Air duct cleaning services and air conditioner duct cleaning vary in cost. However, expect to pay air duct cleaners at least $460 for the basic service. Usually, though, costs vary according to types of jobs and type of company doing these jobs.

First a caveat, trust only reliable air duct cleaning services. There are many ways to go about this. Ask neighbors, friends, and relatives who have had their air ducts cleaned for referrals on air duct cleaners.

Typical estimates range from $400 to $800 although larger homes with more areas to clean might cost upwards of $1,000. The key to getting the best and fairest deal is to handle the decision with care. That means getting several reliable estimates. It might take a bit longer, but savings and value increase.

Many services try to interest customers with add-on products. They might be needed, but generally are not necessary. For example, sources suggest being very careful about anti-bacterial and microbial sprays as well as chemical treatments. While these are perfectly appropriate for serious mold problems, they are not typically required in everyday air duct cleaning services.

Certainly, homeowners and those with commercial venues may wonder why air ducts even need cleaning. If having reliable, working heating and air conditioning is important, clean air ducts are essential. The federal Environmental Protection Agency says that any activity around the house — cleaning, cooking, smoking, just moving — kicks up dust and particles that embed in the air ducts. Particles can be small, although sometimes mold and larger particles are visible.

How often and how extensively to clean the air ducts depends on the particular system. A typical, one-HVAC unit area should have its air ducts cleaned every three to five years. A single cleaning may take from two to four hours.

Air duct cleaning services provide a way to improve the overall quality of the air you breathe in your home and the functioning of your air systems. Air conditioner duct cleaning is an option for anyone looking to improve the air in their homes. The building up of dust and dirt in your systems makes them work harder, which means that your utility bills will be more expensive as well. Dust and dirt are not the only things that can build up in your air ducts. Warmer and more humid climates make the buildup of mold more likely as well and that can be tougher to get rid of.

Air duct cleaning is the process of clearing out the ducts and components of your air filtration systems. The air duct cleaners take a look at the amount of buildup in your system and can check for other problems like mold. After seeing what the situation is, the air duct cleaners use special tools to dislodge dust, dirt, and mold from your ducts and other parts of your air system to prepare it for removal. Once everything is loosened up, they use high powered vacuums to remove any dust and other particles from the ducts which will improve the cleanliness of your air and make your system run more efficiently.
Many people, obviously, want to know about the amount they will have to pay to get the service done. Air duct cleaning cost depends on a few factors. Typically, a thorough air duct cleaning can cost between $450-1,000. Dirtier systems can cause the air duct cleaning cost to increase as well as specialty services like mold removal and prevention. Mold prevention and removal can take the application of special chemicals on your ducts and pieces, but it is offered by most air duct cleaning services.

The only problem was finding a reputable air duct cleaning company to do the job.  He ended up going to the Better Business Bureau and finding a company that had been in business for five years and was very satisfied with the end results.  Immediately, he noticed a difference in the air quality.  Not that it was terrible before but he had not idea how much debris had built up in the vents over the course of the six years he had owned his home. His wife, who suffers from bad spring and summer allergies, received the biggest reward as she reported half the problems as before.  Both noticed how the whole HVAC system in the house worked better, heating and cooling the home in a more efficient manner.

” Not only did we use our heater less in the winter,” Marc stated. ” But we used our AC less in the middle of the summer because the airflow coming inside the house was more.”

There have been numerous such stories as these, and though many people personally find the cost of getting their air ducts cleaned to be highly rewarding, there is no official scientific evidence that shows getting this service done on a regular basis improves a homes air quality, released by the EPA in 1997.  When asked, Laureen Burton, one of the senior scientists in the Indoor Environments Division of the EPA, stated the though the findings were released more than twelve years ago nothing has changed the government agency still stands behind what it origally stated.

“Monitoring and changing out filters, [getting] regular home inspections and making sure that condensation does not get [inside] are more important,” she states.

Despite the EPA’s hardliner stance on the matter they along with the National Air Duct Cleaners Association both are in agreement that there is much value in getting your air ducts cleaned. 

