"April Buro" wrote in message
...
I just moved into a new house. I believed the past owners were
smokers. New paint and carpet has taken care of most of the smell but
I figured a duct cleaning might help.

The Duct Cleaning Tech came to me a few minutes after he started.
He was all worked up. Said he found some "spores and mold" and all it
took was just one spore. Having seen the King Of The Hill episode
several times I could hardly contain my laughter.

I would have asked to see the spores..LOL

I knew it wouldn't take him long to get to the money part and he
didn't disappoint me.
He had 3 different treatments he could do to make my home safe.
Each treatment was $100 a pop.


Cheap...


Which was best?
Well, that didn't matter, as long as I used 2 different treatments I
would be safe.
When he described what he could do, it sounded so much like King of
the Hill I started to tear up. And that go me one free disinfection
treatment.
I told the guy that I didn't need any other treatment because my house
was going to be tented and sterilized to treat the Mexican Blood Mite
infestation I had in my house.( I was having fun at his expense I
know).

Next time, tell em fleas....take it from someone that got under a home one
time with a SEVERE flea problem..he would have been packing and striping on
the way back to his van...


But the bottom line is now I'm thinking I probably shouldn't have even
gotten the ducts cleaned. It cost me $65 and they did
"something" for a few hours.

Something is right...you didnt get anything for $65.
What type of ducts do you have? Flex? Metal?

Most of the time, people who call for duct cleaning get exactly what you
got..nothing but a lighter wallet.
If you have flex duct, and the odor is what you want to remove, you remove
and replace all the ducts, have the unit serviced, and cleaned, and then, if
you are worried about some mold, since a small bit of mold is in EVERY home,
you install a couple of UV-C band lights to kill what ever passes in the
airstream.

As a sidenote....when we see mold, and I dont mean what we would call a
normal amount, based upon the history of the machine..if its never been
serviced, there might be quite a bit..but I mean the nasty fluffy crap all
over the insides of it, we take air readings of the unit, with a petri dish,
allow the sample to grow for up to 72 hours, and its sent off for testing.
over 3/4 of the time its not a thing to worry about.
Even when the duct cleaning companies have been out and screamed all about
how evil the stuff is...how its GOT to go....
Mold needs 3 things: Food, water, and dark. Remove any one of the three, and
its gone, or reduced.


What is the general opinion on duct cleaning?

AB