It's funny reading all the replies from the pros; throwing around buzz words like HEPA and negative pressure. The guy is cleaning dust out of his vents, this isn't rocket science. Could it have been done better? Sure, but I bet they're still cleaner than when he started and it solved his problem. You HVAC guys work so hard to keep your business shrouded in secrecy. Quit belittling his work and let us discuss how to clean ducts without spending $600.
+daaper I was reading all the comments and thinking the same thing. Personally, we have a 100+ year old house, ducts are a mess for sure because when I vacuum regularly it's bad. Just a dusty old house. Paying for a duct cleaner will be part of our tax money... with kids and all other costs and wanting to keep your family healthier... you do what you can.
daaper i agree that hvac professionals who dont care about the customer will shroud the trade in secrecy. as an hvac tech heres why this was ineffective and will probably cause more troubles. a shopvac is not nearly powerful enough to collect any of the debris he is disturbing. it is not causing any negative pressure. with all that he disturbed as soon as he turns on the furnace it is going to be collected in the filter, clogging the filter causing no airflow. this Will cause a no heat situation and no cool. all that he disturbed in the supply side will be pushed back into the home and breathed in. its better to call a company you trust and have it done right.
You can, but what about all the dust and debris that was in the supply side? It doesnt go past the filter and is pushed right into the air you're breathing. Also by the time you realize there is a no heat or cool situation, you have been putting access stress on the blower motor which can lead to it failing or the start capacitor failing. Thats why i say its safer to call a company you trust because its done right the first time. And this method of duct cleaning isnt even cleaning 5% of whats there. 10-20% is being way to generous. Personally I am all for diy on things that are inexpensive. But never a furnace, ac or the ductwork. Hvac techs schooling and training isnt something that can be learned in youtube videos or in a google search. I go to so many calls where the home owner diy the furnace or ac and it always ends up costing them way more in the end because of the damage they did to the system.
only suggest one idea as I do clean ducts, it is my profession. I would use some type of agitating brush, to agitate the dust off the corners. As a professional, I provide before and after pictures. Dave you did a great job, hope it helped. make sure to change your filters as well.
Good for you! A tradesman who is honest and helpful. If you’re good at your job all you have to do is tell your client what you’re going to do and 9/10 they will say that’s why I’m hiring you. If it’s a young guy who says” hell I can do that”…hire him
I had a horrible musty smell whenever I turned on the central air that made me literally feel sick. I thought it was coming from my vents. I tried everything you could think of to get rid of it. Spent hundreds of dollars on products that didn't work. I even had the whole system cleaned out by a hvac professional but the smell still remained. I was changing my filter one day when I saw water pooling in the back of the unit near the drainage pan and alot of other yucky crap. It took me about 30 minutes a wet/dry vac, lots of rags, some warm water, soap and alot of patience to get rid of it all. You wouldn't believe the stuff that builds up in the drainage pan and coils and can cause foul smells and a host of other problems. I also sprayed everything down with Concrobium Mold control after cleaning. Smell is completely 100% gone and It smellls like I am in a fresh new place.
blackbeauty71872 Good idea to have the coils serviced every 1-2 years. Ducts are way longer as long as filters are doing their jobs. The yuk is dust on coils, then water clings to it and falls into the pan. This moistness will also breed some bad stuff.
@@shaun4bigblocksllc you are so awesome and knowledgeable and perfect. Will you please come criticize my efforts to do something useful while you launch snarky personal attacks on me? Thanks!
A few tips if you're going to attempt this: 1. Don't use fiberglass insulstion in your vents to block air. It has styrene in it and will cause the very symptoms you're trying to remedy. Cardboard(to hold it) and some duct taped plastic across the inside vent will do the trick. (Don't use duct tape on wood or painted surfaces, use painter tape on painted surfaces. Don't use any tape on shellac surfaces, it will peel it off.) 2. When you go to remove your register covers, run a razor knife around the vent to cut the paint first if it's been painted to avoid tearing the paint. 3. Some painters tape and either plastic or paper will seal the vents. Putting something on it without taping it will just cause the fine dust to blow into the room. 4. There's a good chance you won't be able to do this easily if you're HVAC has been properly installed in the last 10 years. They insulate the ducts so you'll have to cut the insulation to access the duct at the furnace/AC. What doesn't get done doing it this way: Duct cleaners use brushes so far more fine dust is removed. After that I guess you'll have to decide whether or not your time, 4 hours, and the possibility of doing more damage is more or less valuable than $200. No, I don't clean ducts or install HVAC for a living. But I've made all these mistakes.
Thank you SO much for this great video Dave. I have been researching the whole HVac thing and while it might be the way to go for some folks, I'm leaning strongly in the direction that us diyselfers can handle this task just fine in many instances. I am a contractor also and often show my potential customers how to "do it yourself" on things that they can. I really appreciate your presentation....concise, not a lot of jibber jabber that is not necessary; informational, lots of great tips that I wouldn't have thought of; humble, a genuine attitude of simply wanting to help and share your successes and things you did wrong but figured out the right or better way. I liked when you showed to bang on the duct with your hand to help loosen things. So, now I am all set to clean the ducts In the 90's double wide mobile home we just purchased in an investment deal. I would not have thought to use the leaf blower/vac method. Was just thinking to get a long hose and reach as far as possible, which isn't that far in a mobile and one story. You have definitely made my upcoming work easier and if I could, I would give you a hug. :) You are APPRECIATED!!
I can say we had our house done. The equipment they used cleaned the residue off of every inch of the ducts. Once they were done the ducts were treated to kill any mold and dust mites that might still be living in the duct work. With asthmatics in the house we we decided that having some not guessing at the job and pulling it all out side was much cleaner and safer.
Had my system cleaned twice by 'professionals' in the past 7 years. Come to find out neither of the companies had a clue and the jobs were just rip-offs and that I paid big bucks for. As with most DIY homeowner jobs, the only way to do it right is to do it yourself. (And save a bunch of money) Simple logic and common sense as is shown in this video is all it takes. Thanks for a great video.
As another note in reference to the stuffed up head, check the humidity level in your house. In cold areas with the furnace running with no humidification, humidity levels can drop to around 10%. Even with my whole house humidifier mounted on my furnace, I can only get it to about 35%. So I bought a whole house console unit to augment my furnace mounted humidifier. By humidifying your house, you can actually lower the thermostat a few degrees and with the added humidity it will feel warmer. This will also save your hardwood floors and furniture from shrinking, help prevent colds by keeping your mucus membranes moist.
