Frequently Asked Questions
Q. Why should I get my air ducts cleaned?
A. Ducts cleaning is an important part of any home or business maintenance. A dirty air duct
can affect your health by lowering the quality of the air, encouraging the circulation of
allergens and bacteria. One way to keep your indoors air free from unnecessary pollutants
is to keep the air ducts of your heating and cooling systems clean. Moreover, dirty or blocked
ducts can decrease the deficiency of your air conditioning system and increase energy costs.
Q. Do I need a specialized company to clean the ducts?
A. Since ducts cleaning involves special methods, it's important to hire a professional and
experienced company like Mighty clean ducts to do the job. Mighty clean ducts is equipped
with truck mount machines that can thoroughly clean up your air ducts.
Q. How do ducts get dirty anyhow?
A. Air ducts are just like the respiratory system of a human body. Air circulates in your house
or business through the hidden air ducts. The air conditioning system pumps up the hot air
heated up in the furnace in winter time and the cold air generated by the cooling device in
summer time, sending air to the vents around the house. When the air conditioning system
is running, contaminants like dust, pollen, pet hair and animal dander are brought into the
system through the return air vents. They get eposited in the air ducts. Vents on the floor
level are inevitably laden with dirt and mud, brought in from the house doors or just room
your indoor plants. These contaminants will eventually enter the air ducts in which they
produce mildews and germs that can eopardize your health. Since ordinary cleaning is not
able to reach the very deep inside of the air ducts, only professionals with special machines
can help you thoroughly clean up the air conditioning system.
Q. How often should I have my air ducts cleaned?
A. At least every 2 years. If you or one of your family members have respiratory problems
such as asthma or allergy to pollens, or if you are living in relatively dusty neighborhood,
you should clean your dusts more often.
Q. Should I have my air ducts cleaned before I move in to my new house?
A. Yes. As your house is newly built, it’s not unusual that quite a lot of the construction debris
like sawdust, asbestos and concrete lumps remained in the air ducts. If you don't clean them
they will obstruct the airflow in the ducts causing problems from the start. It's always a good
suggestion to have your new house cleaned before you move in.
Q. How do you clean my air ducts?
A. We use our truck mount vacuum machine and high pressure air blow gun to clean up the
whole air conditioning system. We will first open some holes on the air ducts to hook up an
8 -10 inch diameter hose to the air conditioning system and connect this hose to our
powerful truck mount vacuum machine (air volume 20000 cubic feet per minute). When the
vacuum machine is turned on, it generates huge negative pressure. Contaminants in your
air conditioning system would be extracted through the hose to the vacuum machine
outside. At the meantime, we use a high pressure air gun (air pressure 250 pounds per
square inch) combined with the roller brush to clean up the air vents and floor/ceiling
registers one by one and help draw the contaminants to the vacuum machine.
Q. Can you reach all the places within the ducts?
A. Yes we can. For the usually unreachable places inside of the air duct, we use a special
equipment to do the job. This so-called “octopus” (some people call that spider) equipment
is an air blowing plastic whips mounted on the end of a very flexible long rod that can be
inserted deeply into the air ducts. Next, we will open your furnace to clean its inside including
the air filters. We also spray the disinfection sanitizer (optional) into the air ducts, eliminating
the germs that have grown in there. Once we finish the cleaning process we seal up the
opened holes.
Q. Do you charge “connection fee”, “hole opening fee”, “individual vent
cleaning fee”?
A. No we don't. Some companies do, but we don’t. Our air duct cleaning fees are based on
the number of furnaces you have and the size of your house.
Q. What is the best time for Duct Cleaning?
A. The best time for ducts cleaning depends on several factors. Duct cleaning companies will
tell you every year or two, but that is a rather vague answer. Based on our experience, here
are some guidelines in determining when to have your air ducts cleaned.
--- When a newborn baby joins the family or if a mother expects a child. Even if you have
cleaned the air ducts 2 years ago, you shouldn't take any chances. Infants' lungs are so
small and sensitive that any airborne contaminants can immediately affect them. But don’t
stop at duct cleaning! Consider our carpet and upholstery cleaning as well, as a thorough
top-to-bottom house cleaning before the new baby is born.
---Flooding or moisture problems. Duct cleaning could make sense if you have a problem
with moisture in your ductwork. Moisture may result in mold growth in the air ducts. First it is
important to solve the problem. Next, clean and disinfect the entire ductwork system where
the mold has grown and have the rest of the ducting system cleaned as well. In some
instances you should better replace the entire affected areas. It may also be more cost
effective to replace the contaminated ducts
--- New construction project. If you are moving into a newly constructed or newly renovated
house, duct cleaning should be high on your list. Drywall dust, fiberglass pieces, sawdust and
other construction debris can restrict air flow and cause damage. Duct cleaning will also
remove lunch wrappers, soda cans and other garbage which may have fallen or been swept
into the air ducts. For similar reasons, duct cleaning is always advisable for older homes after
renovation
--- If your house is cold or drafty. If you experience problems with the furnace airflow, duct
cleaning could uncover significant blockages. You should have the ducts cleaned before
you pursue additional expensive solutions like duct work replacement or air duct rerouting to
solve an airflow problem. Furnace cleaning and air conditioning component cleaning (e.g.
furnace fan blower, air conditioning coil, humidifier, furnace heat exchanger, etc.) have also
proved to make a huge difference in air flow
--- Visible inspection of air ducts. Although the hidden components within your heating
and cooling systems are often the dirtiest parts, if you see that your exposed vents are
dirty, just imagine how dirty the rest of the ductwork system is. If you look into the cold air
return registers and see an accumulation of dust and debris in the air ducts, you may want
to have it removed. Research has shown that cold air return air ducts which are relatively
big and have slow moving air, are generally much dirtier than the supply ducts
--- If you have household pets. Households with hairy pets may find it necessary to
inspect their return air ducts more frequently. Pet hair and pet dander, toys, food items and
even feces matter seem to all find their way into the air ducts. If you have pets or small
children, you may want to plan on more frequent duct cleaning
