"Sennin" wrote in message
ups.com...
During wintertime, the furnace air has been drying out the family
sinuses. Also, we have been sick a few times. While investigating, I
thought maybe it was a furnace issue.

I had a reputable furnace man out. He suggested having the furnace
cleaned/AC cleaned and each air duct cleaned. For a total of $500.

I have heard that the furnace/AC cleaning is a good idea. I have also
heard that duct cleaning is just a scam, because the filter picks up
the dirt that would be in the duct.

Any thoughts on that?


Furnace cleaning's a good idea. They're all different, I guess, but in the
two I've owned, the motors got dusty and I don't think that's good for any
motor. You didn't mention what type of furnace you have, but if it's
oil-fired, you DEFINITELY want it looked at once a year.

As far as the ducts, unless you KNOW you have a mold problem (and it won't
only be in the ducts), it's pretty much a feel-good thing. It's cool to see
all the dust come out. But, if you're using the right filters, you're in
good shape.

This will generate plenty of debate: In my informal and totally unscientific
research, with two furnaces in 20 years, I came to the conclusion that the
middle-priced filters (around $8) seemed to do as good a job as the more
expensive ones, and the cheapest ones were almost useless. I cannot document
my reasons, the experiment may not be repeatable anywhere in the known
universe. You also need to see what your owner's manual says about different
types of filters.


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