This was an additional reason to believe, that there is something to do with a condition of air.

[emily]

DH is really sensitive to dust. We try to get it done every year. It usually costs about $350-400. DH also changes our filters twice a year. It does make a difference in our case.

[HIU8]

We had ours done 8 yrs ago when we moved into our house. The house was 33 yrs old at the time. The previous owners never had it done. They had a big long hair dog that laid in front of the return in the family room. The house is 2400 sq ft. We were told on average they come out with 1 bag of gook from a house this size. They got 4 bags filled. It was utterly disgusting. The house smelled so much better also (even though we aired it out for a week straight after taking carpet and old furntiure out (before we even moved in). I believe we paid $500.

[crayonblue]

We had ours done when we bought a house that previously had cats. DH is very, very allergic and we ripped out all the carpet, repainted, etc. so we figured cleaning the vents could only help. He never had a problem at all in that house which was truly amazing. I think we paid about $400.

[boolady]

We haven't had it done at our present home yet, but did at our last home, and it definitely made a big difference in air quality. As a PP pointed out, you need someone to come take off every vent cover and clean in every single one.

As to your dryer, if it's to the point that it seems less efficient, I'd get it cleaned out or see if I could clean it myself ASAP. That's one of the major causes of house fires.

[ohiomom1121]

We had it done at our last house hoping it would help with DS1's coughing. They got a lot of stuff out, and asked if we had a dog. They found a TON of old dog food from the kitchen vent. I had to laugh because DD used to get caught all the time when she was little sticking dog food down it. I guess she did it more than we realized. I definitely think it helped some with air quality, but didn't help the coughing which we were hoping for. We paid almost $400.

[Tinochka]

DH is really sensitive to dust. We try to get it done every year. It usually costs about $350-400. DH also changes our filters twice a year. It does make a difference in our case.

The guy told us to change filters 2 a year: once before the furnace kick in, 2nd time before the conditioner...

[smiles33]

The guy told us to change filters 2 a year: once before the furnace kick in, 2nd time before the conditioner...

That's it? We change our filters every 3 months and they can be filthy! We use the expensive "allergy" filters that are about $20/each as opposed to the cheaper $5 ones at the hardware store.

We got our first house's ducts cleaned because the seller had a cat and I had a coughing attack during the house inspection when the inspector turned on the furnace. I literally had to leave the house. But I think 10 years ago we paid $150 or $200, so it was pretty cheap compared to the other prices PP listed. Totally worth it. I wasn't there when they did it, but DH said it was pretty gross!

[KLD313]

My father owned an A/C and heating companies and I worked for him for 10 plus years. We always had customers calling and asking if they should do this. A lot of duct cleaning companies make things look way worse than they actually are. Studies have shown that most of the dust in your ducts stay there. If you dont see dust flying out of the vents, you probably don't have a problem. Your return duct(s) will have dust in them because they're the ducts that pull everything from the air back through your system. That air doesnt go into your house, the filter catches that. Changing filters regularly and having high efficiency filters intalled will make more of a difference in the air quality than cleaning the ducts. The air flowing through your supply ducts has also been filtered already so again, not a ton of stuff should be flying into your house.

If you have mold, rodents or excessive dust then it's a good idea. Also I think all those fungicides and sealents duct cleaning companies apply are worthless.

Eta: if the ducts weren't cleaned after the construction on the house was done it may not be a bad idea to do it. Duct cleaning just isn't something that needs to be done more than once, if at all.
One last thing, a dirty filter isn't the end of the world. The dirtier a filter is the more particles that get trapped. However, you dont want to plug a filter to restrict air flow because that can freeze up your coils I'm the summer or plug them and that's not good.

[smiles33]

My father owned an A/C and heating companies and I worked for him for 10 plus years. We always had customers calling and asking if they should do this. A lot of duct cleaning companies make things look way worse than they actually are. Studies have shown that most of the dust in your ducts stay there. If you dont see dust flying out of the vents, you probably don't have a problem. Your return duct(s) will have dust in them because they're the ducts that pull everything from the air back through your system. That air doesnt go into your house, the filter catches that. Changing filters regularly and having high efficiency filters intalled will make more of a difference in the air quality than cleaning the ducts. The air flowing through your supply ducts has also been filtered already so again, not a ton of stuff should be flying into your house.

If you have mold, rodents or excessive dust then it's a good idea. Also I think all those fungicides and sealents duct cleaning companies apply are worthless.

Eta: if the ducts weren't cleaned after the construction on the house was done it may not be a bad idea to do it. Duct cleaning just isn't something that needs to be done more than once, if at all.
One last thing, a dirty filter isn't the end of the world. The dirtier a filter is the more particles that get trapped. However, you dont want to plug a filter to restrict air flow because that can freeze up your coils I'm the summer or plug them and that's not good.

This is awesome--thanks so much for sharing professional insight! I was just wondering if I should clean the ducts of our current house "just in case" but I do religiously change the filters so maybe I can send the $500? We don't have any mold/rodents that I know of, I don't see dust flying out of the vents, and we haven't had any construction done so we may just be ok. $500 saved for future BBB-inspired purchases!:bighand:

[boilermakermom]

My father owned an A/C and heating companies and I worked for him for 10 plus years. We always had customers calling and asking if they should do this. A lot of duct cleaning companies make things look way worse than they actually are. Studies have shown that most of the dust in your ducts stay there. If you dont see dust flying out of the vents, you probably don't have a problem. Your return duct(s) will have dust in them because they're the ducts that pull everything from the air back through your system. That air doesnt go into your house, the filter catches that. Changing filters regularly and having high efficiency filters intalled will make more of a difference in the air quality than cleaning the ducts. The air flowing through your supply ducts has also been filtered already so again, not a ton of stuff should be flying into your house.

