The Truth Behind A/C Duct Cleaning | Tri County Air
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 มิ.ย. 2024
- Sometimes duct cleaning is recommended by your HVAC professional - but most of the time it is not necessary or helpful. Here are the pros and cons of getting your A/C ducts cleaned brought to you by Billy Swanson, Owner and President of Tri County Air.
Great video!! Just saw this after saving the video for a few months! Our own HVAC technician told us after doing the A/C annual service that duct cleaning is worthless as long as we change our air filters regularly and get our annual A/C and Furnace service done. Mom paid $2,000 for a company to clean her ducts after 30 years and they did a horrible job. Missed most the vents and when they left, dust blew out these vents all over her house!
We were told, however, dryer vents are a different "animal" and should be cleaned every 2 years!!!
Good answer I tell my customers the same thing people are more concerned about cleaning ducts that don’t even need to be cleaned, while the dryer vent is plugged and a fire hazard it’s so bad. Tbh duct cleanings are snake oil even the epa called it out
100% the first person to speak the truth about flexible ducts cleaning.
Totally different story with metal duct work.
So know what kind of duct work you have before you have someone clean your duct work.
The most honest duct cleaning video on TH-cam
The most dishonest.he lying about air duct cleaning to sell new units.u want truth.hit me back.ill lay it out.....
Great video thanks!!
Ductless Multi split units with heat pumps is not too expensive if the health is the issue. Don’t have to worry about the dirty ducts.
Thank you so much for the information!
Now I have a question for you ,my ducks are almost 50 years old “they are the good ones” I asked my husband to change them and he said that those kind of AC ducts are really expensive… what is your recommendation?
Thank you
Good stuff 👍🏼 explained
Excellent information! Thank you so much!
Hi jane
Well explained and educational and thanks for your honesty and graphic!
Asking your AC company of you need your ducts cleaned is a terrific way to find out if they are a good company.
When asked the first thing the AC company ask is, "do you know what kind of ducts you have in the house?".
How old is house and have you ever cleaned the ducts?
If they simply say "yes you should get them cleaned" you need to find a new AC company.
You are an honest person, thank you. My duct work is fiberglass, 10 yrs old.
Good information , thanks old timer
Mine must be the exception. House was built in 2002 and I pull the return grills now and then and clean out the stud cavity with a shop vac and brush as best I can. I get hands full of dust and dog hair out every time. I've considered putting low merv filters on the return grills.
If you have a stud cavity return. This video only partially pertains to you.
This video is mostly talking about flexible duct work.
There is some good general information.
Please help. There is something (particles?) coming fro the AC that is causing my arms to burn. I know it’s inside the house because when I leave home I don’t feel it. Can you tell me what I need to do? Thanks in advance.
Thanks so much for the video. Verify informative. I was looking for DIY ductwork cleaning because the HVAC guy said, "Yeah you should have your ducts cleaned more than once every 5 years or so." Your explanation makes sense.
He full of crap. .I used to do this.look up nadca standards on air duct cleaning .we get so much dirt out,help people with allergies...dogs....hair get trapped in evaporator coil ....which can restrict air flow.you need to clean your outside condenser unit also ..
And of course you have numerous documented calibrated meter results verifying this?
Stupid professional EPA test conclusions, right?
Thanks for stimulating the economy.
thanks for the tips good sir.. and most of the dislike on this video its all of these company who try to make money out of us for not being honest with there customers. THANK YOU AGIAN GOOD SIR FOR THE TIP.
Thank you.
ok so we have smelly sock smell, coils inside had cleaner put on them, ran ac, smell is mostly gone, changed dusty filter, son's allergy symptoms have improved, but how do i know if there is mold or not?? have pricey duct cleaning scheduled in a few days.
A mold remediation company would be able to tell you if you have mold.
Thank you
Thank you, thank you, thank you a million times for sharing this info. My wife, after hearing from someone at work that ducts should be cleaned, has been insisting that I hire a duct cleaning service. After having her watch your video, I was able to convince her otherwise. I can’t explain what a relief it’s, not to have to her ask for it every week. Lol
you should probably watch a duct cleaning video i bet you will change your mind this guy has no clue lol
Your video makes sense. I would only clean if I knew 100% that the ducts wouldn't get damaged... But it's gonna be a risk in damaging the ducts regardless. But I would say get the ducts cleaned if you can prove that mass amounts of air are spilling dust into your home - for whatever reason.