What they disagree on, for the most part, is how regular you should get it done.  Not surprisingly the association representing most of the country’s longtime air duct cleaning companies says it should be a lot more often than the EPA does.  The government’s current stance is that you only really need the service done if you have excessive debris, have pets that shed a lot or if you have a mold problem.

What Is The Normal Price Range For This Service?

The average price paid for an air duct cleaning company to come in and do a thorough job on Angie’s List was $460.  Homeowners need to be leery of companies making elaborate claims about the health benefits you get from cleaning your ducts. As stated, such exaggerated claims are unsubstantiated by the EPA and NADCA.  Also note that there are a lot of outfits that have extremely cheap rates but are known as “blow-and-go” companies. These are the air duct cleaning businesses that routinely advertise in the Val Pac, Craigslist or bulk mailers.  They advertise their services for $99, sometimes less.  Sure, they charge low fees for their services but they also perform a poor job of thoroughly cleaning your HVAC system.  If you cannot afford to spend at least $400 or more for the service its best to wait until you can.  For it to be truly worth it you need to have them cleaned properly.

Overall if you know it has been years since you had the service done and you can afford it, it would not be bad thing to do it.  You might find that everyone in the house breaths better afterwards.  Will it kill you if you do not get your air ducts professionally cleaned?  No.  But, doing so will make every one’s life a lot more pleasant.

Air Ducts Before

Air Ducts After

Clean air is essential to life. Often times we breath contaminated air without even knowing it. And one of the most least suspecting places you would think of having to worry about is your very own house. In houses that haven’t had their ducts cleaned there is dust, dust mites, chunks of drywall, wood shavings, other construction materials, bugs, hair, fur, and sometimes rodents and mildew. Look for yourself, just pull up a floor register, or a return vent from the wall and shine a flashlight inside. You will be surprised at what you find! This is what you’re breathing every day! This isn’t something that a lot of people worry about though because its unseen. Out of sight, out of mind.

Do you find yourself constantly dusting? It seems like you can dust over and over again and it just comes right back. Have you considered cleaning the ducts? Often times it comes from the forced air system in your house! It just circulates the air around the house and the haunting dust comes back. There are many reasons to have your ducts cleaned. Better air quality, especially important for anyone with asthma, reduce allergens, and it keeps the dust levels down.

Get those dirty ducts cleaned! Most of the duct cleaning services are very thorough. They do cost a pretty penny but its worth it. Usually around a couple hundred bucks. Although it is expensive, it is very thorough and better for your health and furnace.

The procedure: Most companies hook a (technical term) big vacuum to the supply and return side of the duct work at your furnace, and then block off all the vents for maximum suction. It kind of makes a central vac throughout the house. There will be suction to each vent/ Then they go from vent to vent one at a time and feed a line through it to the trunk line. The trunk line is the big duct either in the crawl space or ceiling that all the vents branch off of. The line that they feed down is just an air compressed line but at the end is a whip that blows out air and whips around violently inside, knocking everything and anything off of the duct walls, leaving it spic and span. Usually they will go into the crawl space if you have one to clean out the trunk line also. Everything gets sucked back to the vacuum at the furnace.

Before

After

When you’re calling around to the different companies some things you might want to look for is how thorough their process is. Ask if they clean out the trunk lines, and air wash the furnace and motor. Some companies use what they call a roto-vac. I personally don’t like that process because it doesn’t seem all that thorough. It’s pretty much a glorified shopvac. It is a vacuum with a long hose and at the end is a spinning brush. However try to shove a shop vac hose down your vents and see how far you can get it in. see what I’m getting at? Also ask them how long it will take them. Depending on the size of the house and how gruesome the ducts are it should only take a few hours. Anywhere from 2-4 hours for the average house.

So 3 Major things to look for when you’re going to have your ducts cleaned would be:

Ask what their process is for cleaning your ducts

Ask how long it will take

Ask if they clean the trunk line out

Overall it’s a very smart investment. Its for the health of your family, and cleanliness of the air in the house. It keeps the dust levels down, and it also helps with the health of your furnace. Changing the filters regularly helps a lot too.