Duct cleaning - good idea or scam?

[Anonymous]

We live in an old house. Now that the heat is back on, I’m paranoid that dirty air is circulating. It could be my imagination. Has anyone here ever gone through the duct cleaning process? It’s expensive - did you think it was worth it? I’ve often wondered if the service is of real value or if advertising has tricked me into thinking this is a problem I need solved. Insight???

[Anonymous]

scam

[Anonymous]

scam they always find something else, you can do it yourself by removing a vent and vacuuming in there.

[Anonymous]

We did it once in the 8 years we've been living in our home. It did clean out a lot of dirt, dust and a bunch of stink bugs. I don't think any of the previous owners had cleaned the ducts (the house is 40-50 years old). Now that it's done I won't do it again.

[Anonymous]

Scam

[Anonymous]

I don’t know if it’s a scam or not but we had ours done and you could feel more air blowing out of the registers. I am very happy I got mine cleaned.

[Anonymous]

scam

[Anonymous]

Scam— check EPA’s webpage on this— you are as likely to cause problems as prevent them

[Anonymous]

scam scammy scamerson

[Anonymous]

If you have floor registers and shedding pets…seems like a good idea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you have floor registers and shedding pets…seems like a good idea.

No, it’s still a scam. The Washington post did a helpful article:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/home/considering-having-your-air-ducts-cleaned-think-again/2019/01/28/cb5c14b4-1393-11e9-b6ad-9cfd62dbb0a8_story.html

[Anonymous]

Scam. Think about it. There's no vacuum or fan powerful enough to suck out dirt sticking on the side of long ducts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you have floor registers and shedding pets…seems like a good idea.

No, it’s still a scam. The Washington post did a helpful article:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/home/considering-having-your-air-ducts-cleaned-think-again/2019/01/28/cb5c14b4-1393-11e9-b6ad-9cfd62dbb0a8_story.html

This article was very helpful! Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know if it’s a scam or not but we had ours done and you could feel more air blowing out of the registers. I am very happy I got mine cleaned.

Unless your ducts were filled with straw, this makes no sense.
It’s more likely that you had filters that hadn’t been changed or a damper that was closed and they opened it. A lot of people don’t even know they have dampers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We did it once in the 8 years we've been living in our home. It did clean out a lot of dirt, dust and a bunch of stink bugs. I don't think any of the previous owners had cleaned the ducts (the house is 40-50 years old). Now that it's done I won't do it again.

This. In most homes, the ducts will not need cleaning. We did it once just after finishing a major renovation and that time it did find a lot of dust/dirt and a little debris caused by the renovation. We have not done it again and do not need it.