I currently live in the Dustiest House I Have Ever Owned. I dust twice a week, it’s not enough. Dust bunnies? Sheesh, I have dust elephants! We sneeze alot, too.
The house was built in '91, and to my knowledge; the ducts have never been cleaned. I don’t personally know anyone that has their ducts cleaned, and when I have asked a few people; they tell me it’s a scam.
But I wonder. We change the filters every two weeks, and they’re always filthy/furry. I vacuum everyday, and steam-clean the carpets about 3 times a month (we have off-white wall-to-wall carpeting, and I’m DOOMED!) We had a completly new HVAV system installed last year, and it’s rated for beyond our square footage.
Any Dopers have experience with duct cleaning? Does it make a difference? I would be more than willing to shell out the $$$ if would effect a better quality in our air supply.
At my gf’s recommendation, I had my ducts cleaned early this year for the first time since I bought the house in 1993. It may well be the first time that they were cleaned ever since the house was built in 1961.
You know how the first time that the heater comes on in late fall and it smells kind of dusty for the first couple of days? It still did this year. Maybe it wasn’t as bad as in the past but not by much. I honestly don’t think that it made any difference at all. The gf thinks that it did though.
I know that this was probably no help at all but there you go.
We had ours cleaned a few months after we bought the house we are in (and after a new furnace was installed). Previous owner had a dog, we are petless. Pre-cleaning, every time the furnace came on, it smelled like dog. Post-cleaning it did not. So I am for it.
The guy who installed the furnace said we should change the filter a couple weeks after cleaning, the process gets a lot of dust out but also knocks a bunch loose.
I have seen ads on tv for Duct cleaning where they will stick a camera in your ducts to show you what they look like before they clean them. Of course the ducts in the ads are full of dust, dirt, and you name it.
Maybe you can find a place that will let you see what they are cleaning and/or give an estimate, before they do it.
I have also heard a few horror stories about what can be found in ducts. Mainly construction debris. A few homes in the neighborhood where I was a nanny had such low airflow that they had to have the ducts cleaned. They found all kinds of garbage in them, wood, nails, drywall etc. Apparently some lazy constuction workers or spiteful ones, were using the ducts as garbage shoots while building those homes. The homes were new(less than 5 years old), and built by the same company. I believe there was threat of a lawsuit.
Knowning nothing about A/C HVAC but needing to, I googled and found a msg board by and for HVAC pro’s.
Many of the forums were “members only” - they have a test, apparently, to weed out even license-carrying pro’s who don’t meet thier standards. One of the “members only” was titled along the lines of “Marketing Tips”. I would love to be a fly in thatone.
Anyway - one forum was open to the public and designated to answer Q’s homeowners might have (NO DIY!!!). Two ways to get ripped a new one there:
Ask a DIY Q (fair enough, the ruls say no DIY)
Complain/question workmanship and/or pricing. Some of the pics posted were of workmanship beyond belief. Not a bad word was said. Is $20,000 too much for $3000 worth of stuff and 10-15 hours work? Response: How DARE you Q a HVAC Pro?! That is a VERY reasonable price!
Short form - these guys are losing market to DIY-oriented “split systems”. They are looking for every last dime they can squeeze. I, for one, am not surprised that we are being told that we, all of a sudden, NEED! ANNUAL! Inspections! Duct Cleaning! Tarot!
Funny, just a few years ago:
If it works: change filters when they get dirty
If it doesn’t work - call the neighborhood guy (and a couple more if the neighborhood guy turns out to be a flake).
Now:
Carefull, citizen - that equipment is beyond your understanding, and needs us professionals to work our complex magic! repeatedly!
I asked if, as it sounded to me, that I should budget ~$1000/year for HVAC. The quiet was deafening.
Yeah, I smell scam - pull a vent, shine flashlight - blow on the dust (if any). Does it look scary to you?
A friend of mine had it done and she went weeks without dusting afterward. I think it’s a good thing and I think I need to do it. My house is the dustiest house evah.
My in laws just had the ducts in their home cleaned. The house is 40 years old and it had never been done. In the duct work they found: two dead mice; several old letters; miscellaneous junk and lots of dust. They say the think the house feels better. Knowing my father in law he did not shell out lots of money for this. Getting the two dead mice out of the duct work would be worth the price to me.
