How much to pay for duct cleaning?

[Bennylava]

Unfortunately it looks like I've got some kind of black mold coming out of two of the vents in my house. Just noticed it today. I went around and looked, and the rest seem ok. I change the filters regularly, and even write the date on them, but once I forgot for about 5 months. Do I need to have some kind of professional cleaning done?

If so, how much should I pay for this service? I don't mind paying for it but I don't really want to be ripped off either. Thank you

 

[mike93lx]

Filters aren't going to stop that. They are there to keep the coil clean of dust and hair, and that's about it.

Pricing will vary by location, layout and amount of ducting. Call a couple places and you will know your local market

 

[P0234]

Oh man, you have got yourself a potential money draining situation. Hopefully no one is getting sick from the mold, if not, time is on your side, you'll need it.

You could end up with the guy with a shop vac and some brushes that does nothing to a full five alarm mold remediation crew that goes door to door in your neighborhood sounding the alarm of MOLD!

I agree with Mike, it's unlikely to be a filter issue. Sounds more like a moisture issue in the vents. You need to figure out what's causing that because the mold will be right back even with a thorough cleaning.

Finding a good company to clean the vents (after you find your moisture problem) is going to be hard. The industry is 95% crackpots. There is a certification body, forget the name, that might get you closer. Again, you don't want the guy with the shop vac, you want the guy with the big truck and the huge vacuum. Also he needs to have a fogging machine to treat the vents after the cleaning. Ask what they use for a chemical, they are required to tell you. Benefact is a really strong option that is non toxic to humans and pets, it's used in hospitals and will make your house smell like a hospital for a day or so.

Most of all, if no one is sick, take a chill pill and don't overreact. There are companies that prey on this. Mold is the new home Boogeyman after lead paint and asbestos were pretty much gone. All mold isn't bad, most mold in a house isn't toxic, but the water it feeds on is the bigger problem. And most scam companies won't fix the water problem, just tear apart things, spray chemicals and leave them for someone else to fix.

And by the way, if you like blue cheese, you eat mold...lol.

 

[duneslider]

I'm curious about your situation here. Mold needs 3 things, food, water, oxygen. You can't get rid of oxygen but if the food or water is gone you can't have mold. My understanding is that humidity needs to be pretty high for mold to grow, like above 60-70% maintained.

You really need to figure out the moisture issue, or nothing will solve the mold issue. Also, just because the mold looks "black" doesn't mean it is "Black Mold". Without testing it can be hard to know what exactly you have. Either way you need to take care of it but it does sort of change the needs.

At the end of the day, you need to figure out the moisture issue or no amount of cleaning will help.

 

[starquestMM]

Count up your supply and return vents before calling for quotes.

 

[bwringer]

Call a respected HVAC place.

As above, you want the guys with a giant truck and all the equipment.

If you just Google Duct Cleaning, you're going to get a tweaker with a shop vac in his Mom's car.

And yeah, solve the moisture thing first. Again, call in the best local HVAC shop you can find for this.

 

[bonneyman]

Call your HVAC contractor and ask him who he recommends locally. Most A/C guys don't want to mess with duct cleaning so refer that work to someone they can trust.
When I needed someone years ago they charged per grille. Like 10-15 bucks. They removed all the grilles, stuffed a piece of soft foam in each, and then hooked a big suction tube to be top of the furnace/air handler. That tube went out to the truck which had a bunch of big inflatable "bags" that popped out the top when the suction was turned on. They'd then remove one foam plug at a time, and blow high pressure air with a tube into each duct as far down as they could reach. They'd replace the foam plug, and move on to the next one. One at a time, furthest away from the furnace working towards it. Then patch it all back up. They didn't take before and after pics but I've heard many companies do nowadays. Maybe they have a newer/better system today.
But the presence of mold indicates either excessive moisture in the air or water infiltration. Could be a roof leak or attic insulation has peeled off in a section letting unconditioned air touch the cold ducts causing condensation. Should look into that.
Hope this helps!

 

[mm08822]

Unfortunately it looks like I've got some kind of black mold coming out of two of the vents in my house. Just noticed it today. I went around and looked, and the rest seem ok. I change the filters regularly, and even write the date on them, but once I forgot for about 5 months. Do I need to have some kind of professional cleaning done?

