Air Duct Cleaning ? Results ?

I am going to have my air ducts and returns cleaned out. What kind of results should I expect to happen from this process. The house is 50+ years old and from what I can see the ducts have never been cleaned. I have one small dog who sheds moderately. There really isn't a whole lot of dog hair when I change my filter every month or so.

I have two rooms on my second floor that I have just turned into a bedroom and a playroom. These 2 rooms never really received good heat or air from my system, can I expect the air/heat to circulate better to these upper floor rooms after the cleaning?

Every room has at least 1 return except the bathroom and the front room on the top floor. The 2 rooms on the top floor each have only one air vent. Front room is about 14X16 Back room is about 22X16

My house is set up like this

2nd floor - 2 rooms Main floor - 2 bedrooms, living room, bathroom, kitchen Basement - 75% finished , laundry room area (where heater is located.)
Reply to
Postal68
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You can expect to have cleaner air ducts and you may feel better about that. In rare cases if you have a mold and/alergy problem related to the ducts (not nearly as common as the duct cleaners would have you believe) you may find some relief there. In any case you will find your wallet a little lighter.

Reply to
Joseph Meehan

We tried if for my wife's condition. The "good feeling" fades fast as I had to touch up with pant or clean marks off the wall ...get the fasteners back in correctly.

A careless bunch of workers. No more duct cleaning for hire. Seeing the method, they used I can make the tool and do it IF I was ever inclined to do so.

That makes my wallet heavier.

-- Oren

"If things get any worse, I'll have to ask you to stop helping me."

Reply to
Oren

No, you probably won't see any air flow difference.

Biggest, most noticeable change will be the thickness of your wallet. It won't bulge as much as the wallet of the guy cleaning the ducts.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

Well, regardless of the airflow, I will feel better having the ducts cleaned out. I can see in some of them they are very dirty and dusty and just to get them cleaned will make me feel a little better for my health and my families.

Reply to
Postal68

"Postal68" wrote

I had mine done last year. The wads of stuff that came out of the ducts was amazing. My house is about 55 years old. My allergy relief tells me it was the right thing to do, for me.

Just a thought, some years ago I took off the return grate and found that that duct was almost completely blocked. It was bad. I cleaned that out and after that, when the furnace was on the air really blew. I don't know if doing this will have an affect on your situation.

Think about it, 50 years of dust, dead skin cells, pollen, all in your ductwork. Why not get it out of there? My advice is to go with a company that you would have work on your furnace, not just some guy who's jumped on the duct cleaning bandwagon. Who wants to spend that money and the job isn't done correctly.

nancy

Reply to
Nancy Young

It really depends upon your individual situation, but the dirt is going to be in the return air ducts, and most of that will be near the return air grill. If you are good with a shop vac than you can probably get it yourself. If your situation is as bad as Nancy's then you should probably hire a professional who has something much better than a shop vac.

Reply to
scott21230

I was born in January, and in the house I first lived in, my room didn't get adequate heat, so my father had a booster fan put in the heating duct going to my room. This was 1947, and they still do the same thing now. It was almost certainly connected to thermostat along with the rest of the furnace.

Reply to
mm

What does the tool look like? I've never seen it done, but I have access to both compressed air and a shop vac. I know they drill small holes in the duct for access, but not what they put through the holes.

Dave

Reply to
Dave Martindale

What I saw, was a shop vac with an attachment on the end. Ball shaped; able to filter and allow the dust into the vac (size may vary?).

Appears to be used, also to scrub the duct, as you move it back and forth. My ducts were cleaned by removing the grill , shop vac back and forth through the duct with the attachment.. They could only go so far, so that adds to my thoughts - I can do this. Last time I moved the washer/dryer I vac-out the dryer vent pipe of combustibles.

-- Oren

"The voices in my head may not be real, but they have some good ideas!"

Reply to
Oren

wrote

Whatever vacuum device the guy used, it was very heavy. Hurt me to watch him carry it downstairs. At any rate, on his way out he said They (his company, I guess) says you should do this every two years, but I think that's too much. I said Yeah, but probably more than every 60 years. He laughed.

But, yes, it wasn't like my little shop vac from Home Depot. Plus it sucked the crud out to the truck.

nancy

Reply to
Nancy Young

I don't know. How do we know it's not mostly just a big empty box, to make the customer think he is getting his money's worth!

Reply to
mm

It would depend upon the size of the system, but I don't think a shop vac would pull enough suction. At my place, the guy had a big vacuum unit (still 120 V, but external motor with a belt drive to the blower), it had a bag about 4' diameter. This stayed in the back yard. The hose from it was 10" dia (wearing several duct-taped scars of battle), and he inserted it into an opening in my furnace output line, about a foot from the furnace (there is a vent there, although it is usually shut). Then he snaked a compressed air line into each supply and return register and shook it around. All this produces an impressive noise, and no doubt cleans the ducts some too.

In addition, they have the most important piece of equipment which is the camera on a leash in the briefcase with the LCD monitor. This is where they show you the before and after video. The after is quite clean, and you have to assume that the more inaccessible places in the system got flushed to some extent.

I got this done just before they hauled away my old furnace and installed a new one, so I wasn't too concerned about crud falling into the coil and blower and other innards in the heat of battle, but I imagine you have to be careful about that in other circumstances.

Reply to
bhaskarsmanda

"mm" wrote

He didn't really seem too worried about impressing me with the size of his tool.

nancy

Reply to
Nancy Young

That's 'cause he's a good actor, and the prop does the impressing.

Reply to
mm

Ah well, there's rhem that talk and them that actually have it and know how to use it....

Reply to
Rick Blaine

"Rick Blaine" wrote

Yup, he just brought it in and got the job done. (laugh)

nancy

Reply to
Nancy Young

Feeling like a sucker? Like a rube with no concept of mass conservation?

Your vents contain dust. So what? It's not coming out. That's why it's

*in* there.
Reply to
Richard J Kinch

Hi, Quite a while ago, CMHC(Canadian Mortgage & Housing Corp.) did a research on the effect of duct cleaning under normal situation. The value of it was negligible. I just have electronic cleaner on my natural gas furnace.

Reply to
Tony Hwang

Don't just clean them- have the company sterilize them. If you clean them out they vaccum out the dust and dirt. If allergens and molds are in the ducts they will continue to spread througout the house.

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Reply to
moldshield.1

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