Air Duct Cleaning?

[OxmanWI]

So I've called around and Sears air duct cleaning seems to be the lowest price, yet I heard from a couple people that they are junk. Anyone hear the same about Sears or recommend a air duct cleaning service in the Milwaukee area?

Thank you,

Josh

[awsomeears]

If your looking for the lowest price you will get the lowest quality duct cleaning. They do sub par work and will sell u crap and yes I have experiance. I used to duct clean ..

What square foot home and how much did they quote

I know one of the Best places around and they are fair. They have done work for my family and hundreds of my customers

not only that I trust him 100 percent the owner is a retired Marine the guys a straight shooter

[lit666]

Wast of money IMO.

[95 TA - The Beast]

I looked into it just before I bought our house last year and found that for the majority of homes it is unnecessary and a waste.

Key point is, does your house have a proper air filter, and has that filter been maintained. If it was always in place and if it was always maintained you will not have much on the register side (heat output/central air output) of things, if anything at all. That leaves the cold air return ducting. Even that can have a fair amount of dust/hair/etc and still not affect proper air circulation as long as a proper filtration system is in place. The filter should filter out anything before it gets forced into the conditioned air ducting.

Honestly, I have found in my own place as well as friends that you can have all kinds of crap in the return air side (such as drywall remenants, bits of wood, etc from home construction), but the conditioned air side is pristine.

Now, if they did not have a proper filtration system installed, then you would be looking at installing one and having the conditioned air side of the ducting cleaned properly.

[Old Guy]

You would be surprised at what you find in the duct work.

[awsomeears]

Having you duct work cleaned is very important for one reason, as a human you create dust, most of it is dirt and human skin. In your home you want to create a home full of your Dust, not the previous 2 or 3 owners that lived there.

After your duct work is clean, purchase a Mid grade Merv 7 to 10 filter and change it often

[OxmanWI]

Just to update I didn't go with sears. I read and talked to a few people on the shady work out of the milwaukee office. We went with a family friend that does ait duct and carpet cleaning. Every year I change the air filer with the highest merv rating. Clean and vacumme the fan, box and coils as well. Thanks for help and tips!

[Lash]

You need to change the filter more that one a year. I say every 90 days at most.
Also, just because you get the highest MERV rating doesn't mean it's the best for your furnace. They are super restrictive....

[95 TA - The Beast]

I agree a high MERV rating means you have to change it more frequently...

I switched from media filters to electronic cells with pre-filters for my setup. The original owner put in a Honeywell Electronic Air Cleaner F50 when he did the furnace. You could tell he put in the cells backwards (based on the improperly installed key) and it started a fire (based on the partially melted key), so he went with a media filter. I found a local guy selling the cells and pre-filters, snapped them up and have been quite happy since.

I clean the pre-filters every 2-3 months and the cells every 6 months. You can tell it is working after it is cleaned because you can smell the ozone initially. The ozone smell goes away (or you just get used to it) and you can tell it is working by the occasional snap you get when it zaps something. You can also test it by pressing the test button (which shunts to ground, but causes a snap to verify the power supply is working).

Oh, and, yes, I did reinstall the key to the proper direction, installed the cells in the proper direction with the pre-filters on the proper side and there is no worries about a fire since the cells are installed properly.

[awsomeears]

10 Merv is plenty, 11 is pushing it...

I have seen constent use of high 3M 15 Merv or higher filters burn out ECM DC blower motors !!!

[LIL EVO]

Yeah but what if you want laboratory clean air

[OxmanWI]

One, I really don't use my A/C in the summer, maybe a dozen or so days when we get the humidity. So I only replace my filter before the heating season. Why waste the money?

Second, why would they sell filters with a high MERV rating for my size box and recommend it with my furnace? Never heard of a filter causing a blower to good bad.

[Lash]

10 Merv is plenty, 11 is pushing it...

I have seen constent use of high 3M 15 Merv or higher filters burn out ECM DC blower motors !!!

That's what I was getting at. People don't realize how hard it is on blowers that aren't rated for higher MERV filters. It's not a matter of changing it more often.

[awsomeears]

One, I really don't use my A/C in the summer, maybe a dozen or so days when we get the humidity. So I only replace my filter before the heating season. Why waste the money?

Second, why would they sell filters with a high MERV rating for my size box and recommend it with my furnace? Never heard of a filter causing a blower to good bad.

You have heard it here so its gotta be true, but no seriously I have had Blower motors Fail, heat exchangers get Taxed, High Limits start to fail years down the road. You will just have to trust me to change it every 6 months and my MERV recommendations.

[OxmanWI]

I have a 25x16x5? Not home right now, but its the big sucker. Where can I get a 10 or less merv? All the hardware stores sell the best in that size. Online?

[awsomeears]

On your filter you should see a nominal size, that is the down right exact size, what brand is your filter housing, usually the door says something.

[LIL EVO]

[Lash]

That's waaaaay too dirty.

[LIL EVO]

No pets and nothing crazy, but that's a pretty old filter.