This may be an older video but I'm glad I found it. Gives me a little more confidence to clean my own system. Only I'll be using a 2HP dust collector that I have for my garage workshop. It has a 4in hose and a lot more strength, but still the same concept. And I'll be using a rotary brush with about an 8ft reach
Bro, I'm cleaning my ducts too. Just a friendly tip, if you want better air flow. You need to use an aluminum foil tape along all your duct seams and connections. Anywhere there are screws also. Just sealing the furnace hood, has increased my heat distribution. A lot of hot air was leaking before the fan kicked in. Also saving me on my gas bill. I would also recommend if you have open ceiling ducts in your basement, to use a duct wrap insulation on all your exposed ducts. I'm using one called reflectix (looks like bubble wrap with foil on both sides). It helps with thermal loss in your ducts. When your furnace goes on, do you get cold air first? It's because of the thermal loss from the cool basement air against your ducts. About 30% of your furnace heat is lost just warming the ducts. So let's say, just taping the seams gives you 10% better heat. Plus the wrap gives around 20- 25% less heat loss. Bro, that's around 30- 35% better efficiency of your furnace. That adds up over the year. The tape costs around $25. The wrap cost around $40. $65 today, saves you hundreds in a year. I would also add, if not already there. Dampers on all your duct lines. They help with the amount of air that travels per duct. Let say you have a room that you hardly use (spare bedroom). It gets 100% heat from the duct, if you adjust the damper (not vent) you can reduce the heat flow to 30%, the rest 70% will now travel to other rooms. Work smart, not hard.
Good ideas, thanks for your video. Here are details inspired by your approach. I have a long hose that originally was a swimming pool vacuum hose. I use it for many tasks. For example when I annually clean my 6" Stainless steel chimney liner I attach the pool vacuum hose to my shop vac. Then place the shop vac outside so that it's exhaust doesn't blow collected fines all over the inside of the house. Shop vac filters are Not particularly good at stopping very fine particles -- certainly not remotely close to HEPA. For my furnace ducts I will snake the long pool filter hose into all ducts and perhaps attach an appropriately sized soft brush to mechanically dislodge the material. Will use another section of pool hose on the exhaust side of the shop vac so that the exhaust side of the shop vac delivers outside the house.
Your results may not be considered acceptable by those who make their living doing this. But at least you cleaned them. Many homes go 40 to 50 years without cleaning. One can only imagine what is living in there.
Wow thank u the most thorough video for cleaning the duct system $80.00 8 years ago it’s starting @ $500.00 now depend on the technician thanks again have a bless
Yes ! I thought I heard him wrong that is a crazy low price how do they even get there and set up before they do the work and pay the men. Must of been a scam coupon or something or that company went broke
Thanks for this video. I have dogs that don't like people much so I can't really have strangers running loud machinery throughout the house and it is too expensive to board my dogs AND pay for someone to do this. I understand that I won't get things as clean as a professional service, but if I do this every once in a while it will do wonders. Great video to follow.
I have a really long vacuum attachment made to clean clothes dryers and refrigerator coils. Cleaned pretty far into my ducts and returns with it today. I had to empty my vacuum twice, so I'm happy. Our house is 25 years old, and we've had cats the entire time. I think this is the second time someone's cleaned them. First time they were cleaned, we found garbage like soda bottles left over from the workers who built the house in the intakes.
Lots of useful information in your video. Well done! Thanks! Would have been interesting to see what you collected in the vac bag. I'm going to clean the vents in an older mobile home. I plan to use insulation around the leaf blower to keep air from blowing back and somewhat pressurizing the vents.
Thanks for the video, well explained. I did this myself as well but in a different way. I don't have leaves blower, I used the vent cleaning brush similar to the one you put the link, and instead of blow everything to the bottom, I used the brush to get dust up to the floor vents and collect there.
Hey kudos for trying :) Yours was the first site I saw on the subject. Such is the spirit of the DIY guy. We've lived in a farmhouse for 44 years. Never had duct cleaned, heated with wood for years :( Then oil, then wood. Can you imagine what a mess ours are? Thinking I need a professional, but I just had to see what was out there :) Love projects like this. Here's the thought I've been rolling around, creating a big nylon net poof thing like you use in the shower and dragging it through the duct work, while having the shop vac in basement to receive dust...lol
+SuperUtube53 Great idea!..... except, there's sheet metal screws sticking out and sharp edges where the pieces fit together and that scrub net thing would snag on them and now, how are you going to get it out when it's stuck 10 feet down a duct?
Congratulations Dave Wirth on standing up to all these 'professionals' who have so much to say about YOUR house. Personally, I'll only hire a 'pro' after I can't do something or totally break it. Then, at least I'm getting ripped off for fixing what I broke rather than ripped off for what I didn't even try to fix. You learned your lesson abt the insulation right and you won't do that again, family is cool, system works...screw the haters and DIY.
I had mine professionally cleaned in 2017 , opened my return trunk last week . Stick to doing it yourself , they did a half ass job. Screw you so called professionals. Goes the same to stanley steamer , they upcharged my 83yr old mother over $1,000.00 for a 3hr job. Freakin crooks.
I recommend using a camera and flashlight to inspect inside the ductwork before and after cleaning. I used my cell phone and couldn't believe all the dust and debris I found. It's important to know if it's clean or not because the dust can mold if the humidity gets high enough. Thank you for sharing.
Well, you've done a better job that many duct cleaning"professionals" out there :) You can lightly clean the system annually by yourself, that will extend a cleanliness of your ducts. At least, vacuum out cold air intakes, and change air filters every 2-3 month. But please, don't put this type of insulation inside of your duct system :) and be careful when you run a shop vac hose through the return vents like that..you can damage wiring (thermostat, alarm, etc..) But I would recommend to let professionals thoroughly clean it for you at least once in every 7-10 years...just make sure they really are professionals. This job should cost around $450, not that big of an investment for 7-10 years :) Good luck!
Use it like a wild fire hose with a brush attached on the end feed it in turn the valve on let it flip flop round as you pull it back out when you run out of air stop let it fill continue then run the leaf blower shop vac or do all 3 at once
not sure if stuffing fiberglass insulation in your ductwork is the best idea,im sure when you turned on your heat you blasted thousands of tiny fiberglass fibers throughout your duct system and in turn your house.
I ran a duct cleaning service for several years. $80 is super cheap. But remember, you get what you pay for. When I did it, it was a two man job. An average house would take about 5 hours to do it right. That included cleaning the evaporator coil. When cleaning the duct work, a lot of debris will fall onto the evaporator coil. Once you turn the system back on, much of debris will blow right back into the duct. The remaining debris will fall into the condensate drain pan at the bottom of the evaporator coil and plug it up preventing it from draining properly and allowing water to drip into the furnace and corrode the heat exchanger and other parts of the furnace. Simply blowing air into the duct work will not effectively clean the duct. Some type of agitation must be used in conjunction with the vacuum system. Also, a shop vac isn't near as powerful as a duct cleaning vac moving 5000 cfm/min. with a HEPA filtration system as the final filter.
Lol I am a furnace tech and it takes 1 person to do any typical house 45 mins to an hour doing it PROPERLY with professional equipment. This guy is not cleaning out his ducts, he is cleaning the start of his duct system which is basically a waste of time
+LandonGendur ya bro its not cheap to clean vents anywhere... 80$ is a total rip off, they probably come in with a vacuum and suck out what they can. a good company will charge around 3 to 400$. you get what you pay for, just do you research on feedback and shopping around is a must when getting this work done. ive been cleaning vents for 12 years and this is not the way to do it.
In the Midwest I’ve heard it’s around $25 a run plus a trip fee. In a large house it can be hundreds of dollars. I definitely cringed when he said $80 was a scam.
Dude you're truly a life saver I need to do this badly and after this I am confident I can accomplish this in a weekend just need a leaf blower. Going to check out your link!!