If so, how much should I pay for this service? I don't mind paying for it but I don't really want to be ripped off either. Thank you

Can you explain what the affected duct runs are exposed to in summer and winter (temps/humidity/crawl space/attic/wall cavity/insulated /sheetmetal)?

Is there a humidifier being run in winter?

 

[The Cobbler]

duct cleaning wont solve a mould issue . I don't think I've ever heard of mould in duct work before. curious on the conditions present for it to live there

 

[Bennylava]

Can you explain what the affected duct runs are exposed to in summer and winter (temps/humidity/crawl space/attic/wall cavity/insulated /sheetmetal)?

Is there a humidifier being run in winter?

There is no humidifier, and they are exposed to what appears to be an insulated attic. Well it was probably "insulated" at one time, but the house was built in 1983. I'm probably going to have the foam sprayed down on the attic floor to help with Texas summer temps.

The two vents with the mold are right by the unit itself. I don't know how long the duct work is that's running to them, but the both of the vents are within 15 feet of the main indoor apparatus. It seems to primarily **** from right below it, the fan being aimed at the concrete.

 

[isb cornbinder]

We had a Bernese Mountain Dog. That dog shed more hair than I though was possible. We were having a new HVAC system installed, so my wife called for the "Man in the Shinny Black Van." He had an interesting accent, but he did not say very much and went straight to work. After a hour or two, he approached my wife to tell her he had vacuumed an entire dog out of the return air duct and he had to empty his machine 3 times. His accent became more interesting as his excitement rose as he described his situation. .
Our Bernese lived to her mid teens and she certainly left a reminder of her passing this way. I miss Heidi.

 

[Stobal]

Went through this at my house do to poorly installed soft duct. There is a very good chance that the mold is isolated to the area near the registers. The cold AC air cools the metal and if you have high humidity or a leak of warm humid air from an uninsulated space condensation will form. You can google “sweating AC ducts/registers” for additional information including common causes. In my case do to the poor job installing the soft duct, and failing to insulate and seal the area where the soft duct attaches to the register I pulled a full garage journal solution and redid 90% of the duct work with wrapped hard pipe and made sure I sealed and insulated connection points. As far as the mold went, it was really limited those areas. You can take one of those borescope cameras and see how deep the mold goes and if it is limited to the registers, buy a simple mold killing solution and use a sprayer. If you want to get crazy about it or the mold is pervasive you can get a fogger that will fill the duct with mold killing fog. Also you can install a special UV light in the air handler that will kill active spores as the air travels through it (I did not do this and the mold has not returned). All in all it was a huge pain in the *** but I have the satisfaction knowing that I fixed it right.

 

[bwringer]

Another cause of that sort of mold might be as simple as an old food spill or similar.

When I worked as a mover, the stuff under and behind people's furniture often included forgotten plates, spilled milk in kid's rooms, etc. that had sprouted all sorts of interesting fungi and other microorganisms.


When we had our ducts cleaned, our house finally stopped smelling slightly of the former resident's Rottweiler when the heat or AC kicked on... should have done it a lot sooner. We cleaned greasy black dog hair from behind and under absolutely everything for years but couldn't get that last bit o' funk out until the duct cleaning got it.

 

[zendriver]

Take off the vent covers and look down into the duct.

Is there mold in there? I would not freak out if there is just a small amount. Cold be a spill etc as other heave suggested.

FWIW wife got estimates near $800 for a two bedroom home. I'm going DIY, just because.

 

[Jackfre]

If isolated to the attic area close to the evaporator rather than cleaning that section of duct I’d look to replace what is there with new. Do upgrade your insulation as you described and improve the insulation on the new duct work. Once done you can have confidence taht it won’t happen again. But, as they say, “trust, but verify.”

 

[Bennylava]

When we had our ducts cleaned, our house finally stopped smelling slightly of the former resident's Rottweiler when the heat or AC kicked on... should have done it a lot sooner. We cleaned greasy black dog hair from behind and under absolutely everything for years but couldn't get that last bit o' funk out until the duct cleaning got it.

Yeah that's why I never could do the indoor dog thing. It always makes your house... well just kinda nasty, no matter how hard you try. And you always get hit with the smell when you visit someone's house who has an indoor dog. But you gotta act like you don't smell anything.

Getting ready to pay a lot for all this, mold cleaning and having the whole attic insulated. Ah, the joys of home ownership.