And FYI, even the EPA states that a lot of the chemicals that companies use to 'seal' or line the ducts cannot be proven to be better for the quality of air going through the ducts.
Not everybody has a house that's 15 years old. Air duct cleaning is a matter of living healthy or not. I just bought a house that's' 65 yrs old and the cold air returns have 2 inches of DIRT in them and I have asthma. They need to be cleaned!
So did your asthma improve after getting them cleaned?
@@CarolinaMiC No, it wasn't a matter of getting better, it was a matter of getting worse. I'm doing good because I had them cleaned. If you shine a flashlight in your vents and there is a build up, getting them cleaned will make a difference.
@@dollarBill007 ok
The EPA doesn’t recognize any correlation between the cleanliness of hvac ducts and health.
@@marliinme Maybe the EPA doesn't but your respiratory system does.
Good video! I smell squirrel urine...yuck....old old rental...😠but they would fall apart. I just clean the flex one with my duster( the returns to the living room and bedroom are only 1 foot long) but to the kitchen about 15 feet. Cant do that but I would like to know if its leaking how can I tell?
Thanks
Hey Bill, thank you for taking the time and effort to product this excellent video tutorial on the question as to whether or not to clean one's HVAC ductwork. Your presentation is both well thought out and explained.
Recently, I've been worrying over this issue having discovered a situation in the main return on my system. At the end of the return in the attic the contractor, over 50-years ago, added an 8” duct that was suppose to attach to duct in the interior wall of a bedroom; unfortunately, the contractor failed to attach the horizontal and vertical ducts, causing air from the attic to be introduced into the return every time the system was on. Also, this 8” duct was not attached to the main return via a start collar, but simply inserted into the main return via a oval hole, and not sealed by any means other than the thin insulation used by contractors during that era. After removing the 8” duct from the main return, one can see a buildup of 2”+ of dust. While the dust seems to adhere to the duct, using my hand I can tell it is loose enough to scoop by hand. I don't know how far into the 50 foot + main return it goes. Yes, the Merve 13 filter is dirty after 90 days, but one cannot see any buildup of dust on the filter.
The ductwork at my house is a heavy gauge sheetmetal. I've been considering purchasing a cleaning tool that I can attach to a drill such as the Bluesea 39ft Chimney Cleaning Brush Kit for an Electrical Drill Drive (or similar devicer) found on Amazon, to be used with a shop vac to clean what I can see, and perhaps pushing it to its 39 foot limit. Since the duct is made from sheetmetal, I'm not worried about causing a leak; I'm just not sure if I will stir up the dust and make matters worse.
You've given me much to think about. Thank you again for your instructions.
Hi Sir Bill can use this article for sharing in our facebook?
How do you know if you have mold in the air ducts
What area are you?
We can help
So ur saying dont do duct cleaning because the cleaning company has to make one penetration. However if you get some home depot guy to replace your ducts they gotta reseal what, 8-10 penetrations? The mental gymnastics to sell a ductwork job is off the charts.
What about year 70? Or 85? Year 150?
Old school thought:
If it ain't a problem, don't fix it.
I agree but this dust build up can create unending odors throughout the house. If you can never get the house smelling clean, it may be because of this dust, especially if there were smokers in the house.
In this case, it might be best to replace your ductwork altogether (depending on age) or utilize another indoor air quality solution. If you do decide to get your ducts cleaned, be sure to ensure they are sealed extremely well.