I like this guy. He broke it down and not talked down at his viewers like my dumb lazy landlord. As you can see it's early and this landlord I got seriously is a piece of work he should have came here. My air ducts are not only filthy but rusted past it's time. Smh
Ha! I thought I was the only one who uses a shop vac to clean my ducts! The only two things I do different is that I tape a dryer vent brush to the end of my shop vac hose and run it up and down the ducts be for using my little 6 gallon air compressor to blow the vents out. And I do use my air compressor, not a leaf blower. Seems to do as good a job as when I had a pro come in and clean them, as judged by how much I need to dust furniture.
I was lucky enough to find a complete dryer vent cleaning kit at the goodwill for $3. Has the super long brush on it. I will definitely be doing this. What an idea!
Thank you very much cross your fingers and hope this works Its going to be a spring cleaning weekend project We are going to use an air compressor see how that works out
I know right. I’m going to let the company it’s going to cost $375. They are just going to clean it they are not going to sanitize it. Did the company do the cleaning did they sanitize it or they just clean it?
I'm gonna try cleaning mine but I plan on using a clean cheap air filter and turning on the furnace fan to suck the dust to the filter that my shop vac doesn't get at least for the return vent
This is a good enough way to do it yourself if you’re in a pinch and your vents are seriously clogged. But hiring an actual professional will clean it really thoroughly. Meaning they won’t just bang on the walls of those vents to loosen the dirt, they’ll actually go in there with a tool that scrapes and brushes the insides of the walls. For longer lasting results.
I applaud you for this DIY work. But, that's a lot of work. Here in Los Angeles, CA it costs about $400 to get air ducts cleaned. I would gladly pay that, though, and go about my day!
I had my house ducts cleans for $700 and it was amazing. They cleaned out 50 years worth of life, and 10 years of remolding. My needs were pretty extreme and the required a professional.
@@513kkimmy no I did not do it. $1800.00 IS crazy. I guess I'll do it my self with a plastic rake and garbage bags this spring. Maybe buy a 3 n 1 yard leaf blower and try to suck it out.Not all Texans have oil wells. Stay warm up there. Thanks for asking.
What were the contents of the shop vac like? Or did you check the vent before putting the plate back on? I love the creativity in your approach, but without ways to quantify how effective your cleaning was this is not as helpful
Even if the shop vac had anything in it after he " cleaned" the system, he did more harm than good, not to mention the fiberglass. Even a large shopvac is only pulling 200cfm or so which is NOWHERE close to enough. By using a leaf blower all he did was disturb all the dust in each run, then due to lack of suction, it settled back in the system. To go with his complaints, and other peoples comments, the guy charging $80 is probably going to do exactly what the OP did and use a leaf blower which is worthless. Professional companies cost more because the equipment to do it right is very expensive. My company has 2 negative air machines, running 5000 & 7500 CFM. It takes machines this large to produce a quality clean within the system. Just the 2 machines, no hoses, filters, vehicle or anything else where nearly $10,000. This is the reason a professional company will all ways be more expensive, because it takes investment on their part to produce quality.
I use a similar method to clean my ducts, though I run my shop vac hose up and down the vents with a dryer duct brush attached to it. I do this every month in the winter because I have allergies and pets, so there's not usually a huge amount for crud in my shop vac when I'm done, but I can tell you I don't have to dust the furniture nearly as much as I did before I started doing this. I do have 6 gallon air compressor to help with this chore, though. I don't have a leaf blower and doubt it would help much for cleaning out the air exchanger. No fine control of where the air's going.
Good improvised duct cleaning. I would only be concerned about the Air Conditioning coil that sits on top of the furnace inside the ductwork. I couldn't see if you had central air or not. If you don't protect that coil you could be pushing some of the dust right on top of it. And yes as the other comments say, you need to bust up that dust with some physical brushes or something. You could probably invest in a few Dryer Vent cleaning kits and use those brushes on a drill to help clean out the vents. Duct cleaning can be a tedious process on the professional side, but done right it will totally clean out all of that dust. If you do a little research you can eliminate the scammers pretty easy.
good video - thanks. were you able to determine how much dust was removed from the ducts? did you start with a new or clean filter and empty vacuum container where you could see everything pulled from the ducts?
I’m having the same problem whenever I turn on my heat or Air. I’m wondering if it helped. I called hvac and they told me $400 for a 3 bedroom apartment. $80 sounds more affordable
I do not have a furnace living in NC ,but i am wondering if i might have blocked vents on my A/C unit looking to clean out vents ,very hot in the bedroom
just bought a house and i been sneezing a lot So made me look inside the vents and they are fully loaded of dust - i cant believe it every single one- looks like the inside of a pillow just stuffed in the vents- i think I am going to call someone to do it. thanks for the video-
I have one of those kits with a brush on a long metal handle that can be bent for my dryer vent. I think that might be useful to dislodge the dust along with a shop vac. I like the idea in the comments to exhaust the shop vac outdoors with a second hose, or an old pool hose. They don't cost much.
If it requires 15x the suction or blowing power of the furnace itself to remove some stubborn buildup maybe it should be left alone as its not going anywhere just running the furnace. House painters usually knock off the loose paint, sand and paint over the original paint. Its the loose dust that may come out your vents into your lungs
For anyone who lives in Florida from Central to South Florida it is not necessary to have a company do your ducts. We hardly even use heat some years only days some a week or two. Since mainly A/C goes thru our vents the dust build isn't much and at the vent and all the air makes it hard for mold to grow. If you have moldy bathroom caulk then you might ask a professional but turning the fan on when showering should cure that problem. The most I ever had to do is remove the vent and use something with a long handle and cloth or a swifter since the dust build up happens there. I do have a fireplace blower and that looked like the one he showed us full of dust and dirt so check that before use every year.
I would say the brushes they use so a really good job but I am going to do it myself to save cash. I am going to use a plumbing snake with some sort of "loofah" type attachment. Like the lead blower idea but the one thing I did not agree with is using insulation to plug up the end to minimize the dust. The insulation is basically a big was of dust itself and so many people are allergic to it so you will be spreading out through your house. That's would prob give my son a trip to the ER but hey, You get an A for thinking outside the box
I done the same with a shop vac and long hose. Shoved my cammera down them and they look clean. Cant stress enought now important the return air vents are to clean as that your air intake. I could here the vac suck god knows what from return vents up to about 8 feet in. Also change your filter and clean interior of furnace. I also ran a 1 micron shop filter in all the rooms with vents for 24/7 for one day while running the "cleaned" vents. 1 microns not hepa but it gets close to it.
as a guy that did this for 3 years. what he is doing is ok if you system is already fairly clean. we were not at the 80 dollar mark at all. A normal size house 20 vents was $200 and took about 2 hours including set up and tear down. we sprayed disinfectant in the duct work washed all the vent covers and cleaned all the lines including the big runs in the basement. the stuff I have found in the the vents would surprise you. everything from construction material to money and jewelry. yes the money and jewelry were returned. I have found stuff that was worth money that was there from previous owners. hell I even found stuff people where hiding . guns drugs even porn. all stuff your leaf blower will not move. I would never throw around the word hepa. I for one never tried to up sell anything to anyone.I have been in a house for as little as 2 hours and as long as 12 hours. so you can imagine how long that would take with a shop vac and leaf blower. no to mention we always showered before and after to the customer. so let me tell you I was one to think it was a rip off before I started cleaning them. after not so much had many customers call my office to thank me.
good diy, but be careful not to be blowing all that dust into the furnace components, and its a good idea to seal up all accessible areas such as that hole in the basement. Even just duct tape around there would be great for the system. also for others trying to do some diy cleaning, try a compressor.
