Heating Ducts
Please note: this page contains reviews and opinions sent in by Berkeley Parents Net subscribers. Your
own experience may be different. Please always check references before hiring!
Berkeley Parents Network >
Reviews >
House & Garden >
Heating & Cooling Services > Heating Ducts
Sept 2008
We want to have our air ducts cleaned before winter when we turn on our heater.
We
received an estimate from COIT, figuring they were a reputable company, but had
a
horrendous experience with them cleaning our drapes. I wouldn't trust COIT to
do
anything in our home. Can anyone recommend a good company?
Janet
Disclosure: I'm in the heating and air conditioning business.
We don't do duct cleaning, so this shouldn't be a conflict of
interest.
Most duct cleaning companies do a terrible job. Either they
have the wrong equipment, poorly trained technicians, little
integrity, or the work is a pretext to get in your house and
sell you additional services. One company (who will remain
unnamed) has a policy of condemning any furnace over 8 years
old. I recommend that you find a vendor who isn't in the
heating business. Coit is one possibility, I've heard about 80
percent positive on them. My favorite is Synergy Environmental
Services who also do asbestos abatement and don't sell furnaces
or repairs.
Berkeley Choate
Oct 2006
We have lived in our 1920's house for about 7 years, and I
would finally like to have the (forced air) heating air ducts
cleaned. My husband thinks this is unnecessary; that Coit and
others who try to sell us on this don't do anything that
frequently-replaced furnace filters couldn't clean. Can anyone
set one of us straight? The only thing I like less than a dusty
house is spending money superfluously!
anon
I would say, yes, you need air duct cleaning. We lived in our house about 6 years
before we had it done, and I could totally tell the difference in air quality
afterward. I'm
pretty sure your heater will run more effeciently if the ducts are clean, too. There
will
be less dust and dirt restricting the air flow
On cleaning the air ducts. We just had our old metal ducts
(covered in asbestos) removed and replaced with new flexible
ones (that are actually quite light & delicate- seemed to me) by
Harry Clark Heating Co. I talked wth the workman who was very
conscientious and he said they actually recommend putting in new
ducts when you need to clean, not hiring Coit, etc....Paying to
clean them is just not going to be as thorough as you might
like. The asbestos removal was done by Synergy Companies in
Hayward - rec. by HC and then 3 days later the duct
installation. This winter our house will smell so much better!
The East Bay Monthly had an article about furnace
work/contractors Oct.or Nov. 2006 so look for it
contented customer
Jan 2003
We just finished some remodeling and turned on the heat for
the first time this season. The result was a lot of dust and who
knows what else coming out. Can anyone recommend a
company that
cleans heating ducts? Thanks!
Ebba
I am looking into having the ducts and furnace cleaned. My
wife has been having allergies all winter. WE have called
a few places so far and the quotes are about $400-425 for
the ''1st 10 ducts.'' I have heard that there are many
unscrupulous cleaners out there and you have to watch them
to make sure they do the job. Any suggestions/advice would
be greatly appreciated.
adrian
We just had our heater ducts cleaned today by Atlas.
This is the second time we've hired them to do this job,
and they are great! They come when they say they will,
within a 30 minute window, are clean (the workman wears
booties so as not to track dirt around), and it is as
painless as such a project can be! It cost $175 (we have a
fairly large house) and took about and hour and a half.
They also inspect your furnace, change the filters, etc. I
highly recommend them.
Judy
Nov. 1999
I had mine done last year by the company with the big ads,
and it was a great success. Got rid of a lot of dust and musty smell. The
guy even tried, for free, to fix a part that was almost broken. And he
charged me less than the advertised price for some reason. I was really
happy with the results. This isn't the same as having your furnace checked
out, which you should also do once in a while.
I just had an estimate done from Freschi Air Systems 800-794-2653. I
originally saw the full page ad but I always check the Better Business Bureau
and ValueStar before I contract with a service person. Apparently there is a
big difference between the $79.00 full page ads and a full service cleaning.
The lower price cleaners basically use a shop-vac and take about an hour. A
more extensive clean takes uses a larger suction system cleaning system and
thoroughly cleans out each register. It runs about $500 depending on the
size of the house but my neighbor and I are both getting it done so they
dropped the price to 409.00. It will take them about 4 hours to do each
house and they recommended the cleaning every 10 years for normal dust areas.
You can look into you heating vents with a flashlight and see for yourself
the amount of dust in your system.
We, too, saw the ad in the paper for the bargain duct cleaners, but
something about it rubbed us the wrong way. Coincidently, friends had just
had their ducts cleaned by Atlas Heating and Air Conditioning Co. They were
charged a flat rate of, I think, $160, and were satisfied, so we called
them. They charged us the same for our two bedroom house with six or seven
vents, came on time, were very neat, and we are happy. Their number is
893-1343.
We had one company come to our house and clean our ducts--it's probably the
one whose ad you saw. (They run full-page ads all the time.) They were very
neat and polite. We have hardwood floors and didn't want them clomping their
equipment around on it, and they were very careful not to. They did try to
sell us special air filters and spray for killing bacteria in your duct, but
they weren't hard-sell and we didn't buy anything.
There was one small mishap--the guy accidently dropped an irreplacable duct
cover screw down a duct. He graciously and patiently waited while my husband
and I went through the contents of his vacuum cleaner looking for it (to no
avail).
this page was last updated: Oct 19, 2008
The opinions and statements expressed on this website
are those of parents who subscribe to the
Berkeley Parents Network.
Please see
Disclaimer & Usage for
information about using content on this website.
Copyright © 1996-2012 Berkeley Parents Network