Is duct cleaning an effective thing to have done or is it a scam?

It is a useful thing to have done. You will want to change the air filters on your HVAC system at the same time. How often you do it will depend on how much you use the HVAC, the quality of air to begin with, etc. You would be surprised how much crap is left inside ducts during the construction process.

@wallabies My house was built in 1948, that construction process was 64 years ago—do you think that is contributing to the dust? This whole duct cleaning thing is new to me . . .

@Kayak8 Just wondering – is changing the furnace filter every two weeks what the manufacturer recommends?

@Kayak8 If your house was built in 1948, you don’t have the kind of ducts they’re talking about. They hadn’t been invented then. More modern houses have ducts that you plug your vacuum cleaner into and all the stuff you vacuum up goes into the ducts. Those need to be cleaned out periodically. We built a house and were offered the duct system and turned it down. I could just imagine the ducts eventually filling up and thought it would be more of a bother and expense to get them cleaned than emptying the bag of a vacuum cleaner after using it..

You change it every two weeks and it is full of dust? That is a lot of dust. Dog hair and dirt is not dust, just to be clear. Dust is mostly made up of dried skin, and so dry climates, especially cold and dry get more dust.

I have never had my ducts cleaned, but in one house the metal filter in the air conditioner became moldy. I paid someone to cut it out, clean it, and weld it back in. It made a big difference. That part of the house was smelling like mildew, and that fixed it.

I have heard air duct cleaners are a scam, but I don’t know if that means some of them are pulling a scam and don’t do effective work, or if it means the whole idea is a scam. I know with my clothes dryer the duct needs to be cleaned every six months to keep it clean, we do it on our own. But that duct is a little different, because it gets damp in there and the lint gets all icked up.

If I were you I would give it a try since you are having such troubles, see if it makes a difference. Ask around your neighborhood what others do.

Yes, it helps cut down on the dust @Kayak8. The company will come in, drill small holes into your ducts, suck out the build up, then plug the holes.

The company should be using HEPA filtration when sucking out the actual ducts.

Here is the EPA’s advice on selecting a qualified company to do this task. You are right to be concerned. Many companies make wild claims about duct cleaning and upcharge for unnecessary services. You’ll need to ask/call around to find a reputable company.

We’ve had this done in our home and at rental properties. We noticed a significant decrease in dust not only in our HVAC filter, but also around our home.

If you want to see how bad the insides of your ducts are, removed the grill off from one of your cold air returns and wipe down the inside with a white paper towel. If it’s anything like ours were prior to cleaning, you’ll be shocked at the amount of dust, hair, dirt-etc.

I do maintain our ducts inbetween professional cleanings by vacuuming the returns every couple of months. Again, we find this does cut down on the dust/allergens in our home.

@SpatzieLover That is exactly what I needed to know. I am changing the furnace filters every two weeks due to dog hair accumulation—I figure if dog hair is cutting sucked in there, so is dirt (and who knows what else) and that having someone clean the ducts would make sense. I will attack the vents with the Dyson animal when I am done typing! Thanks!

@JLeslie I may be misinterpreting what I call “dust.” It is accumulation of small particles on furniture that has gotten worse since I the German Shepherd moved in.

I worked for a company that did duct cleaning and what they did was take down the diffusers from the ducts and pushed a spinning brush that was attached to a powerful and very long vacuum hose. There was always a ton of dirt that was trapped in the machine’s filter after. They also pulled the squirrel cage out of the air handler and cleaned it. Those fins will get gunked up and not push as much volume of air. Then they shot something called Microban into the returns to kill off any microbes in the ducts.

I read something a few years back that stated that getting your ducts cleaned actually kicks up more dust that if you just left them alone.

We don’t get ours done and we have two dogs. We are diligent about changing the filter on our furnace though.

@Kayak8 That sounds like dust.

My house was built in 55 and I had mine done last year. It was nasty. I dont think it was ever done before.