We don't use warm air much over in England but, my dads old house that will still have does indeed have this system in but even though there is not much insulation around the ducting there does seem to be more than in your home. Cover the ducting where you can it will save you money.
i would appreciate his efforts. at least he stood up and did something instead of paying a bunch of scammers. and for your kind information the scammers say they will do it for $50 but make a bill of $200 in the end.
I’m not a pro but would it work best if the leave blower and shop vac would trade places or, won’t you want the dust to be pushed away from the furnace instead of blowing it back into the ductwork. Just my .02
He had the foil face towards the inside of the vent. agree with person who suggested putting the insulation in a bag to work with and my niece says eye protection.
I would have loved to se the shop vac content after the project was finished to see how much had accumulated. That way I could judge if it was even worth my time and what difference it made. But nice video. It was helpful.
Brilliant plan I've been busting my head on diy plans on cleaning my HVAC. Never thought to use a leaf blower. Thanks ..... All though.... Next time you clean your vents, I wouldn't recommend using the insulation. Insulation is made tiny particles of glass. Getting insulation on your skin is bad enough. I'd think breathing little tiny particles of glass way worse than the dust you just cleaned.
I had an estimate done from an advertisement for $49.95 but the final estimate was $2,200. I declined. I used leaf blower to get rid of basic dust and discovered lots of dumped grout and tile bits down one of the ducts. No wonder my house was so dusty.
I clean airducts for a living and can say with 110% certainty that you avoided a scam. The company I work for is the most expensive in our area and even the largest houses I have done didn't even come close to that. I once did a large house with around 50 vents and 3 furnaces and the price came out to around 1.8k. Most houses I do never crack above $800
Definitely get a humidifier. I have a whole house humidifier that works wonders. It does get clogged in the water line every 5 years or so. You also need to replace the filter once or twice a year depending on usage. It helps a lot though. In Michigan winters, it can get down in the teens for humidity inside. Mine can get it to 30-35%. I also put small ones in our bedroom at night and in the home office during the day when it’s bad.
I agree with King X and eracer350 here, are you sure that the relative humidity is correct for the house during the heating season? I think it should be around 40-55%, do you have a humidifier on your system and is it working?
In the future, maybe use a high quality air filter for cleaning the air, not that bad basic one which is just to designed to protect the equipment. Those Arm and Hammer ones are great, as well as the 3M ones, or a electrostatic filter. It will certainly help keep dirt, and mold out of the vents
the leaf blower will just blow stuff into the areas you have already cleaned. a big issue is not visible clumps of dust, but getting rid of all the airborne dust. yes you can defiantly do it yourself. (i probably would) however some people dont want too or the reason there cleaning the ducts are because of allergies and would make them sick trying to clean it. plus we spray cleaner after we use a power brush. the reason that its charged so much is because of how expensive the equipment is. and when we clean them we clean thwm professionaly. not i think it works. we cant spend hours jerry rigging to clean a house when we have other jobs to go to.
That dust is stuck to the sides thats not getting the most of it. That's why you see them with a circular brush and it goes around like a brush on a vaccum to loosen everything up.
I like how your brain works ! Thanks so much excellent video no blah blah and just the details. BTW how much junk did you get out of the vents would of loved to see the contents of the vacuum cleaner
Registers are one of the many overlooked DIY projects that can completely transform the look of your home. There are so many decorative and affordable vents to choose from! :)
I want to fog my HVAC with Concrobium. But my coil is in a metal case that is only 1 inch away from the cabinet. How do I introduce the fog into the HVAC enough that it pulls it all through the system with all the vents closed but the furthest away, when the only time I get any air suction is when the filter is in place? I would be SO GRATEFUL if you could tell me what I should do. We are pretty desperate here.
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It's funny reading all the replies from the pros; throwing around buzz words like HEPA and negative pressure. The guy is cleaning dust out of his vents, this isn't rocket science. Could it have been done better? Sure, but I bet they're still cleaner than when he started and it solved his problem. You HVAC guys work so hard to keep your business shrouded in secrecy. Quit belittling his work and let us discuss how to clean ducts without spending $600.
+daaper I was reading all the comments and thinking the same thing. Personally, we have a 100+ year old house, ducts are a mess for sure because when I vacuum regularly it's bad. Just a dusty old house. Paying for a duct cleaner will be part of our tax money... with kids and all other costs and wanting to keep your family healthier... you do what you can.
ignorance at its finest
daaper i agree that hvac professionals who dont care about the customer will shroud the trade in secrecy. as an hvac tech heres why this was ineffective and will probably cause more troubles. a shopvac is not nearly powerful enough to collect any of the debris he is disturbing. it is not causing any negative pressure. with all that he disturbed as soon as he turns on the furnace it is going to be collected in the filter, clogging the filter causing no airflow. this Will cause a no heat situation and no cool. all that he disturbed in the supply side will be pushed back into the home and breathed in. its better to call a company you trust and have it done right.
Jake V Can't you then just change the filter?
You can, but what about all the dust and debris that was in the supply side? It doesnt go past the filter and is pushed right into the air you're breathing. Also by the time you realize there is a no heat or cool situation, you have been putting access stress on the blower motor which can lead to it failing or the start capacitor failing. Thats why i say its safer to call a company you trust because its done right the first time. And this method of duct cleaning isnt even cleaning 5% of whats there. 10-20% is being way to generous. Personally I am all for diy on things that are inexpensive. But never a furnace, ac or the ductwork. Hvac techs schooling and training isnt something that can be learned in youtube videos or in a google search. I go to so many calls where the home owner diy the furnace or ac and it always ends up costing them way more in the end because of the damage they did to the system.
only suggest one idea as I do clean ducts, it is my profession. I would use some type of agitating brush, to agitate the dust off the corners. As a professional, I provide before and after pictures. Dave you did a great job, hope it helped. make sure to change your filters as well.
Good for you! A tradesman who is honest and helpful.
If you’re good at your job all you have to do is tell your client what you’re going to do and 9/10 they will say that’s why I’m hiring you. If it’s a young guy who says” hell I can do that”…hire him
Great job! I'm sure your wife is so proud of you and is so thankful! I bet your entire family feels better. Thanks for sharing.
I respect you. Most people would've never took air duct cleaning as far as you did.
I had a horrible musty smell whenever I turned on the central air that made me literally feel sick. I thought it was coming from my vents. I tried everything you could think of to get rid of it. Spent hundreds of dollars on products that didn't work. I even had the whole system cleaned out by a hvac professional but the smell still remained.
