Duct Cleaning

[RedSN]

No, not "duck" cleaning, we have Bill to do that.

I haven't had any phone spammers in a very long time, but after years of being hounded by Duct Cleaner salesmen I'm leery about now requiring their services. I don't want to randomly choose one out of the phone book and end up with the one responsible for all those phone calls, i.e. the one that I swore to NEVER ever use their services. /rant

Has anybody had their ducts cleaned? Who did you use? And were you satisfied with the results?
We have one in mind, but I'm curious to see if the same recommendation (if any) come from the fine folks of TMC.

[Styrofoam04]

Ha!!! Put it on my bill!

We had our house done when we bought it. The house had a stink to it and we couldn't find it.

When we moved into Ajax the town sent a welcome committee to our door with a welcome basket. (I'm not sure how they knew we moved in, but I have a feeling it was my new neighbor Glen?? )

In the basket was some goodies and tons of local business flyers. Including a coupon from 'Prestige Duct Cleaners'

We gave it a try. I'm not amazed or anything but we did notice the smell was less (turns out it was nest of mice on top of the dishwasher in the insulation soo gross!)

Anyhoo They love to upsell! I was at work so they upsold my wife on a few things.

A/C coil cleaning. All they did was drill a few holes in my unit and ductwork and gave it a few shots from a air compressor.

They also sold her an Permatron EZ-Flow Electrostatic Washable Filter for like $300

Hell NO!

When I got home I pulled that out and got my money back! It didn't even fit my unit it was too small

If been over 5 year and we are thinking of doing it again but I don't know if any other company is any different. Suckers are born everyday

If you find a good one let me know.

[newbiestangowner]

Haven’t found a good one yet. When we first moved in ( previous house) wife called a few and booked one. Giant vacuum hose but didn’t seem too powerful at all , to a point I was wondering if it was actually sucking anything at all; more loud than anything else.
One of the reasons I still haven’t called for this house. I just did my own ( at each vent)as best as I could and it didn’t take ME a year to do it lol


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[92redragtop]

We are overdue to have ours done again so been thinking about doing it before year-end. Previous times have been done with Ontario Duct Cleaning as we had an extended family member who had a franchise in the west end and came with his crew for the job and explained how their process differed (including the motor driving the vacuums) from some of the others who used a small generator in the back of a truck to power their vacuums (ie. less suction power). He since retired so the last couple times we used a different franchise location that he recommended but there will be one close to you if you choose to go with them. I think I've done it 2 or 3 times with them in our house since new.

I don't think they will be the cheapest as I see they now offer Air Miles so overhead now includes the loyalty/reward program but that also brings some legitimacy as they have partnership standards to meet. They also do commercial/industrial so shouldn't have the fly by night feel you get with some outfits.....again, likely reflected in the pricing. This is a home service segment with a lot of complaints - even for the ones who don't use Pakistani based call centres to spam us.

https://ontarioductcleaning.ca/locations/duct-cleaning-services-toronto/




The Duct Truck
built and designed for this industry has been the equipment choice of Ontario Duct Cleaning from the beginning 40 years ago with a used duct truck out of Alberta, then having a custom duct truck designed to our specifications and now transitioning into the newest technology, Hypervac trucks moving from equipment running directly off the engine of the truck to having each component being powered by a dedicated engine. To ensure maximum suction, these trucks are designed with 12 six foot vacuum bags that emerge from the top of the truck so the dirt and debris collects in a separate compartment not the actual vacuum bags which would decrease the suction which keeps the duct cleaning process a clean process in the home. A dedicated engine for the air compressor allows the air pressure to be steady at 225 PSI throughout the process which is important since this is the part of the process that does the actually cleaning.

[newbiestangowner]

^ ya no way the one we got had 225 psi


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[5.4MarkVIII]

when you get it done make sure they do your dryer vent as well. imo that's more important than the furnace ducts.

[Boomer]

Had mine done over 10 years ago by Ontario Duct Cleaning. They were very thorough and professional. I can't recall the price, but they didn't up sell anything.

[redo75]

If you want to try my way.
Take off all the duct vents. Take a large style home vac - I have a large 10 amp craftsman - and duct tape two long vac hoses together. Stick the extra long hoses in the open ducts and keep pushing the hose down while twisting and wiggling them. My house is a single storey so this cleaned out the ducts pretty good. A lot of dust in the cold air returns.

[RedSN]

Thanks for the suggestions. Got some names to look up.

[Ponyryd]

Whoever you call tell them to take me off their call list plz. Need it or not, I’m never calling for it again.

[Screw]

Ont Duct Cleaning should be ok & like 5.4Mark said , do the dryer too
Don’t buy no $200 electrostatic filter

[IanGTCS]

We used power vac from Hamilton after we finished the basement at our old house. Based on how much less dusty every flat surface was after I'd say they did a decent job. I think it was around $250+-50. My wife said the workers were very pleasant and professional.

[RedSN]

^that’s the main reason for the cleaning; finished the basement last year. That, and two furry cats, LOL.

[FABMAN]

How often do you need to do this? I did it once in 2012 when I finished my basement. They did a crappy job. I had it done a 2nd time in 2013 because the dust was still crazy. That company did a mediocre job. Haven’t done it since.

House is going to be 10 years old in March, no pets and only carpet I have is in the 4 upstairs bedrooms (which is where most of the dust is).

[5.4MarkVIII]

not sure about furnaces ducts, but for dryer vents I usually tell people inspect every year. and clean when you see lint build up. then just have the vent cleaning company do the furnace ducts while they are at it, because its good maintenance.

both are important. one for air quality and the other for not burning you house down.

[True Blue]

Personally I don't think duct cleaning is worth it, unless you have a serious issue. Using a good quality furnace filter and changing it at the recommended intervals should catch almost everything. Lately I've been running network wiring through my air returns and the runs have been fairly clean minus some cobwebs for a 35 year old house that never had the ducts cleaned. I cleaned the vents and air return openings with my shop vac 8 years ago, after moving in. I check every few years and everything is still looking clean.

[Screw]

^^ I guess depends on a few variables , I’ve pulled return drops that are caked , after heavy renovations I thinks it’s worth it if done properly

[RedSN]

Personally I don't think duct cleaning is worth it, unless you have a serious issue. Using a good quality furnace filter and changing it at the recommended intervals should catch almost everything.
I totally agree. The exhaust air is filtered and should be relatively clean and dust free. But happy wife, happy life.

[Screw]

I totally agree. The exhaust air is filtered and should be relatively clean and dust free. But happy wife, happy life.

Pull the blower door off and see how much got sucked in past those 1” filters , usually the motor and surrounding housing take a beating

[redo75]

Cold air returns usually have a lower speed due to size of returns, so they deposit more dust due to the lower velocity. Check the 90 degree corners and any long runs. Lot can be cleaned as I said by opening vents and take a loooky inside with a flashlight. If you do some yourself more $$$ for parts
.

[92redragtop]

not sure about furnaces ducts, but for dryer vents I usually tell people inspect every year. and clean when you see lint build up. then just have the vent cleaning company do the furnace ducts while they are at it, because its good maintenance.

both are important. one for air quality and the other for not burning you house down.

I was told about every 5 years (3 if you're in a more dusty environment or had inside construction. As John said, lots of dust still gets past the furnace filter and if you look at your return duct grills there's usually dust on those after a while (I have filters behind those grills to lower how much dust gets back into the ducting system....and this is even with a HEPA HRV system as well.