Duct cleaning, when, how often?

[rowdyhillrambler]

My wife seems to think that we need to have our ducts cleaned. First, she saw some show on tv about scamming people. They were supposedly cleaning the ducts, but actually doing nothing. I say absolutely not, I built our house 2 years ago, and they surely cant need it this soon.
Is it necessary? How often? Ever?
I also take care of my mothers house, we just bought it for her. I have no idea how old the unit is, but i am going to have it cleaned just to appease them.
Any ideas or professional opinions appreciated.

 

[rickairmedic]

I would say every 10 years . Make sure the company you are using uses a negative pressure system ( no sears isnt going to do **** for $99.00 ) . Plan on spending upwards of $500.00 + to have it done right . On your new house it still may not be a bad idea simply due to the construction debris that could be in your ducts . No I dont personally do it as it costs upwards of $40,000.00 to have the proper equipment and a dedicated truck to do the job properly.

Rick

 

[rowdyhillrambler]

thanks for the info. After i finished my house, i had the ducts cleaned because of all of the **** that had fallen into the ducts. The company we called to do the cleaning charges about $700. I realize that this is probably something that is regional, or at least differs. I never recall anyone actually having this done. I assume the benefits are improved airflow and a more efficient unit?

 

[jvitez]

Doing it once after construction is a good idea. Thereafter, it all depends. Are you using high quality pleated furnace filters (MERV 8 or better) or just cheap fibrelass ones? Do you have an electrostatic filter, or thought of getting one? Smoker, lots of pets? Live by the beach? All these things make a difference.

I had the ducts cleaned once in our old house when we bought it. It was 4 years old. Lived there for 8 years and never did it a second time, but I used good filters and changed them regularly.

There exists some research that suggests you may not need duct cleaning at all as the heavy particles just stay put and don't become airborne. It still made me feel better having them cleaned once for piece of mind.

 

[jkeyser14]

I have a return on the main trunk in my basement that is large enough for me to stick half my body into, so I've got some experience with this. If you have dogs/cats there's a good chance yours should be cleaned every 2-3 years (It's amazing how much hair one dog can shed in a year). If no pets, every 10-15 years is probably fine.

 

[rowdyhillrambler]

yeah we do not have any pets, well at least i keep the mules outside, my wife won't let them stay inside. But seriously, we live in tennessee, have no indoor pets and do not smoke. I feel like i am not going to do anything about this and hopefully she will forget, but probably not.

 

[rickairmedic]

Rowdy if what your saying is the case then then have Sears come out for $99.00 and make her happy and your only out $99.00.


Rick

 

[chevy265]

I had it done about 5 years ago. They ran a camera thru the ducts before and after so i could see the difference. I couldnt believe the filth! The tech told me the color of my dog that had been gone for years as well as the color of the previous owners dog. Before i had it done, the filters got filthy quick and you would start to see dust settleing on everything a few hours after dusting. was it worth over $400....i dont know, but there was a big difference in the airborne dust for awhile.

 

[sdowney717]

Our house had a filter in the furnace but no filters in the cold air return .

I noticed the cold air plenum return duct was seriously full of fine grey dust. About one inch thick. Likely had never been cleaned.

So I cleaned it out with a vacuum and pulled the blower motor and got into the bottom of the furnace. I got most of it. the design of the return duct is not very long. And it is quite large. Two separate inlets combine under the stairs and the duct drops down into the crawl space and heads over to the furnace.

I then created a frame work and put in two decent filters on the cold air return. This will keep the ducts cleaner. So only filtered air gets into the duct and the filters are easier to change. I removed the filter in the furnace.
So now I have 2 14x24x1 inch filters instead of one in the furnace.
I never noticed any extra dust in the house with it working before or after I worked on it. I just did it cause It is bad to have unfiltered air going into duct work.

With the old cheap fg furnace filter I would sometimes have to clean out the inside of the inside coil. A layer of what looks like black felt would form and seriously block the air flow. I dont get that anymore.

 

[rickairmedic]

Sdowney I am going to say that you have pets . The layer of " black felt " was pet hair matted to the A coil ( one of the reasons I dont recomend the fiberglass filters ) . Pet hair goes straight through them.


Rick

 

[sdowney717]

yes, we do have a long hair cat that is always shedding its fur.

I was looking to get thicker 2 inch filters. They seen hard to find. Think they are worth the extra bother?
I was thinking increasing the depth of the pleats increases the surface area and then the air flow is less impeded.

 

[rickairmedic]

Look for the flanders 1" pleated filters at Home Depot of Lowes thats all I run and I usually get them for $6-$8 for a 3 pack. I have cats and although I clean my evap coil every fall I have never had much fur on my coil .

Rick