I was changing my filter one day when I saw water pooling in the back of the unit near the drainage pan and alot of other yucky crap. It took me about 30 minutes a wet/dry vac, lots of rags, some warm water, soap and alot of patience to get rid of it all. You wouldn't believe the stuff that builds up in the drainage pan and coils and can cause foul smells and a host of other problems. I also sprayed everything down with Concrobium Mold control after cleaning. Smell is completely 100% gone and It smellls like I am in a fresh new place.
blackbeauty71872
Good idea to have the coils serviced every 1-2 years. Ducts are way longer as long as filters are doing their jobs.
The yuk is dust on coils, then water clings to it and falls into the pan. This moistness will also breed some bad stuff.
Do u mind making a video?
Where did you spray the concrobium? Directly into the a/c unit (coil)?
How much did it cost to get system cleaned
@@shaun4bigblocksllc you are so awesome and knowledgeable and perfect. Will you please come criticize my efforts to do something useful while you launch snarky personal attacks on me? Thanks!
For all you Home Builders: PLEASE BUILD US A HOUSE WHERE WE CAN CLEAN THIS KIND OF STUFF EASY!! GOOOODDDNESS!!
A few tips if you're going to attempt this:
1. Don't use fiberglass insulstion in your vents to block air. It has styrene in it and will cause the very symptoms you're trying to remedy. Cardboard(to hold it) and some duct taped plastic across the inside vent will do the trick. (Don't use duct tape on wood or painted surfaces, use painter tape on painted surfaces. Don't use any tape on shellac surfaces, it will peel it off.)
2. When you go to remove your register covers, run a razor knife around the vent to cut the paint first if it's been painted to avoid tearing the paint.
3. Some painters tape and either plastic or paper will seal the vents. Putting something on it without taping it will just cause the fine dust to blow into the room.
4. There's a good chance you won't be able to do this easily if you're HVAC has been properly installed in the last 10 years. They insulate the ducts so you'll have to cut the insulation to access the duct at the furnace/AC.
What doesn't get done doing it this way:
Duct cleaners use brushes so far more fine dust is removed.
After that I guess you'll have to decide whether or not your time, 4 hours, and the possibility of doing more damage is more or less valuable than $200.
No, I don't clean ducts or install HVAC for a living. But I've made all these mistakes.
This seems like a fair, objective reflection on this vid +1
I would pay $200 … but they charge $750 in my neighborhood for a 3000sqft home.
@@Ryuugi17 Yeah. This comment is almost 10 years old.
Where do they charge $200 to clean Air Duct? I've been quoted between $400 & $800
@@RedHaze76 you might want to check how old that post is.
Thank you SO much for this great video Dave. I have been researching the whole HVac thing and while it might be the way to go for some folks, I'm leaning strongly in the direction that us diyselfers can handle this task just fine in many instances. I am a contractor also and often show my potential customers how to "do it yourself" on things that they can. I really appreciate your presentation....concise, not a lot of jibber jabber that is not necessary; informational, lots of great tips that I wouldn't have thought of; humble, a genuine attitude of simply wanting to help and share your successes and things you did wrong but figured out the right or better way. I liked when you showed to bang on the duct with your hand to help loosen things. So, now I am all set to clean the ducts In the 90's double wide mobile home we just purchased in an investment deal. I would not have thought to use the leaf blower/vac method. Was just thinking to get a long hose and reach as far as possible, which isn't that far in a mobile and one story. You have definitely made my upcoming work easier and if I could, I would give you a hug. :) You are APPRECIATED!!
I can say we had our house done. The equipment they used cleaned the residue off of every inch of the ducts. Once they were done the ducts were treated to kill any mold and dust mites that might still be living in the duct work. With asthmatics in the house we we decided that having some not guessing at the job and pulling it all out side was much cleaner and safer.
Plus, how much time did you save yourself not having to bungle your way through a DIY jon
That sounds great how much did they charge you to do that?
Had my system cleaned twice by 'professionals' in the past 7 years. Come to find out neither of the companies had a clue and the jobs were just rip-offs and that I paid big bucks for. As with most DIY homeowner jobs, the only way to do it right is to do it yourself. (And save a bunch of money) Simple logic and common sense as is shown in this video is all it takes. Thanks for a great video.
As another note in reference to the stuffed up head, check the humidity level in your house. In cold areas with the furnace running with no humidification, humidity levels can drop to around 10%. Even with my whole house humidifier mounted on my furnace, I can only get it to about 35%. So I bought a whole house console unit to augment my furnace mounted humidifier. By humidifying your house, you can actually lower the thermostat a few degrees and with the added humidity it will feel warmer. This will also save your hardwood floors and furniture from shrinking, help prevent colds by keeping your mucus membranes moist.
this is good info as I'm having a huge humidity problem in my basement. I've been wondering if a whole house dehumidifier will work
Easy to install, too!
I have to agree.....I think we were all waiting to see how much dust/dirt you collected. How much did you get?
It would be something to see what they actually got in the vacuum.
I wish I could've seen total accumulation in the shop vac.
There wasn't any, that's why he didn't show it
Whatever he collected is better than to have left it as it was..
Lol in 2021 this service is now $500...80 i wish
@@MoeToOFFeR it is a rip off. Just change your filters every 2 to 3 months
Nice job, I use a foam ball with a string on it to do my round duct. Shop vac and blower to blow/ suck the string and them pull. Works like a charm
This may be an older video but I'm glad I found it. Gives me a little more confidence to clean my own system. Only I'll be using a 2HP dust collector that I have for my garage workshop. It has a 4in hose and a lot more strength, but still the same concept. And I'll be using a rotary brush with about an 8ft reach
Bro, I'm cleaning my ducts too.
Just a friendly tip, if you want better air flow. You need to use an aluminum foil tape along all your duct seams and connections.
Anywhere there are screws also.
Just sealing the furnace hood, has increased my heat distribution.
A lot of hot air was leaking before the fan kicked in. Also saving me on my gas bill.
I would also recommend if you have open ceiling ducts in your basement, to use a duct wrap insulation on all your exposed ducts. I'm using one called reflectix (looks like bubble wrap with foil on both sides). It helps with thermal loss in your ducts.
When your furnace goes on, do you get cold air first?
It's because of the thermal loss from the cool basement air against your ducts. About 30% of your furnace heat is lost just warming the ducts.
So let's say, just taping the seams gives you 10% better heat. Plus the wrap gives around 20- 25% less heat loss.
Bro, that's around 30- 35% better efficiency of your furnace.
That adds up over the year.
The tape costs around $25.
The wrap cost around $40.
$65 today, saves you hundreds in a year.
I would also add, if not already there.
Dampers on all your duct lines.
They help with the amount of air that travels per duct.
Let say you have a room that you hardly use (spare bedroom). It gets 100% heat from the duct, if you adjust the damper (not vent) you can reduce the heat flow to 30%, the rest 70% will now travel to other rooms.
Work smart, not hard.
I was just thinking about this as well. The vents in this house are absolutely awful.
Great advice! Thanks for sharing!
I would have liked to see inside the shop vac Before and After.
Good ideas, thanks for your video.
Here are details inspired by your approach. I have a long hose that originally was a swimming pool vacuum hose. I use it for many tasks. For example when I annually clean my 6" Stainless steel chimney liner I attach the pool vacuum hose to my shop vac. Then place the shop vac outside so that it's exhaust doesn't blow collected fines all over the inside of the house. Shop vac filters are Not particularly good at stopping very fine particles -- certainly not remotely close to HEPA.
