We are not writing this article to put our company on a pedestal nor are we trying to imply we’re the only ones that know how to clean correctly. The intention of this article is to inform and educate consumers to beware of air duct cleaners who don’t know how to clean correctly or may be using underpowered equipment. Thank you!
If You Think You’re are Already Breathing Dirty Air
First, let us start by saying if air ducts are not cleaned correctly it can cause more harm than good! Between the use of underpowered equipment, the lack of experience, not protecting the furnace, and not having the right tools, the cleaning has already failed! Just think about it, the objective is to break everything up and take it out of the HVAC system. In order to accomplish this goal, to correctly clean a system, it’s mandatory to have the right tools, experience, and equipment.
How can it cause more harm than good?
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Let’s say there’s a pile of dirt, it’s in a secluded place not touched, very little will become airborne. The moment that pile of dirt is disturbed it becomes airborne and must be collected. Furthermore, there are drop points in an HVAC system and the most important one is the plenum where the coil, coil tray, and burner are. If this isn’t protected, it’s an area where it’s almost impossible to clean unless you take it all apart. No matter how strong the air suction is on an air duct cleaning machine stuff falls in this area.
In the end, if everything was not collected that was disturbed, that’s what you and/or your family will be breathing in now. This could potentially cause someone to get sick.
Price is Important, BUT……
Most people that hire someone to clean their air ducts just trust that the job will be done right, and it’s sad that in many cases the job is not done right. We will continue to educate and inform consumers about what questions to ask and how to identify if a company has what it takes to clean correctly. At the end of the day, even if you don’t hire Amber’s Air Duct Cleaning, we hope that your system was cleaned correctly. You may be asking, “why do we care so much? We are passionate about what we do and just hate seeing people get ripped off.
When it comes to the cost, we get it. You want the best price, but it doesn’t mean you will get a quality cleaning. As a matter of fact, you may have just thrown your hard-earned money right in a trash can and who wants to do that? In all reality, it’s better to wait and save the money you need to hire a company that’s going to clean correctly. Air Duct Cleaning is not a cheap service! With no intention of making anyone feel stupid, we’d love to give you another example.
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If you knew a car that you wanted was selling for a certain price, you searched around, and found it for half the cost you knew it was worth. What would be the first thing that would come to your mind? First thing that would come to mind would be “what’s wrong with it!” There are cases where a friend or family member may sell the car for half the cost you knew it was worth, but it’s rare.
BE AWARE OF SCARE TACTICS! As in most industries, scare tactics are great marketing and advertising tools to help persuade consumers. There’s a difference in stating factual evidence versus scaring people. The jury is still deliberating long-term health causes of dirty air ducts. So, if someone or a company is promoting the health benefit of having your air ducts cleaned, DING DING DING, this should raise suspicion. Our professional and personal opinions being in the industry for over 10+ years, amateurs use scare tactics.
Decisions, Decisions, Decisions
It’s easier to spot Facebook scams/post, but it’s more challenging to filter local air duct cleaning companies that are doing crappy work, especially when people are saying great things about them. It is tough not to let the public know what we know, but we don’t want to sound like we’re bashing another company, and it can make our company look bad. Honestly, we have been very transparent with our cleaning methods and process publicly in hopes that local companies will take heed to implementing what they’re doing wrong or not doing at all.
We can say this with confidence, and it’s the truth, Amber’s Air Duct Cleaning has cleaned behind almost every local company. Does this mean that we are perfect? No. There are things that are in our control and out of our control that have definitely happened. That’s when you really learn about a person or a company, it is when something happens that’s not good. Recently, we were made aware of another situation by a local company that was paid to clean the air ducts in a residential home. The client took off the vents to paint their home only to discover the vents and drop pans were still filthy. We need to keep in mind there are always two sides to the story, but here is what the client said:
“I never reached out to see what he had to say because around that same time we had him do some stuff at my work. He did a subpar job and the owner wasn’t satisfied, and as soon as we said anything he fired off calling our business a dump. I figured I’d save my effort and just shop vac out the parts he didn’t finish and call it a day.”
“I hate saying stuff about many small businesses, but the way he fired off about the shop I work at, and as soon as the service writer said the boss wasn’t happy with his work, than he blocked her before she could respond.”
“The only reason I didn’t blast him publicly is because I don’t need him going around and talking bad about my place of work, since he seems to be pretty well respected.”
We felt so bad for this consumer we offered to clean his system for free. You may be asking yourself, “how did you find this out?” Someone was looking for air duct cleaning services from a community on FB. Our name was mentioned multiple times as well as the other company this client speaks of, but this client posted pictures, and alarmed people to be sure they take off the vents. We privately messaged them and asked him what company.
Now this client believes you have to take off vents because of his experience, but there are specialty tools made for vents that have been painted on heavily and can cause damage taken off. The right tool for the job could’ve cleaned these vents and drop pans without taking the vents off.
We have a few Heating & Cooling Companies that refer us, they trust us in their clients homes for air duct cleaning, and we trust them in our clients homes for heating & cooling needs. We say this because they install, repair, know parts, know how systems operate and have the right tools, but it doesn’t mean they know or have the right tools to clean air ducts. The same thing could be said about air duct cleaners, it looks pretty simple to install, fix, and repair, but we don’t have enough knowledge, experience, or the right tools to do so.
There are likable people in this world. There are people we respect because they have served our country, community, or volunteered their services. We want to believe these people are going to do the best job, but that’s not always the case. Money does things to people and can make people forget how they got where they’re at.
What YOU NEED TO KNOW about Air Duct Cleaning!
Tools & Materials you need to clean air ducts:
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Variation of whips and/or brushes that range from 8″ to 28″ (clean different size ductwork)
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Variation of whips and/or brushes that are made from hard plastic to soft rubber (clean galvanized duct metal and/or flex duct)
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Microline (Fit through vents that are painted on or won’t come off)
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Rods and/or Hurricane line (something that goes down the vents)
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Masking tape and/or magnets (block off vents)
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Hole cutter or snippets (cut a 8″ to 12″ hole in ductwork)
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1″ Step Bit (creates access to clean ductwork)
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1″ Duct Caps (to seal holes from step bit)
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10″ to 14″ 24 gauge duct metal plate (to seal holes created)
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Something to seal and protect furnace
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Reverse and forward skipper balls (allows to push the debris)
Minimum Standard Equipment used to clean:
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30 Gallon gas air compressor, 175 psi, 27cfm (psi provides the power and cfm delivers how fast the air is returned to the tank)
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4,000 cfm Air Duct Cleaning Machine (strength of negative air suction)
There are standards in this industry! As in every industry, there will be people and companies that don’t have the right tools or knowledge to do what you’re paying for, but they will take your money if you let them. In addition, they will make you believe they did the best job in the world, and you will want to believe they did because you think they’re a great person.
The Duct Cleaning Post’s Won’t stop!
Last, but not least, beware of FB duct cleaning scammers!
For some it’s not easy to decipher, but here is some of the verbiage that they use on post that you can immediately spot:
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“Unlimited ducts”
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“Whole House”
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“50% Discounted price”
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“Help me save my business”