Wonder if you could help me as we are in a difficult situation. We live in a 15 year old condo we absolutely love as far as floorplan, location community etc. With those things, I would love to live in it the rest of our lives. We rent right now so we don't have control over decisions about replacing ductwork. There has been very little attention to normal yearly air handler maintenance during our 4 years here despite our asking about it and talking about health related problems. Every winter when the heat goes on, the allergy symptoms begin. This winter is harder bc the weather here which is normally warmish and able to be gone out in easily at least a few days a week, has been colder than normal so more time inside. We have typical symptoms of loose insulation issues. As we lived in a home in Illinois that had insultation in the boot part of the ducts I learned a lot about that then. In that home it was netted in and cleanly done so not much dispersal. We had a guy come out and test there and he only found 4 fibers and they were large so no danger. Here, we have haphazardly installed open fiberglass inside the ceiling boots that looks degraded and when the auxiliary heat kicks the higher fan speed in, you can smell the wet, dirty insulation and feel the grit from it in your throat, eyes and skin. The kitchen that has humidity spots by the dishwasher and the stove where we boil things, has orange yellow drip marks where the air hits the walls from the boot which we also know is wet insulation as it is on areas of the wall where the boiling and dishwasher would not hit. Comes back no matter how much you wipe it off. To make things worse, the dryer ducts were just cleaned for the first time using compressed air inside the home so they could do it fast based on their fear of the illness thing going on now in the world. Usually they do that outside and do the rotating drill and vacuum inside. The dryer duct runs alongside the ac supply and we suspect the normal condensation from that plus the compressed air blew what was left off of the tape at the joint as we have air blowing around inside the wall around the plumbing when the dryer runs. We had to tape it up to stop the air from coming around it into the home. Our humidity in here even on no humidity days outside is at 64% and unless you open the door outside, it does not go down. Very bad. We believe that the dryer ducts in the units above and below us are probably venting into the walls above and below us as well making the humidity ridiculous. We sleep at night without heat which is really uncomfortable but it is the only thing that stops the allergic stuff. I have never been a fan of ac duct cleaning bc my theory was always what you said, that disturbing it with whipping tubes or even a vacuum would loosen and disperse more fiberglass into the air and make it worse. I always got funny looks from any management in any home we have rented with that thought. Everyone in the home has symptoms only when the heat runs and mostly when the high fan auxiliary runs. Our youngest drowns in snot when it runs and is fine when we leave the house and when it goes off. It is clear what is happening. We cannot move right now so we have to come up with something and we feel we would have to buy so many air cleaners to fix this, it would be impossible. The only solution I can come up with and what I would like your opinion on, is to buy some of those supply duct filters and cover the supply boots. Now I know that will reduce air flow which is not good, but we right now use a 1085 level filtrete in the intake which is a hepa so my thought is to reduce that thickness to one of the basic filters that allows a lot more air flow at the intake and then put the boot filters on every boot to catch whatever is coming out into the air. I would think that would equalize the pressure and flow to what it is now and not cause harm to the system. Do you think that would be true? Soon it will get hot here again and the ac will come back which off course is a lower fan speed on our system and also lowers humidity on it's own plus we will be able to once again be outside more so the problem will reduce itself until next winter again but I would really like to be prepared next time around. I would also love to have the opinion of an expert on my thoughts that whipping around open insulation in supply ducts through cleaning is a bad thing to do with people having allergic symptoms in the first place bc I am fairly certain that the owner if reminded about these symptoms will want to choose cleaning and I would like something to show him that this is not a good idea so we prevent worse symptoms and don't have to have a fight. I am very worried about having any insulation inside of my supply ducts year round, as I know from my reading how bad that is, so if the boot filters would be a potential idea, would they be a good thing year round changed out maybe once a month? Sorry for the essay but my little boy is drowning in snot with the heat on and we are all freezing all night long and we need to do something. Thanks for any advice of help you can give. We really appreciate your help!
We would love to help answer your question but need more information. Would you give our office a call at (941) 485-2222 and ask for Victoria?
@@tricountyair thanks for getting back. We'll try to reach out next week. Thanks.
Thanks, good video, but could do without the background music (too loud).
I've cleaned hundreds of people's air ducts. Many were hideous. Some with inches of dirt! I showed the customers the before and after and they were all happy they had them cleaned. If you're wondering whether or not to have your ducts cleaned, just take a flashlight and look in your returns. If they're crusty, I'd get them cleaned. I'm retired so this isn't an ad for duct cleaning, it's just common sense!
If you clean your house, sweep/vacuum your floors, change the filter on time, and use a separate air purifier over the expected lifespan of 15 years for ducts, how much dust do you think will accumulate? Should you really ever have to clean the ducts, or just replace them? Considering that by the time they need replacement, they will likely not have significant amounts of dust if proper maintenance is performed.
@@igotanimac1 metal ductwork will last a lifetime and most people don't clean their homes very well or change the filters, like they should. I've seen the results.
@@74dartman13 I'm referring to flex ducts, I'd say having to clean your ducts is more as a result of not cleaning your house and/or not changing your filter on time, that's what the guy was referring to, don't just clean your ducts because they have some dust in them as your air quality might get worse if the flex ducts are damaged or not resealed property, it would have to be inches of dust, at which point it would be better to just replace your flex ducts.
People this guy is a scammer,I worked cleaning air ducts,and the systems get dirty and need cleaning,...he lying,we don't cut holes in duct to clean.....how can u cut a hole in flex duct...we cut a hole in your plenum,were we hook up the vac....then we use square cut metal,use duct sealer,and a.c. tape to seal.wr can later use same hole again...won't compremise system..he's trying to sell new units...lol....look up nadca ......I believe national air duct cleaning association .it's regulates this air duct cleaning.governmemt approved.they will tell you something totally different.