For my furnace ducts I will snake the long pool filter hose into all ducts and perhaps attach an appropriately sized soft brush to mechanically dislodge the material. Will use another section of pool hose on the exhaust side of the shop vac so that the exhaust side of the shop vac delivers outside the house.
+Ronald Wellman Those are both good ideas
Your results may not be considered acceptable by those who make their living doing this. But at least you cleaned them. Many homes go 40 to 50 years without cleaning. One can only imagine what is living in there.
Wow thank u the most thorough video for cleaning the duct system $80.00 8 years ago it’s starting @ $500.00 now depend on the technician thanks again have a bless
Yes ! I thought I heard him wrong that is a crazy low price how do they even get there and set up before they do the work and pay the men. Must of been a scam coupon or something or that company went broke
Thanks for this video. I have dogs that don't like people much so I can't really have strangers running loud machinery throughout the house and it is too expensive to board my dogs AND pay for someone to do this. I understand that I won't get things as clean as a professional service, but if I do this every once in a while it will do wonders.
Great video to follow.
Get rid of the dogs. Simple
@@sgtkrazykramer 👎
Can't you just stick the dogs in a room for a couple of hours?
The dogs are not good excuses to deprive yourself of good and professional services. Health is wealth. Dog is animal
You can also put them outside or cage them for a bit. It won't harm your dogs.
I have a really long vacuum attachment made to clean clothes dryers and refrigerator coils. Cleaned pretty far into my ducts and returns with it today. I had to empty my vacuum twice, so I'm happy. Our house is 25 years old, and we've had cats the entire time. I think this is the second time someone's cleaned them. First time they were cleaned, we found garbage like soda bottles left over from the workers who built the house in the intakes.
I think that what you did is probably the best way to clean the vents. The traditional method requires a super high air flow.
I use a dust buster and determination. Never underestimate the will of the American Spirit!!!
,v,6f0-9y
Thanks. Would've been nice to see the inside of that shop vac and another peek into the trunk line.
As an HVAC tech this is a really good idea! I would not have thought of that!
You must suck
Lots of useful information in your video. Well done! Thanks! Would have been interesting to see what you collected in the vac bag. I'm going to clean the vents in an older mobile home. I plan to use insulation around the leaf blower to keep air from blowing back and somewhat pressurizing the vents.
Yes I was gonna say the same,,,,would have been cool to see how much dust he collected
Thanks for the video, well explained. I did this myself as well but in a different way. I don't have leaves blower, I used the vent cleaning brush similar to the one you put the link, and instead of blow everything to the bottom, I used the brush to get dust up to the floor vents and collect there.
Hey kudos for trying :) Yours was the first site I saw on the subject. Such is the spirit of the DIY guy. We've lived in a farmhouse for 44 years. Never had duct cleaned, heated with wood for years :( Then oil, then wood. Can you imagine what a mess ours are? Thinking I need a professional, but I just had to see what was out there :) Love projects like this.
Here's the thought I've been rolling around, creating a big nylon net poof thing like you use in the shower and dragging it through the duct work, while having the shop vac in basement to receive dust...lol
+SuperUtube53 Great idea!..... except, there's sheet metal screws sticking out and sharp edges where the pieces fit together and that scrub net thing would snag on them and now, how are you going to get it out when it's stuck 10 feet down a duct?
Congratulations Dave Wirth on standing up to all these 'professionals' who have so much to say about YOUR house. Personally, I'll only hire a 'pro' after I can't do something or totally break it. Then, at least I'm getting ripped off for fixing what I broke rather than ripped off for what I didn't even try to fix. You learned your lesson abt the insulation right and you won't do that again, family is cool, system works...screw the haters and DIY.
Ingenious, well improvised. There is a little captain in you.
kudos for being proactive for your familys health concerns man ! Anything you do in terms of cleaning your duct system is worthwhile
You kno the procedures that’s all that matters. Well done
I had mine professionally cleaned in 2017 , opened my return trunk last week . Stick to doing it yourself , they did a half ass job. Screw you so called professionals. Goes the same to stanley steamer , they upcharged my 83yr old mother over $1,000.00 for a 3hr job. Freakin crooks.
you forgot some decimals
Thanks for being normal and using normal stuff .
I recommend using a camera and flashlight to inspect inside the ductwork before and after cleaning. I used my cell phone and couldn't believe all the dust and debris I found. It's important to know if it's clean or not because the dust can mold if the humidity gets high enough. Thank you for sharing.
Well, you've done a better job that many duct cleaning"professionals" out there :)
You can lightly clean the system annually by yourself, that will extend a cleanliness of your ducts. At least, vacuum out cold air intakes, and change air filters every 2-3 month. But please, don't put this type of insulation inside of your duct system :) and be careful when you run a shop vac hose through the return vents like that..you can damage wiring (thermostat, alarm, etc..)
But I would recommend to let professionals thoroughly clean it for you at least once in every 7-10 years...just make sure they really are professionals. This job should cost around $450, not that big of an investment for 7-10 years :)
Good luck!
Great video man. I fix alot of things around my house the same way, its nice to see videos of DIYer figuring stuff out and trying it.
I was waiting for the big reveal of all the dust in the ShopVac. Brilliant idea. I think I'm going to do the same, but use my air compressor.
I don't think an air compressor would have enough volume - let us know how it works
ihavehotmail2 he means to blast out dust particles
I was wanting to see the dust as well..
Use it like a wild fire hose with a brush attached on the end feed it in turn the valve on let it flip flop round as you pull it back out when you run out of air stop let it fill continue then run the leaf blower shop vac or do all 3 at once
not sure if stuffing fiberglass insulation in your ductwork is the best idea,im sure when you turned on your heat you blasted thousands of tiny fiberglass fibers throughout your duct system and in turn your house.
YEAH!! What's worse than fiberglass dust? Not much.
Put insulation in trash bags
Agreed, he should have disassembled all the piping cleaned them in a tub for a few hours, then put it all back together. You got it Dave!
I found the skeleton remains of Jimmy Hoffa and $50 million in my vent.
Two more reasons to DIY.
You should have emptied your shop vac before starting, then you would know how much dirt you actually collected.
I ran a duct cleaning service for several years. $80 is super cheap. But remember, you get what you pay for. When I did it, it was a two man job. An average house would take about 5 hours to do it right. That included cleaning the evaporator coil. When cleaning the duct work, a lot of debris will fall onto the evaporator coil. Once you turn the system back on, much of debris will blow right back into the duct. The remaining debris will fall into the condensate drain pan at the bottom of the evaporator coil and plug it up preventing it from draining properly and allowing water to drip into the furnace and corrode the heat exchanger and other parts of the furnace. Simply blowing air into the duct work will not effectively clean the duct. Some type of agitation must be used in conjunction with the vacuum system. Also, a shop vac isn't near as powerful as a duct cleaning vac moving 5000 cfm/min. with a HEPA filtration system as the final filter.
Lol I am a furnace tech and it takes 1 person to do any typical house 45 mins to an hour doing it PROPERLY with professional equipment. This guy is not cleaning out his ducts, he is cleaning the start of his duct system which is basically a waste of time
I would have liked to see how much was in the shop vac after.
