Dirty air ducts have been identified as a major source of indoor air pollution. Your air duct system is an ideal breeding ground for bacteria, mold, mildew, fungi, and other health threatening organisms.
Yes, the inside of your duct work is the equivalent of an extra room in your home that never gets dusted or vacuumed. When the furnace or A/C fan turns on, dust from the duct work gets churned up and blown into the rooms of your home.
Perhaps, most people are allergic to dust mites waste. Dust mites feed on debris found in duct work. Remove the debris and you remove their food. Also, by greatly reducing particulate debris in your ducts, there are less particles in the air to aggravate people with respiratory illnesses.
Absolutely! More and more of our work is done in homes that are less than 5 years old. During construction, the ductwork is wide open and the air handler is running many times without a filter. During this time, construction debris such as pieces of plaster, drywall, wood, dust, insects and insulation are accumulated in the duct work.
Ducts should be cleaned every 3-5 years with pets or if someone in the house has allergies...
The better a dryer vent blows, the less lint builds up in it. Short vents blow better than long ones. Full size dryers blow better than smaller stack dryers or older dryers. Vents with a lot of turns and elbows blow worse and build up more lint. Very short vents attached to full size dryers may never need cleaning! Most vents, however, need cleaning every two to three years depending on the factors above.
Yes, if it's a special trip but normally no we don't. Just like when we travel to Pierre, Brookings, Mobridge, Eagle Butte, ... we like to book more than one job in the area. Being Watertown/Brookings & Pierre are base locations, there normally isn't a mileage charge and we'll work with you on this.
Good point, we started with a Rotobrush (small hose with a spinning brush) that looked good on paper but not in real life. I think it had about 400 cfm until you start hooking up the hoses and then that number drops greatly. You need a big hose (we normally use 8" hose, but we do have 10" if required) to pull the air that our large vac produces, how else can we lift cans, balls, cups, ... and don't forget those big dust bunny's that are in your ductwork. That Rotobrush (or carpet cleaner type of equipment) only had either a 2", 1 1/2" or that little 1 1/4" hose with a three suction opening of less than a quarter, not much goes through that & enough said!
I'd have to say that it is mouse poison, this seems to be most common in mid range to older rental homes!
No, we don't clean carpets! Yes, we did look into this a couple of times, but decided best not to get into carpet cleaning. Why get into something we don't know about, let's just take our years of knowledge in air duct cleaning, invest in another air duct cleaning rig, increase our coverage area, and stretch our lead over the "want to be" air duct cleaners out there. Whether it's air duct cleaning or carpet cleaning, it's not that easy to become a pro. You can buy equipment, take a day or two class and schooling, get a piece of paper that says you're certified & when you wake up the next morning your still not a pro! To take on carpet cleaning, spend the time to learn the trade would just take too much away from our air duct cleaning business. So find a full time carpet cleaning company, use someone who major's rather than minor's in the area of carpet cleaning.
Yes, very much different. They normally don't have much for a return air (filter) system which causes the need for more attention to the fan blower and A/C coil. This is why we like to clean the fan blower and A-coil on every trailer/mobile home system. "Air duct cleaning w/o cleaning the blower and A-coil in a trailer house/mobile home is only half a job!"
Good question, since I grew up in family owned implement dealerships, the business side of air duct cleaning comes natural. To specialize in the field I could take two different approaches. One, I could have taken a one or two day class and have gotten a piece of paper that says "I'm certified in air duct cleaning" which is barely worth the paper it's printed on. The second was more hands on, I spent hours and hours learning the trade from other air duct cleaners. The time spent working for Zuber Refrigeration and Heating sure helped me understand the basic's of heating and cooling. John taught me (with hands on experience) so much, how ductwork is designed, and why. While installing ductwork in homes and businesses I really gained a lot of valuable knowledge.
I'm in weekly communication with John, different heating companies, & other air duct cleaners which keep me updated on the modern changes in the field. So maybe you could say that I did and am still going to school daily now for 20 years and counting.