This guy is uninformed. The cleaning of ducts is to improve airflow when the dust starts taking over. My house was built in 1881 the dust was 6 inches thick. We had a room in our house that was always hot in the summer and after the cleaning it's nice and cool. 👌
Hey greg: You really have an impaired ability to listen.
@@patrickdesilva6193 no sir I don't this video is a small part of another video trying to sell air purification system. It's false advertising to sell a product. NONONO don't pay to get them cleaned just buy this snake oil it will seal the dust for later.... oh yeah and while we are at it buy this air purification system with the money you saved. 🙄
Cleaning my ducts has nothing to do with just wanting the ducts clean because there's a collection of dust or poor air quality. But it has everything to do with the black sooty discoloration I see on the framing around the windows and the fabric blinds that look like we've had a fire. That black sootiness is cleanable but only to a certain extent. My house is only 5 years old. The blinds are as old. Even the very same blinds installed in the garage are cleaner than the blinds in the house on this particular window. There's gotta be something going on or not going on in my heating and duct system. It just makes sense to me.
I'm reaching out for help. My husband doesn't seem to think there's anything wrong with the blinds except sun exposure. I disagree because the window is a northern window.
Ok, so 6 inches of dust after 141 years, or one inch every year 23.5 years.
Who is uninformed? Maybe that was really not a good or common example at all.
Change out ductwork every 15 or 20 yrs.
There is no way to clean a system with flex duct. It’s a scam
I had a duct cleaning company and I safely cleaned hundreds of houses with flex ducts. Never damaged them at all.
Why would you replace ducts for mold?? STOP the fucking mold growth (moisture) and the mold can't grow. It's that simple. Control humidity and you'll control the mold. If you have a moisture problem, then fix the moisture problem!
HVAC whole house systems are dirty and insufficient. Mini splits are a better option.
I can prove you wrong that it is good to clean them. I have before and after pictures on file.
I disagree I’m certified through Air Care and in business , we have a older home and have aluminum ducts and the moment I cleaned our system and ducts my wife’s allergies have improved so amazing there are contaminants that blow out your flex duct or aluminum duct and now you breath that In especially when you have a vent in your kitchen and have food that’s uncovered those contaminants get on your food especially at a buffet restaurant that have dirty vents , I’m sorry but I disagree you should have them cleaned at least once every 3 yrs 😀👍
What 😳 your crazy!!
this guy is full of it. new home construction, why have a cleaning person clean the house at all people are allergic to everything in the air in the ducts or out side the ducts,,,,,
This guy is clueless don't listen to him watch a video on duct cleaning and I guarantee you will change your mind
Some please deal with allergies. No good video , lol you funny
He has no idea what he’s talking about
Actually, he explained it perfectly. You should never have to clean the ducts, as you need to replace them every 15 years anyway. In 15 years, there won't be much dust if you changed your filter on time and kept your house/flooring clear of dust. Everyone is just somehow disappointed that some guy is telling them you really shouldn't need to clean your duct.
@@igotanimac1 Bro you're drinking the koolaid too. Only in very rare circumstances should ducts be replaced that often. Many homes have basically inaccessible ductwork that can only be replaced while doing a full scale remodel. You don't know what you're talking about
@@redsadventures5654 Bro.... most modern homes have easily accessible duct work. Everything has a lifespan, AC ducts should be replaced every 15-30 years (as per manufacturer recommendations and common sense) depending on quality of ducts, use and maintenance. Anybody who tells you otherwise, has never replaced ducts, doesn't follow manufacturer recommendations, doesn't follow common sense and doesn't know what they are talking about.
Thus guy is CRAZY 🤪
Of course your duct need cleaning. 🙄
No, they need to be replaced not cleaned. Every 15 years they need to be replaced, over that time if you changed your filter on time and kept your house clean, there shouldn't be much dust in the duct. If there are inches of dust, then the duct is way past it's 15 years of replacement.
It is not truth any information on this video it is personal opinions 👎👎👎
It is a fire hazard, your ducts must be clean
How is it a fire hazard? Are you referring to the dryer ducts?
This is BAD ADVICE.... and it's not just my opinion. Horrible advice.
Don't make too much sense. If you have to dust your furniture too often, it means dust is coming out from the vents. Leving them alone just doesn't make sense