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Is it really pricey to have air ducts cleaned in a two story home with one air conditioner? I was looking at pricing, and it looked like it would be 400.00? That seems really high, but it says they charge per vent. If anyone has any advice on what duct cleaning may cost for a 2200 square ft home, I would really appreciate it!
Have them agree to the fact you can stop the job after one or two vents if it does not appear that any dirt or debris is actually being cleaned/removed
I personally think that vent duct cleaning is a scam. If you have carpeting in your home I guarantee you you have more dirt in your carpeting than in your ducting
Edited to add
It's probably a 2 to 3 hour job at most
If their initial bid is $400 very likely they can be talked down to 200 for the same job if you are persistent
Depends upon the house but a moderate sized two story may take a two man team over four hours (travel, perform service, clean equipment). With labor, overhead, equipment depreciation, and a little profit it would be hard to stay in business charging less than $400.
Most of these guys you find on groupon or whatever site are a (kinda) scam. They come out with a shop vac and hope you have zero comprehension of how an AC system works. They proceed to "inspect" the AC system and of course find all sorts of mold and mildew in the coils that simply must be removed or else little Johny is going to get sick and develop respiratory illness. That cleaning is 400-1000 bucks. Once they have thoroughly scared your wife into cleaning the toxic mold you will come home from work to a 1,500 bill for that $50 air duct cleaning she found on groupon. They only need to get 1 or 2 people to fall for this scam per week to pay off.
If you decline that extra cleaning they will simply turn off your AC, shop vac as high up into the vents that the hose will reach, possibly tear the ductwork in the process. Leave. Then you turn your AC back on and dust and debris flies out of the vents.
I paid $250 for my 1900 sq ft home plus an additional $50 for them to clean my dryer vent. Angies list has a lot of deals for air duct cleanings. I definitely wouldn't use groupon as I've heard too many horror stories about the air ducts services that advertise with them.
I paid $225 for a 2200 square foot house, although it was several years ago. I had also heard that it was a scam and not a necessary maintenance, but opted to have it done. Turns out they found paper cups, building materials and other types of trash in the ducts, the result of the shoddy workmanship of the builders when they built the home. When we sold the home we told the Realtor and inspector that we had had it done, but doubted that it would ever have to be done again since we didn't smoke or have shedding pets.
Have them agree to the fact you can stop the job after one or two vents if it does not appear that any dirt or debris is actually being cleaned/removed
I personally think that vent duct cleaning is a scam. If you have carpeting in your home I guarantee you you have more dirt in your carpeting than in your ducting
Edited to add
It's probably a 2 to 3 hour job at most
If their initial bid is $400 very likely they can be talked down to 200 for the same job if you are persistent
You think it is a scam huh? I wish I would have saved the photos from my duct cleaning for you. My house is twelve years old and I'm pretty sure the POs never cleaned a single thing. I had the ducts cleaned and they stuck a camera down the ducts and took photos...before and after. There was a lot of crap lining those ducts. more than i thought was possible. I watched him clean the dryer vent line as well and saw him remove a small waste basket size bag full of lint. My house was cleaned with a vacuum truck attached to the HVAC system. It was impressive what got sucked out. But hey, everyone is entitled to an opinion i guess.
Successful cleaning of ductwork depends primarily on what type of ductwork is being cleaned. Flex ducts (the most common type anymore) can't be cleaned very effectively. On the other hand, hard ductwork and metal dryer vents can. Dryer vents should be periodically cleaned as a vent full of lint prevents the dryer from functioning properly and represents a potential fire hazard.
Successful cleaning of ductwork depends primarily on what type of ductwork is being cleaned. Flex ducts (the most common type anymore) can't be cleaned very effectively. On the other hand, hard ductwork and metal dryer vents can. Dryer vents should be periodically cleaned as a vent full of lint prevents the dryer from functioning properly and represents a potential fire hazard.
I would disagree with this only because I Saw how the company I used cleaned my flex ducts. While the vacuum truck was hooked up to my HVAC system they ran an air hose down the ducts. The air hose had about six or eight little hoses off of the main in a star pattern and when the air was applied they flailed all over hell. Slapped the duct work enough to break everything loose and get sucked into the truck. I doubt anything would have stayed in the valleys of the flex ducting.
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