If you have mold, rodents or excessive dust then it's a good idea. Also I think all those fungicides and sealents duct cleaning companies apply are worthless.

Eta: if the ducts weren't cleaned after the construction on the house was done it may not be a bad idea to do it. Duct cleaning just isn't something that needs to be done more than once, if at all.
One last thing, a dirty filter isn't the end of the world. The dirtier a filter is the more particles that get trapped. However, you dont want to plug a filter to restrict air flow because that can freeze up your coils I'm the summer or plug them and that's not good.

This is so true!! It always a good idea to have the ducts cleaned after construction. Construction dust is incredibly fine, and will often pass through the filter media.

The fungicide/sealant companies are scams. They do not change the air you breath. If this was the case, everyone would NEED their services to ensure a better quality of life. Chances are if you have an allergy, etc. and are considering cleaning your ducts for these reasons, there are ten other things in your ambient air you should remove first.

Yes, your air filter needs a decent amount of build up to work properly . Most people do not realize this. They see dirt/dust/debris and assume their ducts are loaded and filthy. This is not the case in the majority of homes.

[smiles33]

Yes, your air filter needs a decent amount of build up to work properly . Most people do not realize this. They see dirt/dust/debris and assume their ducts are loaded and filthy. This is not the case in the majority of homes.

Can I follow up on this and ask, does this mean I shouldn't be changing my filters every 3 months and should just do it 2/year like the PP said?

[KLD313]

Can I follow up on this and ask, does this mean I shouldn't be changing my filters every 3 months and should just do it 2/year like the PP said?

It depends. If you take your filter out and hold it up to the light and can see light coming through, you can wait to change it. We always recommended twice a year unless you have pets where a ton of hair can build up on them. Also, high efficiency filters cause more of a restriction than regular filters so that's something to consider as well.

[smiles33]

Thanks! I just changed them this past weekend and they were gray with soot (DH loves wood-burning fires in the winter), but they normally are white. I will wait a little longer between changes then.

[crl]

You might find the EPA pub on the topic interesting.

http://epa.gov/iaq/pubs/airduct.html

Catherine

[crayonblue]

Can I follow up on this and ask, does this mean I shouldn't be changing my filters every 3 months and should just do it 2/year like the PP said?

That has got to depend on the house! In our last place in MD, if we didn't change the filters every month, they got so clogged that the AC or heat would stop working. It was horrible. We were renting or we would have done something major about it. And we have no pets, no smoking and generally keep our house clean.

[boilermakermom]

That has got to depend on the house! In our last place in MD, if we didn't change the filters every month, they got so clogged that the AC or heat would stop working. It was horrible. We were renting or we would have done something major about it. And we have no pets, no smoking and generally keep our house clean.

There are a few factors which impact. Pets, how many people in your home, wood floors vs carpet, how often you vacuum, where you live (rural vs urban), type of furnace and type of filter.

As OP stated, you do not want to filter to become so loaded it blows out the backside. This will allow dust/dirt to accumulate on your coils.

In addition, avoid the cheap blue filters at all costs. (I think they are about $1-$3/filter). They filter very, very little which in turn you will need to clean your furnace more often, and you will notice a build up of dust/pet hair, etc. throughout.

[BabyH]

I've been begging DH to let me call and schedule air duct cleaning. I just *know* this house is totally disgusting and it would help with the dust problem, air quality and flow of heat and a/c when they are on. But I just went through my house and counted all of the vents and we have 36. I typed this into the sears site for a quote, and it's over $1,200!!!!!

We don't even HAVE Groupon in my state, or I'd hold out for one, for sure. Maybe I'll see if there are any specials going on.

[DrSally]

Wow, this is so interesting. Thank you Boilermakermom for your input (good username!). I had heardntht the sprays/sanitizers were worthless too. Tis house was new construction when we moved in, and we also finished the basement since then. So, maybe removing the construction dust will help the air qualoty. They may charge me more than the groupon b/ c this is a big house, but i'm not going to go for any of te add ons, sprays, etc.

[div_0305]

We change our filters every 3 months even though we have no pets and no carpet. We use high quality filters, too.

I agree--duct cleaning companies must be researched before using. We've had 4 companies come and try a bait and switch with us--even after telling them on the phone we would send their people back if they did that. I'm looking on Angies and Consumer's Checkbook now. FYI--we are only doing this after getting a lot of reno done in the house.

[twowhat?]

This is interesting - I've had 2 highly rated companies who offer duct cleaning tell me not to do it and that the chances of damaging the ducts/causing other problems were far greater than any noticeable effect in air quality that you might see...one company even said "if that dust isn't moving when the air moves through the ducts, then it's not moving and will stay there in the ducts." I am betting that's what that epa article is about...off to read it now...

It's interesting to hear some of your first-hand accounts.

[Tinochka]

Can I follow up on this and ask, does this mean I shouldn't be changing my filters every 3 months and should just do it 2/year like the PP said?

We are buying expensive filters ($30 or $40), because other ones will not even fit. We change 2 times a year.

[kmm]

We had our house built almost two years ago and we just finished the basement this summer. After letting the dust settle for a few weeks, we then had our ducts professionally cleaned for $700. They did every duct in the house and our house is around 3700 square feet. We don't have pets and we use the high efficiency filter. The ducts were really dirty so we were glad we did it. It gave us peace of mind that our kids were breathing cleaner air.