Duct cleaning works. It removes dust, allergens and debris from your ducts, however it has to be done right. If you’re thinking about it, first, the cost should be no more than 7-10 dollars per vent plus a flat fee of no more than $75. Second, the vac the company uses has to be 1) HEPA certified and 2) not mounted to a truck. It should go like this:
They will go around and remove your vents.
They will cut a hole in your return side duct, to which they will attach the standing vac.
They will (or should) go to each of the vents and use either an air nozzle or air powered brush to send the dust and dirt from the feeds/vents down into the main trunks.
They will drill small holes into the trunks, use the same nozzle/brush to agitate the debris in the trunks sending it to the vac.
You should ask to see the inside of the vac before they start. It should be clean. If it’s not, ask them to clean it. Don’t buy any of the extraneous crap they try to sell (dust mite killer, allergen reducer etc.)
It’s a complete profit center and 9 of 10 times does nothing at all.
Do your ducts once every 2-5 years depending on the age of your house and the external environment. Buy decent filters and change them every month.
In general, by far most houses don’t need it. A '91 shouldn’t need it unless there are other issues.
It helps in a few cases.
In the OP’s case, you need to think this way: The amount of dust in the ducts is essentially stable. If some of the dust you are cleaning is from the ducts, there is basically the same amount being deposited in the ducts.
Ducts should be cleaned to fix problems like airflow and smell.
Upgrading to an oversize HVAC system can cause a dust problem. If there is an imbalance between inlet and outlet flow in different parts of the house (since the existing ducts weren’t matched to the system), a lot of outside air can be drawn in.
I would generally agree with all of this, but I will add that if you’re not having dust issues from your HVAC system, you should leave well enough alone. Dust in the ducts will settle out in different places, depending on its weight and will stay there unless agitated by, say, cleaning the ducts. Anything that is left after the cleaning will then have to resettle and may find it’s way out of your vents, causing more troubles than if you had left well enough alone. So it has to be done just right or you’re better off not doing it at all.
What I would instead recommend investing your HVAC money on is checking to see whether your ducts are properly sealed. Some installers do a really half-assed job of sealing their joints, which means you’re losing all your air into the void spaces of your house, drawing dust in from all over the place, and generally making the system not work efficiently. Fix any leaks and you’re air pressure will improve and you’re dust issues might just go down.
My grandfather worked for a heating and cooling service for many many years - some people say it’s a scam, others say it makes a considerable difference. My grandfather worked for that particular business for 35 years - if it was such a scam, I’m sure they wouldn’t be doing so well today.
Just be careful which company you choose. Although it may seem like a pain, get estimates. We have had our ducts cleaned, and the man doing it suggested we picked up a furance filter that would catch more dust. Also, before you pay the big bucks to have your ducts cleaned, talk and ask questions first. If they’re willing to give you information and are helpful prior to them actually performing a service, then they’re worth going with. My fiance makes fun of me because I will pick a business apart before choosing to use them, but in the end, in this case, our ducts were cleaned, and I noticed significant changes.
I wouldn’t be so sure of that; if everyone thinks their ducts need cleaning regardless of whether they do or not, they will continue to get their ducts cleaned. The success of a business is not dependent on whether their service is actually required or not - it’s dependent on whether they have customers or not.
I have been im my house for 35+ years, never cleaned the ducts. 2 years ago I added AC to the house. I increased the size of the ducts to the 2nd floor. I did not get much dirt out out of the old ducts.
Now if your house is dusty. If you lcan not find any other source it is worth checking you r ducts.
We live in an older home( have for 40 years),The first 20 or so was very dusty. I had to dust at least 2 times a day. Now, since we had the ducts cleaned I can dust once a week and my cloth hardly shows dust on it. I guess it depends on what Company does the cleaning. If I still had dust I would call the company and have them re-do it.
My house was built in 2002 and it is the dustiest house I’ve ever lived in and it’s also the house with the most carpet. Carpet gives off dust constantly so that’s a losing battle right there. Recently our house got much dustier and we found out the dryer vent was leaking, blowing lint into the air.
Make sure you’re vacuuming near the air intake vents. If you have any of these under a bed or behind furniture it could cause more dust in the system. I noticed one day the intake vent behind the door in my son’s room was so dusty it looked like a cat was trapped in the ductwork. He does his own room and never closed the door while vacuuming.
I’m about ready to try the duct cleaning but we’re going to trade out some carpet for wood floors and I’ll do it after that’s finished. I’ve seen coupons in the paper for 350.00 off and I can’t imagine how much they’re charging that the price can be reduced so much.