Wow, $80 to clean ducts in your area? It's like $400+ to get a company to do it here in Canada :(
+LandonGendur ya bro its not cheap to clean vents anywhere... 80$ is a total rip off, they probably come in with a vacuum and suck out what they can. a good company will charge around 3 to 400$. you get what you pay for, just do you research on feedback and shopping around is a must when getting this work done. ive been cleaning vents for 12 years and this is not the way to do it.
500 for 16 registers in Nw of usa
I was going to say the same thing. That's cheap.
In the Midwest I’ve heard it’s around $25 a run plus a trip fee. In a large house it can be hundreds of dollars. I definitely cringed when he said $80 was a scam.
@@jaceanderson6449 then share us a video on how to do it.. after all sharing is caring..
I wish i could see the result becaus you did a great job showing the durs in the pipe
Dude you're truly a life saver I need to do this badly and after this I am confident I can accomplish this in a weekend just need a leaf blower. Going to check out your link!!
I like this guy. He broke it down and not talked down at his viewers like my dumb lazy landlord. As you can see it's early and this landlord I got seriously is a piece of work he should have came here. My air ducts are not only filthy but rusted past it's time. Smh
I love the insulation you put in the hole. I bet you're enjoying breathing that.
Ha! I thought I was the only one who uses a shop vac to clean my ducts! The only two things I do different is that I tape a dryer vent brush to the end of my shop vac hose and run it up and down the ducts be for using my little 6 gallon air compressor to blow the vents out. And I do use my air compressor, not a leaf blower. Seems to do as good a job as when I had a pro come in and clean them, as judged by how much I need to dust furniture.
I was lucky enough to find a complete dryer vent cleaning kit at the goodwill for $3. Has the super long brush on it. I will definitely be doing this. What an idea!
Thanks! I just got a quote for cleaning 17 vents and some fogging for $1500 what a steal....in Boston MA
+hanil405 that's the right price.. smfh... facepalm
Dude I literally had the exact same idea and then I TH-cams DIY vent clean out and you did the same thing! Excited to try this thanks for sharing.
Thank you very much cross your fingers and hope this works Its going to be a spring cleaning weekend project We are going to use an air compressor see how that works out
$80 to clean the vents! That's amazing I paid $400 to get mine cleaned
I know right. I’m going to let the company it’s going to cost $375. They are just going to clean it they are not going to sanitize it. Did the company do the cleaning did they sanitize it or they just clean it?
Did you start with a clean vacuum so you could tell if you sucked anything at all after you were finished?
I'm gonna try cleaning mine but I plan on using a clean cheap air filter and turning on the furnace fan to suck the dust to the filter that my shop vac doesn't get at least for the return vent
This is a good enough way to do it yourself if you’re in a pinch and your vents are seriously clogged. But hiring an actual professional will clean it really thoroughly. Meaning they won’t just bang on the walls of those vents to loosen the dirt, they’ll actually go in there with a tool that scrapes and brushes the insides of the walls. For longer lasting results.
I applaud you for this DIY work. But, that's a lot of work. Here in Los Angeles, CA it costs about $400 to get air ducts cleaned. I would gladly pay that, though, and go about my day!
I had my house ducts cleans for $700 and it was amazing. They cleaned out 50 years worth of life, and 10 years of remolding. My needs were pretty extreme and the required a professional.
What state are you in? Texas wanted $1800. To clean vents.
@@bogusienombre355 New York
@@bogusienombre355 omg that’s crazy. Did you get it done
@@513kkimmy no I did not do it. $1800.00 IS crazy. I guess I'll do it my self with a plastic rake and garbage bags this spring. Maybe buy a 3 n 1 yard leaf blower and try to suck it out.Not all Texans have oil wells. Stay warm up there. Thanks for asking.
@@bogusienombre355 totally couldn’t afford it either. Stay warm. This weather is crazy!!
What were the contents of the shop vac like? Or did you check the vent before putting the plate back on? I love the creativity in your approach, but without ways to quantify how effective your cleaning was this is not as helpful
Yeah that would be nice to know.
WateryIce54321 agree. I have no idea based on this video if it worked
It was empty =P
Even if the shop vac had anything in it after he " cleaned" the system, he did more harm than good, not to mention the fiberglass. Even a large shopvac is only pulling 200cfm or so which is NOWHERE close to enough. By using a leaf blower all he did was disturb all the dust in each run, then due to lack of suction, it settled back in the system.
To go with his complaints, and other peoples comments, the guy charging $80 is probably going to do exactly what the OP did and use a leaf blower which is worthless. Professional companies cost more because the equipment to do it right is very expensive.
My company has 2 negative air machines, running 5000 & 7500 CFM. It takes machines this large to produce a quality clean within the system. Just the 2 machines, no hoses, filters, vehicle or anything else where nearly $10,000. This is the reason a professional company will all ways be more expensive, because it takes investment on their part to produce quality.
I use a similar method to clean my ducts, though I run my shop vac hose up and down the vents with a dryer duct brush attached to it. I do this every month in the winter because I have allergies and pets, so there's not usually a huge amount for crud in my shop vac when I'm done, but I can tell you I don't have to dust the furniture nearly as much as I did before I started doing this. I do have 6 gallon air compressor to help with this chore, though. I don't have a leaf blower and doubt it would help much for cleaning out the air exchanger. No fine control of where the air's going.
Suffed up? Do you have a humidifier on the furnace and if so what is the relative humidity in the house? Can be very dry air in the winter time.
It would be something to see what you actually got in the vacuum.
Good improvised duct cleaning. I would only be concerned about the Air Conditioning coil that sits on top of the furnace inside the ductwork. I couldn't see if you had central air or not. If you don't protect that coil you could be pushing some of the dust right on top of it. And yes as the other comments say, you need to bust up that dust with some physical brushes or something. You could probably invest in a few Dryer Vent cleaning kits and use those brushes on a drill to help clean out the vents. Duct cleaning can be a tedious process on the professional side, but done right it will totally clean out all of that dust. If you do a little research you can eliminate the scammers pretty easy.
good video - thanks. were you able to determine how much dust was removed from the ducts? did you start with a new or clean filter and empty vacuum container where you could see everything pulled from the ducts?
I’m having the same problem whenever I turn on my heat or Air. I’m wondering if it helped. I called hvac and they told me $400 for a 3 bedroom apartment. $80 sounds more affordable
Any Suggestions on Flex Ducting? Blowing a leaf blower won't tear or pull apart flexible hose ducting?
I do not have a furnace living in NC ,but i am wondering if i might have blocked vents on my A/C unit looking to clean out vents ,very hot in the bedroom
just bought a house and i been sneezing a lot So made me look inside the vents and they are fully loaded of dust - i cant believe it every single one- looks like the inside of a pillow just stuffed in the vents- i think I am going to call someone to do it. thanks for the video-
I have one of those kits with a brush on a long metal handle that can be bent for my dryer vent. I think that might be useful to dislodge the dust along with a shop vac. I like the idea in the comments to exhaust the shop vac outdoors with a second hose, or an old pool hose. They don't cost much.
