How to Hire a Professional to Clean Your Furnace and Air Ducts
These days, there are a plethora of companies that provide furnace and air duct cleaning services. The gas company (Centerpoint Energy), the retailer (Sears), the plumber, the carpet cleaner, and, most likely, your neighborhood handyman. If you search the internet for one, you’ll most likely run across what I term lead aggregators, such as “Service Magic” or “1800Contractor.” These companies simply sell the leads to third-party companies that are either desperate for work or new to the industry. You’ll almost certainly come across a corporation with multiple domain names and website addresses, but the same phone number for each is a dead giveaway. Read when you should call the Furnace Cleaning Toronto.
Simply Google the phone number, and all of the other domain names will appear in the results. Then there are the companies that specialize in pay-per-click marketing. These businesses are rarely found in the organic search results for relevant keyword phrases like “furnace cleaning mn” or “air duct cleaning mpls.” Again, they are most likely fly-by-night businesses that are either new to the industry or have a negative reputation, making it impossible for them to rank organically on the web. Pick the top three organic search results for your specified search term, and make sure you have three separate phone numbers, with no 1-800 numbers (unless you really enjoy a run-around.)
The first question you’ll probably ask these companies now that you’ve located them is, “How much do you charge?” This is where the true perplexity arises. Some businesses brag about their $99 duct cleaning deal (only read the fine print, or find out exactly what it includes.) These types of businesses are almost always scams. It’s employing the same old strategy that we’ve all heard before: “It’s a bait and switch. ” They’ll fail to tell you things like “each additional room costs $20 beyond the first five,” “furnace cleaning is extra,” “air conditioning coil cleaning is $79,” and my personal favorite, “air exchanger compartment only $55 with duct cleaning.”
When cleaning your air ducts, make sure to clean the air conditioner coils, the air exchanger compartment, and the furnace itself, which only takes a minute or two. My recommendation is to go with a provider that offers a package that includes the air conditioning coils, air exchanger compartment, and furnace for a single price (usually this only applies to homes with one furnace, additional furnaces usually mean you have a rather large house, or the crew has to set up the equipment twice).
So, you found a nice local firm at a reasonable price, correct? Wrong. Did you inquire about the cleaning procedure they employ? I’ve heard of at least four cleaning procedures, but I’ll only describe the two most common. Your “basic” or “air-sweep” method is the first. This is where the cleaner uses an air wand to blow compressed air down the branch lines into the main trunk lines at each register in the house. Then he utilizes an “air snake” with a reverse nozzle to pull all of the dust and debris towards the furnace, where the vacuum hose is connected.
The “roto-brush” approach is the second option. This is where they remove all of the registers in the house and send an air-powered brush around in circles, pushing junk out of the air ducts. If you clean your furnace on a regular basis, the simple procedure is fine in my opinion. This type of cleaning usually costs between $175 and 225 dollars. If you’ve recently purchased an older property that doesn’t appear to have been painted in a long time, the roto-brush method may be the way to go. Keep in mind that the roto-brush process takes a long time and costs 3-5 times as much as a standard cleaning.
