We just had a company in to clean our house's warm and cold forced air
ducts, plus the furnace air system as well. Because it is hard to see if
they have cleaned all the duct/debris from the ductwork, it's tough to judge
if it is indeed clean afterwards. They used a big suction hose to suck out
the dust as they loosened it at each register with compressed air. They
also drilled three access holes to run a "skipper" into the cold air return
system. The skipper was just a hose with a blunt air nozzle on the end,
which was fed into the ductwork through the drilled access holes. I'm not
totally convinced it as clean as we had hope for. Like I said before, it's
tough to evaluate what you can't see.

Do some companies actually use a scrubbing system to clean the ducts?
Anyone have comments??

Cory
Regina, Sask.

http://www.epa.gov/iedweb00/pubs/airduct.html
"Cory Lechner" wrote in message
...
We just had a company in to clean our house's warm and cold forced air
ducts, plus the furnace air system as well. Because it is hard to see if
they have cleaned all the duct/debris from the ductwork, it's tough to
judge
if it is indeed clean afterwards. They used a big suction hose to suck
out
the dust as they loosened it at each register with compressed air. They
also drilled three access holes to run a "skipper" into the cold air
return
system. The skipper was just a hose with a blunt air nozzle on the end,
which was fed into the ductwork through the drilled access holes. I'm not
totally convinced it as clean as we had hope for. Like I said before,
it's
tough to evaluate what you can't see.

Do some companies actually use a scrubbing system to clean the ducts?
Anyone have comments??

Cory
Regina, Sask.

My understanding is there has never been any proof that duct cleaner is
either good or bad. Personally I think it's not necessary in most cases and
you'd be better off investing in better heat/air exchange technology and
filter technology.

"Cory Lechner" wrote in message
...
We just had a company in to clean our house's warm and cold forced air
ducts, plus the furnace air system as well. Because it is hard to see if
they have cleaned all the duct/debris from the ductwork, it's tough to
judge
if it is indeed clean afterwards. They used a big suction hose to suck
out
the dust as they loosened it at each register with compressed air. They
also drilled three access holes to run a "skipper" into the cold air
return
system. The skipper was just a hose with a blunt air nozzle on the end,
which was fed into the ductwork through the drilled access holes. I'm not
totally convinced it as clean as we had hope for. Like I said before,
it's
tough to evaluate what you can't see.

Do some companies actually use a scrubbing system to clean the ducts?
Anyone have comments??

Cory
Regina, Sask.

In article ,
"Cory Lechner" wrote:

We just had a company in to clean our house's warm and cold forced air
ducts, plus the furnace air system as well. Because it is hard to see if
they have cleaned all the duct/debris from the ductwork, it's tough to judge
if it is indeed clean afterwards. They used a big suction hose to suck out
the dust as they loosened it at each register with compressed air. They
also drilled three access holes to run a "skipper" into the cold air return
system. The skipper was just a hose with a blunt air nozzle on the end,
which was fed into the ductwork through the drilled access holes. I'm not
totally convinced it as clean as we had hope for. Like I said before, it's
tough to evaluate what you can't see.

Do some companies actually use a scrubbing system to clean the ducts?
Anyone have comments??

Cory
Regina, Sask.


Funny you should mention this. A few people around here were discussing
duct cleaning just the other day. The consensus would probably hope that
you didn't end up being taken *too* much for a ride, especially since
duct cleaning is something that can be done at home by anyone who knows
how to operate the on-off switch of a really good vacuum cleaner with a
slightly longer than standard hose.

The consensus would almost certainly hope too that you wouldn't resort
to actually look for someone try to scrub your ducts, too.

AJS

"Cory Lechner" wrote in message
...
We just had a company in to clean our house's warm and cold forced air
ducts, plus the furnace air system as well. Because it is hard to see if
they have cleaned all the duct/debris from the ductwork, it's tough to
judge
if it is indeed clean afterwards. They used a big suction hose to suck
out
the dust as they loosened it at each register with compressed air. They
also drilled three access holes to run a "skipper" into the cold air
return
system. The skipper was just a hose with a blunt air nozzle on the end,
which was fed into the ductwork through the drilled access holes. I'm not
totally convinced it as clean as we had hope for. Like I said before,
it's
tough to evaluate what you can't see.

Do some companies actually use a scrubbing system to clean the ducts?
Anyone have comments??

Cory
Regina, Sask.



Ok...look at it this way...

A simplified text look at your forced air system, on average:

Filter, return duct, air handler/furnace, supply duct, register.

Now...WHERE in hell is dirt going to enter the duct at? At the register?
Sure. Thats it...you are running filters right? They also offered to service
the AC coil, since its right smack in the middle of all that nasty dirt that
your filter didnt stop.........think about that.

Scrubbing to clean the ducts? Oh god...I hope not. Internally insulated
ducts have fiberglass with no covering right there....flex dects, and
fiberboard, and internally insulated ducts would be destroyed in seconds.

In short, unless for some odd reason, you have a problem actually on the
return side of the system, there is almost NEVER a need to clean the ducts.
Meaning..take 400 homes and one might need it..and thats a damn slim MIGHT.