Cleaning out the House Vents?

[jpinard]

It looks like Stanley Steemer only costs $100 to clean out all the vents in the house if you have just one furnace. I expected it to be much more than that. Has anyone eused them or someone else they liked? Does Stanley Steemer have a good reputation or is it run by a bunch of pirates & scallywags?

[Athryn]

I would check angieslist.

[jpinard]

@Athryn

I would check angieslist.

Doesn’t it cost money to do that nowadays?

[ceolstan]

I’d check the price. That’s an insanely good deal on vent cleaning. You might want to see if it’s $100 for the house, or for the house up to a certain number of vents. Vents include cold air returns. About 15 years ago, I spent about $200 on vent cleaning and was happy to find it that low.

I have no idea how good Stanley Steemer is, but the last person we had clean our vents was also in the carpet cleaning business, and we had no complaints about the job they did.

[jpinard]

@ceolstan

I’d check the price. That’s an insanely good deal on vent cleaning. You might want to see if it’s $100 for the house, or for the house up to a certain number of vents. Vents include cold air returns. About 15 years ago, I spent about $200 on vent cleaning and was happy to find it that low.

I have no idea how good Stanley Steemer is, but the last person we had clean our vents was also in the carpet cleaning business, and we had no complaints about the job they did.

Were you able to see just how much they got out of your vents? DO they scrape the sides of the vents to make sure any clincgy stuff is pulled off and sucked out?

[ceolstan]

My husband was, and was pleased. However, the vents had been cleaned within the past 4 years. It’s been 2 years, and the vents still look good. Now, when I spent the $200 15 years ago, the house vents had never been cleaned, and the furnace was a converted coal-burning furnace. The basement also had water problems. This was a house I house-sat, and the professor was pretty clueless about the water situation other than to store everything up off the floor so it wouldn’t get wet.

The vent cleaners showed me what they were up against, and it was pretty disgusting. It took them a very long time to get those vents cleaned.

[Phil_Stein]

I’ve got a couple of coupons from vent cleaners. Wondering if it’s worth it.

Our house is just over 14 years old, gas furnace, central A/C. Vents never been cleaned AFAIK.

[tork]

We had a thread discussing this a couple years ago. Here’s some information from that thread that might be relevant:

@tork

For those of you talking about full-on duct cleaning services, you may be just simplifying the description of the work that’s done, but if the only thing the service you hire does is hook up the vacuum truck for a few hours, you’re getting ripped off. At one point, I worked for a restoration company that did duct cleaning, and a good service will snake all of the ducts with a special air tool which knocks the dust loose from the duct walls while the vacuum is running. (They go from room to room, removing the vent covers and running compressed air lines down the ducts.) A good service will also disassemble the blower on your furnace, take the squirrel cage outside, and pressure wash it. If they don’t use tools inside the vents, the vent walls will still be covered with filth no matter how long they run the vacuum.

Jeff, am I remembering right that you live in SE Michigan? If so, you may want to try a company called Cemcare. It’s the company I worked for when I did duct cleaning, and I have great respect for their integrity and commitment to quality. Of course, that was 8 years ago, so things could have changed, but I’d be surprised. I used them frequently after I left their employ, and they always stood by their work.

[jpinard]

@tork

We had a thread discussing this a couple years ago. Here’s some information from that thread that might be relevant:

Jeff, am I remembering right that you live in SE Michigan? If so, you may want to try a company called Cemcare. It’s the company I worked for when I did duct cleaning, and I have great respect for their integrity and commitment to quality. Of course, that was 8 years ago, so things could have changed, but I’d be surprised. I used them frequently after I left their employ, and they always stood by their work.

We’re in Western Michigan (Grand Rapids). Is Troy their only location?

[Adam_Altmann]

@jpinard

It looks like Stanley Steemer only costs $100 to clean out all the vents in the house if you have just one furnace. I expected it to be much more than that. Has anyone eused them or someone else they liked? Does Stanley Steemer have a good reputation or is it run by a bunch of pirates & scallywags?

I bought my first hosue back in August, and had Stanley Steemer come out and clean the vents and carpets. They were really nice and did a fine job. I do believe I got X number of vents for a lump sum, and then any over that were an additional fee. Maybe doublecheck the ‘all the vents’ part.

[tork]

@jpinard

We’re in Western Michigan (Grand Rapids). Is Troy their only location?

They are in only one location. They will drive a remarkably long way for a job, but probably not all the way to Grand Rapids for something as small as duct cleaning, unfortunately.