My wife and I are constantly sneezing and we suspect it could be the A/C ductwork is need of cleaning. I would appreciate others experience with this type of service.
Regards,
ImAGolfer
We got it done once. We had rented out our Ohio home while we lived in Rhode Island. The first family that rented it out owned cats, and the second family owned dogs. We did the clean out before we moved back in. The cleaning got a lot of pet dander out of the ducts, as well as the build up in the dryer exhaust vent.
I’m glad we did it, but I haven’t personally seen the need to do it again since then.
Regards,
-Chuck
Home Fool
Cleaning the ducts, in my view, is more like getting a dental cavity filled and not getting your teeth cleaned every 6 months.
You need to first determine if you have an allergy problem, if there is stuff in the ducts and if stuff in the ducts is causal.
Is the sneezing an issue every month of the year? Any difference in the shoulder seasons – when the furnace/AC does not run?
Have you tried upgraded filters. Assuming your filters are the standard 1 inch filters, I am suggesting something like this
Stuff in the duct, that stays in the duct is not a problem. Stuff in the air people breath can be a problem.
My wife spent 30 months getting allergy treatments - started with micrograms of allergens two or three times a week. Built up to hundreds of milligrams every month. She was allergic to all 48 items in the screening test. We have no carpets in our house and we had our furnace company install a filter system using these filters.
https://www.discountfilters.com/furnace-air-filters/airx-16x25x5ab-allergy-2-pack/p113616/
The filters keep my allergies at bay and lower the dust level in our house enough our cleaner has asked if we dust between her bi weekly visits.
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Before spending the cash on cleaning ductwork, I too would invest in superior filters and be sure to replace them on schedule. Of course, if you’ve just moved into the house and the previous owners had pets that you are allergic to, then a cleaning would be logical. That said, we invested in Aeroduct sealing for leaky ductwork (duct cleaning was the first step in the process) and we’ve been delighted with the result. Far less dust, better air quality and the HVAC system is much more efficient than before.
Hi RedCloud1, I found your post from 8 months ago. I hope you don’t mind me asking what is “Aeroduct sealing.” We are figuring out if we should have our ducts cleaned. We believe they have mold. Our duct work is in an attic that is mostly not accessible, and we live in a 2 story house, so many of the ducts are between the 1st and 2nd floors of the house. So, I am not sure “Aeroduct sealing” needs to have access to the duct work. Thanks if you can explain it a little more.
Of course. Aeroduct sealing is designed to improve the efficiency of your HVAC system by eliminating the leakage throughout the ductwork. It’s a process where duct sealant is essentially blown through your ductwork. It seals virtually all cracks and holes below a certain size; larger gaps will need to be sealed manually. Here’s the website: https://aeroseal.com/residential/
The website provides information on the process. Since the vendor is blowing sealants through your ductwork, they need to be cleaned first. That’s the first step. Then, the vendor seals all of your ducts, blocks off your HVAC to protect it, cuts a hole in the duct system and distributes the formula.
I’m no expert on HVAC systems and ductwork, but I’d imagine that the mold would need to be explored and dealt with first.
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