AC ductwork cleaning

[Katodude]

I had a dirty air vent cover that I removed to replace and looked inside the duct and it was pretty dirty. Cleaned what I could reach but that was not very far. I guess I am also concerned about mold or whatever growing in the ducts. We have not experienced any adverse side effects inside the house and we both have allergies.

So my question to the brain trust is do I hire one of those duct cleaning companies? Should I be spraying some chemicals inside the ducts to kill whatever is growing in there? Other than the general maintenance I have done to the AC anything special I should be doing to the ducts?

 

[reggiehammond]

If you search it up, there's some research that shows duct cleaning causes more issues than it corrects. The dirt in ducts is staying there... the thinking is why stir it up?

Should You Have the Air Ducts in Your Home Cleaned? | US EPA

Duct cleaning generally refers to the cleaning of various heating and cooling system components of forced air systems, including the supply and return air ducts and registers, grilles and diffusers, heat exchangers heating and cooling coils.

www.epa.gov

My neighbor owns HVAC companies and advises to never touch them, no sprays, no cleaning, etc.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Kato,

My personal opinion is that duct cleaning is a scam to part you from your money.

Jim R.

 

[ajw22]

What type of filters do you have on your HVAC system and how often are they changed?

Like your pool the HVAC system has air intake ducts which in HVAC speak are called the returns and supply ducts that supply the conditioned air to the room. Dirt in the intake should not matter as your filter should trap it. You can judge how well your filter is working by how clean the supply duct and grate is.

Was your dirty air vent cover an intake return or a supply duct?

 

[Katodude]

It was a supply duct. We replace our intake filter about every 2 months.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Open up the air handler access door to the blower motor and check the plenum space if you have one. Look for dirt, debris or moisture there. If there is none, don’t worry about it.

Air duct cleaning is mostly a useless endeavor and can result in damage. A lot of homes are built using a rigid main duct with flexible feeder runs off it to each room. Those flexible ducts are multilayered so as to be insulating against heat loss. If you damage the interior of those flexible ducts, you can cause air leaks. There’s is no way a dude with a brush and vacuum is going to clean every square inch of the duct and if the ducts have significant bends in them, the cleaning brush is likely to damage them. Here is AZ we have lots of flat roof construction with no attic space and so duct work is encased between the ceiling drywall and the roof. If you damage a duct here you get the odious choice of tearing down your ceiling or your roof to fix the damage …. not a gamble I would ever want to make.

 

[dereksanders]

If you were inclined you could snake a flexible camera down your ducts and see what you have. The opinions here regarding leaving them alone are sound unless you KNOW there’s a specific problem.

 

[dereksanders]

Open up the air handler access door to the blower motor and check the plenum space if you have one. Look for dirt, debris or moisture there. If there is none, don’t worry about it.

What he said.

 

[Newdude]

How old is the house ? Air quality would matter more than age IMO, but the same air quality since 1967 would accumulate more crud than since 2009.

 

[TinFoilHat]

Duct cleaning, in my experience, is pretty useless. We got a "free" cleaning with our new AC units and while they got some dirt out - it's impossible to see how much dirt - they made quite a mess of dirt left behind for us to clean up. Then, when I was repainting the downstairs and looked in the ducts they were not very clean at all. I believe only folks with high allergies might benefit.

 

[Katodude]

House is 30 years old. The AC in question was replaced 10 years ago. There is some dirt in the plenum section, and the blower motor. I will just have someone come in the clean coils out.

It’s Florida and it probably only has a few years of life left. I will leave the ducts alone, and replace the AC in a year or two or when it breaks.

I might start doing some research and be proactively ready. Any particular brand or model people like? The main unit is a currently a 2 speed 5 Ton unit. Might move to a variable speed.

 

[dereksanders]

About the only thing you would have to worry about in SFL is mold during the commencement of the non-sweat season.

I clean my vents and the bottom duct where the vents are due to cat hair, cat toys, and whatever they decide to play with. My returns are the biggest area of cat evidence. One removed the grate and walked the length and breadth of the duct work. I now have adequate weight on that grate.

 

[dereksanders]

Might move to a variable speed.

You won’t be sorry. As in pools, continuous circulation is wonderful.

 

[kul]

During an AC checking/maintenance we got talked into cleaning the ducts. It was a total scam in hindsight. Filter still filtered the same and the ducts looked the same before and after. We all have seasonal allergies and still do at the same frequency. Would not recommend it unless you have a very specific issue that could require it. I plan on never doing that again.

 

[Turbo1Ton]

Any particular brand or model people like? The main unit is a currently a 2 speed 5 Ton unit. Might move to a variable speed.

I went with American Standard (Trane) 23 SEER variable speed condensing unit and furnace when I had to replace mine in 2016.

As dereksanders mentioned, the constant airflow is so nice. That and it very seldom hits 100% air handler flow rate. So I never hear my HVAC any longer, which is so freaking nice!

--Jeff

 

[TinFoilHat]

I went with Lennox 16 SEER two stage, variable speed split systems with gas heat, one for upstairs and one for downstairs. Cost was 22Gs.