Hi All,
I am trying to get a little information about air duct cleaning. Does anybody have an opinion or experience with this type of service? I was thinking of going over and looking in that great little UCO folder that Ken mentioned.
The reason I am asking is because I have never had this air duct cleaning done in my place. I always seem to get so much dust and notice that the dust is worse in the rooms with the most air conditioning circulation. My air conditioning is on most of the time, except when we have those nice cooler days.
So, I am wondering if my air ducts need cleaning. I heard somebody say quite a while ago, that air duct cleaning is a service that somebody made up just to make a lot of money and that nobody needs to have that done. I simply don't know.
I put in a brand new air conditioner and air handler in shortly after I moved in and I change my air filter just about every month. But that doesn't seem to help with the dust. I buy the medium priced filters at Home Depot.
I do notice the dust is worse in the rooms with the most air conditioning circulation.
Any opinions would be appreciated.
thanks,
chris
11 comments:
The ducts are usually so short here I do not think they can make you dusty. Are your windows open? Are you dancing madly on old carpets? I do not have dust, I change cheap filter 3x per year, my a/c is on all the time. Maybe it is your location? Dave has hydrocarbon grit in his place. I only get burnt toast or cigarette smells that filter up from units below. Unscrew the plates from the ducts and look in, are your ducts only the length of the hallway? You could hand vac it yourself.
(My neighbor insisted her daughter visit the condo every week while it was empty to dust – there was no dust at all in 6 months!)
I agree with the person who said its a ripoff, in Centruy Village that is, we only have two feet of duct, usually!!
Dust and other matter in the air effects people differently depending on their allergies, etc. One of the problems in cleaning ducts is many of them are fiberglass lined and cleaning them moves fiberglass particles into the air. There are some very expensive ways to clean fiberglass lined ducts. Some people who have a problem with dust use special type filters or special systems.
If a previous owner of your unit smoked it is very difficult to get the smoke smell out of the lined ducts no matter what you do other than to replace the ducts. Some units seem to get more dust than other depending on where your unit is located and how much you keep windows open or even how many times you open a close the entrance doors. You mention buying filters from Home Depot. The they the exact size that is required by the air handler? Are there any gaps? What is the condition of the pan under the filter? Is the air intake grill area dust free?
Thanks for the info Larry. You bring up some good points. I will try vacuuming my air intake grill area to see if that helps.
Maybe it would also help if I use the filter that came with the air conditioner when I bought it. I just hate washing that filter out. I prefer buying the throw away kind. It is the correct size and fits perfectly. There are no gaps at all.
You could be right on the button concerning location. I do live very close to Okeechobee.
Thank you again. I will forget about the air duct thing and I guess just try to be a better housekeeper. Heaven forbid!
chris
Hi Anons, I didn't see your posts at first because for some reason the anon comments were registering as "deleted" when I first went on. Sometimes this blog does wierd things.
Now that I read your comments - I know that is definitely the answer! I HAVE BEEN DANCING MADLY ON MY OLD CARPETS!! Have you been peaking in my windows??? How did you know?
I'll take dust over burnt toast and cigarette smells anyday! Is that hydrocarbo grit you speak of from Dave's roof - that post he did a few months ago?
Two feet of duct - rip off - now makes sense to me.
Thanks all!
chris
On the three units that I own, I have had a maintenance contract with service experts. I am not happy with them, they screw up every appointment and they spend 20 minutes on the maintenance. One time they will say everything is ok, the next time they say it is ready to die and should be replaced, then back to ok. I am looking for another company. This last time, the service man talked about my air ducts and when I asked him for a price, he said that because I was a maintenance customer he could give me a price of $500 + price. I can see that that price would be ridiculous for the small air duct area that our units have. I told him to forget it I would get one of the ones that advertises $25 per vent, making my bill $100. I am not even willing to do that. I will clean them myself and do a better job. I do change AC filters 4-5 times a year in my unit and 2-3 in my two rental units that do not get much ac use.
Does anyone have a company that does the maintenace that they are happy with and confident that they are not getting scammed?
After watching *** do trial and error and waiting for them day after day for more visits. I do without, but I only have 1 unit. I hung in with threats etc for 6 months to get a new compressor for an in-the-wall a/c after replacement coverage had been paid for a lifetime. They even labelled the unit 'to be destroyed' but I caught it. The 6 months was probably not worth it but I can be persistent. (I was renovating the unit, not living in it). I think an individual competent handyman might be better than one of the everything companies. I now throw appliances out as needed. Now you got me going, one of their other techniques is to tell you that you do not need whatever you called them for, or 'its not in your contract'. I always had to fight, fight, and show them the contract, Whew. Caveat Emptor.
Here's another NICE mess you've gotten me into Chris. I looked in my ducts, and lo and behold a whole colony of mold. I guess I will replace the lining of the duct (Home Depot). I’ll wear a hazmat suit (for Larry). I am not affected by mold having grown up in the primordial soup of olde England, fog, mold, pollution, green stuff! We Brits have far less allergies than the US, touch wood.
To Elaine & Mollie
Once mold is discovered inside the ducts it is most likely that the mold spores have traveled to other places like nearby carpets. The only way to be sure is to have a mold test done. If the mold spores have traveled it is necessary to have the mold cleaned by professionals. If you have mold coverage in your homeowners policy it is advisable to contact your insurance company.
Be very careful on special duct cleaning specials as most of them do not do much. YES a special duct cleaning that does not spread fiberglass particles in the air IS very expensive but effective.
Many times ducts can be sanitized instead of cleaned with a citrus type spray designed for this purpose.
When our customers call for advice we normally suggest that they buy some of the special filters or filter systems designed for people allergic to dust etc.
Window units wear out faster than central air system and in some cases are more difficult to repair of to find parts for older units. It is also our experience at Village Mutual that some technicians are better than others and no matter how good a technician is they do make mistakes in judgment and analysis of problems at times. There are also times that a problem can not be found the first time a technician comes. Having a technician return to the same location for the same problem is expensive. That is why we try to get it done right the first time. As the village gets older more problems come up on a daily basis.
One of the problems in the village with scheduling appointments is that many of our residents have multiple doctor appointments to work around and all have very busy lives and do not want to stay home even for a hour or so.
Holy tamolie Elaine! I can just see you standing on a stool looking into your air duct! What a picture. ha, ha!!!
What a nightmare that can be.
Thank you Larry for some very important information.
I like Village Mutal very much. I think they are great. I had them in another unit a ways back and they replaced my air conditioner when it needed and another time they replaced my air handler when it was needed. They were always very accomodating as far as being nice enough to call a family member for me right before they would be arriving, so that family member could go to my place and I wouldn't have to take time off of work.
When I moved into this new place, I continued on with the company that had the contract already with this new condo. It was written into my purchase contract that I would pay the remaining months. I did not like that company at all. I am now back with Village Mutual. Very happy about it.
All done, mold gone, everything laundered, vacuumed, dusted, remainder treated. I am thinking tho’ that since mold spores are everywhere, just waiting for moisture and warmth to grow. Probably everyone with the central hall/duct a/c probably has some mold in the duct. The air initially blows over moist coils and a fibrous surface that does not get cleaned - a mold incubator. I am not concerned with mold in the rest of the condo because it is always cool and dry enough. I do add algae killer to the pan and will spray the ducts regularly with mold zappers in future.
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