If it requires 15x the suction or blowing power of the furnace itself to remove some stubborn buildup maybe it should be left alone as its not going anywhere just running the furnace. House painters usually knock off the loose paint, sand and paint over the original paint. Its the loose dust that may come out your vents into your lungs
For anyone who lives in Florida from Central to South Florida it is not necessary to have a company do your ducts. We hardly even use heat some years only days some a week or two. Since mainly A/C goes thru our vents the dust build isn't much and at the vent and all the air makes it hard for mold to grow. If you have moldy bathroom caulk then you might ask a professional but turning the fan on when showering should cure that problem. The most I ever had to do is remove the vent and use something with a long handle and cloth or a swifter since the dust build up happens there. I do have a fireplace blower and that looked like the one he showed us full of dust and dirt so check that before use every year.
I would say the brushes they use so a really good job but I am going to do it myself to save cash. I am going to use a plumbing snake with some sort of "loofah" type attachment. Like the lead blower idea but the one thing I did not agree with is using insulation to plug up the end to minimize the dust. The insulation is basically a big was of dust itself and so many people are allergic to it so you will be spreading out through your house. That's would prob give my son a trip to the ER but hey, You get an A for thinking outside the box
I done the same with a shop vac and long hose. Shoved my cammera down them and they look clean. Cant stress enought now important the return air vents are to clean as that your air intake. I could here the vac suck god knows what from return vents up to about 8 feet in. Also change your filter and clean interior of furnace. I also ran a 1 micron shop filter in all the rooms with vents for 24/7 for one day while running the "cleaned" vents. 1 microns not hepa but it gets close to it.
as a guy that did this for 3 years. what he is doing is ok if you system is already fairly clean. we were not at the 80 dollar mark at all. A normal size house 20 vents was $200 and took about 2 hours including set up and tear down. we sprayed disinfectant in the duct work washed all the vent covers and cleaned all the lines including the big runs in the basement.
the stuff I have found in the the vents would surprise you. everything from construction material to money and jewelry. yes the money and jewelry were returned. I have found stuff that was worth money that was there from previous owners. hell I even found stuff people where hiding . guns drugs even porn. all stuff your leaf blower will not move. I would never throw around the word hepa. I for one never tried to up sell anything to anyone.I have been in a house for as little as 2 hours and as long as 12 hours. so you can imagine how long that would take with a shop vac and leaf blower. no to mention we always showered before and after to the customer. so let me tell you I was one to think it was a rip off before I started cleaning them. after not so much had many customers call my office to thank me.
good diy, but be careful not to be blowing all that dust into the furnace components, and its a good idea to seal up all accessible areas such as that hole in the basement. Even just duct tape around there would be great for the system. also for others trying to do some diy cleaning, try a compressor.
$80 10 years ago thats a dream price
We don't use warm air much over in England but, my dads old house that will still have does indeed have this system in but even though there is not much insulation around the ducting there does seem to be more than in your home. Cover the ducting where you can it will save you money.
Thanks Dave... I'm in Florida, the scam capitol of the world, so I aim to try to do this job myself...
i would appreciate his efforts. at least he stood up and did something instead of paying a bunch of scammers. and for your kind information the scammers say they will do it for $50 but make a bill of $200 in the end.
I’m not a pro but would it work best if the leave blower and shop vac would trade places or, won’t you want the dust to be pushed away from the furnace instead of blowing it back into the ductwork.
Just my .02
He had the foil face towards the inside of the vent. agree with person who suggested putting the insulation in a bag to work with and my niece says eye protection.
I've just found this channel and I like its content. Congratulations on the simplicity and cost-effectiveness of the presented ideas! :) Subscribed.
I would have loved to se the shop vac content after the project was finished to see how much had accumulated. That way I could judge if it was even worth my time and what difference it made. But nice video. It was helpful.
+Liz Rainey I was thinking the same thing. I would imagine that he would have had to empty the shop vac out a few times. yuck, all that dust!
What's left in the vac?
Brilliant plan I've been busting my head on diy plans on cleaning my HVAC. Never thought to use a leaf blower. Thanks ..... All though.... Next time you clean your vents, I wouldn't recommend using the insulation. Insulation is made tiny particles of glass. Getting insulation on your skin is bad enough. I'd think breathing little tiny particles of glass way worse than the dust you just cleaned.
I had an estimate done from an advertisement for $49.95 but the final estimate was $2,200. I declined. I used leaf blower to get rid of basic dust and discovered lots of dumped grout and tile bits down one of the ducts. No wonder my house was so dusty.
I clean airducts for a living and can say with 110% certainty that you avoided a scam. The company I work for is the most expensive in our area and even the largest houses I have done didn't even come close to that. I once did a large house with around 50 vents and 3 furnaces and the price came out to around 1.8k.
Most houses I do never crack above $800
@@connorpeppermint8635 how much time did it take to do 3 furnaces 50 vents ?
you are fantastic!I respect someone who will take on a challange!
Best video I've seen so far. Thank you.
Definitely get a humidifier. I have a whole house humidifier that works wonders. It does get clogged in the water line every 5 years or so. You also need to replace the filter once or twice a year depending on usage. It helps a lot though. In Michigan winters, it can get down in the teens for humidity inside. Mine can get it to 30-35%. I also put small ones in our bedroom at night and in the home office during the day when it’s bad.
I agree with King X and eracer350 here, are you sure that the relative humidity is correct for the house during the heating season? I think it should be around 40-55%, do you have a humidifier on your system and is it working?
In the future, maybe use a high quality air filter for cleaning the air, not that bad basic one which is just to designed to protect the equipment. Those Arm and Hammer ones are great, as well as the 3M ones, or a electrostatic filter. It will certainly help keep dirt, and mold out of the vents
Great video! I would've loved to see what you pulled out in your shop vac. Thanks for sharing!
I would have liked to see what was collected in the shop vac
the leaf blower will just blow stuff into the areas you have already cleaned. a big issue is not visible clumps of dust, but getting rid of all the airborne dust. yes you can defiantly do it yourself. (i probably would) however some people dont want too or the reason there cleaning the ducts are because of allergies and would make them sick trying to clean it. plus we spray cleaner after we use a power brush. the reason that its charged so much is because of how expensive the equipment is. and when we clean them we clean thwm professionaly. not i think it works. we cant spend hours jerry rigging to clean a house when we have other jobs to go to.
That dust is stuck to the sides thats not getting the most of it. That's why you see them with a circular brush and it goes around like a brush on a vaccum to loosen everything up.
I like how your brain works ! Thanks so much excellent video no blah blah and just the details. BTW how much junk did you get out of the vents would of loved to see the contents of the vacuum cleaner
Wish you would have shown us what collected into the shop vac
Use a utility knife around any painted registers to keep paint from peeling off. Just score it once around .
Registers are one of the many overlooked DIY projects that can completely transform the look of your home. There are so many decorative and affordable vents to choose from! :)
I want to fog my HVAC with Concrobium. But my coil is in a metal case that is only 1 inch away from the cabinet. How do I introduce the fog into the HVAC enough that it pulls it all through the system with all the vents closed but the furthest away, when the only time I get any air suction is when the filter is in place?
I would be SO GRATEFUL if you could tell me what I should do. We are pretty desperate here.