furnace duct cleaning... scam?

We just had a company in to clean our house's warm and cold forced air ducts, plus the furnace air system as well. Because it is hard to see if they have cleaned all the duct/debris from the ductwork, it's tough to judge if it is indeed clean afterwards. They used a big suction hose to suck out the dust as they loosened it at each register with compressed air. They also drilled three access holes to run a "skipper" into the cold air return system. The skipper was just a hose with a blunt air nozzle on the end, which was fed into the ductwork through the drilled access holes. I'm not totally convinced it as clean as we had hope for. Like I said before, it's tough to evaluate what you can't see.

Do some companies actually use a scrubbing system to clean the ducts? Anyone have comments??

Cory Regina, Sask.

Reply to
Cory Lechner
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Reply to
HeatMan

My understanding is there has never been any proof that duct cleaner is either good or bad. Personally I think it's not necessary in most cases and you'd be better off investing in better heat/air exchange technology and filter technology.

Reply to
mkochsch

Funny you should mention this. A few people around here were discussing duct cleaning just the other day. The consensus would probably hope that you didn't end up being taken *too* much for a ride, especially since duct cleaning is something that can be done at home by anyone who knows how to operate the on-off switch of a really good vacuum cleaner with a slightly longer than standard hose.

The consensus would almost certainly hope too that you wouldn't resort to actually look for someone try to scrub your ducts, too.

AJS

Reply to
AJScott

Ok...look at it this way...

A simplified text look at your forced air system, on average:

Filter, return duct, air handler/furnace, supply duct, register.

Now...WHERE in hell is dirt going to enter the duct at? At the register? Sure. Thats it...you are running filters right? They also offered to service the AC coil, since its right smack in the middle of all that nasty dirt that your filter didnt stop.........think about that.

Scrubbing to clean the ducts? Oh god...I hope not. Internally insulated ducts have fiberglass with no covering right there....flex dects, and fiberboard, and internally insulated ducts would be destroyed in seconds.

In short, unless for some odd reason, you have a problem actually on the return side of the system, there is almost NEVER a need to clean the ducts. Meaning..take 400 homes and one might need it..and thats a damn slim MIGHT.

Reply to
*CBHVAC*

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