Had our ducts cleaned, may have got scammed?

[Joemonkey]

We recently moved into a new house and got a big envelope of coupons in the mail. One of them was for a full house duct cleaning, one main, one return, and up to 14 vents for $49.99. We happen to have 1 mains and 2 returns and 15 ducts, so adding in the extra main was an extra $89.99 and the extra duct was $15. They also "tested for mold" in the vents and it came back positive, so they gave us this crazy quote of

$49.99 for the special
$89.99 for the extra return
$15.00 for the extra vent
$300.00 to treat for mold
$600.00 to treat the vents and seal any corrosion or mini-leaks
$900.00 for a UV treatment to kill anything else living in the vents
=
$1954.98

I told the guy to go fly a kite, just do what was on the coupon + the extra return and extra vent (which I wasn't happy about paying anyway). Granted, they found a LOT of shit in the vents, Uno cards, big sticks, cheerios, etc. and I felt better about getting it actually cleaned, but it was awfully close to the holidays so I wasn't going to tell my daughter that she got clean vents for Christmas.

Then the guy pulls the "let me call my manager" thing, and I roll my eyes... he re-quotes me half price for everything! lucky me right! ~$977 for all that stuff! I told the guy it was still too much and there was no way I was paying that much. He talks to "his manager" some more, re-quotes me $500 for all of it except the UV stuff. I tell him I am not telling my daughter she can't get a toy because we cleaned out the vents. He says "well it's late in the day, maybe he'll even give you a bigger break" and I hear him mention on the phone that we have a kid, and the "manager" re-quotes us for everything except the UV treatment for $212!

That was only ~$60 more than the original "quote" so I said "sure, do it, that's fine"

I got to thinking, there were 2 guys, they came from ~50 miles away in a big truck with all this equipment, spent about 2.5 hours here, so $212 isn't really worth them coming out honestly, so I think we got a good deal after all.

However, the main guy said instead of having our fan on Auto we should keep it set to ON all the time to save energy. Does this make any sense to anyone? he said when it is set to Auto it kicks on at full speed multiple times per day, but on ON it stays on at a slower, more maintainable speed at all times. We keep our heat on ~60 degrees in the winter, so I can't imagine our heat is kicking on so much that leaving the fan on actually would give us an energy savings. Does anyone know if there is any truth to saving energy by leaving your fan ON?

 

[theflyingpig]

Classic sales tactics. I would have told them to go fuck themselves the moment they pulled the "I'm gonna call my manager" bit. Everyone knows this.

 

[Utterman]

Check out: http://www.epa.gov/iaq/pubs/airduct.html

IMO duct cleaning is not worth the high price that is usally charged. The mold and UV treatments are a bigger ripoff unless your alergies go off or you actually see mold.

You are better off spending any money on replacing your HVAC air filter and having it serviced one or twice a year.

 

[KK]

$1954, lol.

 

[Joemonkey]

I didn't want to be a bastard, they still had equipment in my vents and didn't want them to damage something by telling them to go take a hike and have to deal with litigation and all that. I'm more interested in their suggestion to leave my fan on 24/7

 

[Joemonkey]

$1954, lol.

Thing is, you know there is some dumb rich bastard out there that simply said "ok, here ya go!"

can't really blame the guys, even if it only hits 1 out of 50 times it's a big payday...

 

[Joemonkey]

Check out: http://www.epa.gov/iaq/pubs/airduct.html

IMO duct cleaning is not worth the high price that is usally charged. The mold and UV treatments are a bigger ripoff unless your alergies go off or you actually see mold.

You are better off spending any money on replacing your HVAC air filter and having it serviced one or twice a year.

I live in the allergy capital of the world, we have a fireplace, and the previous people who lived here were renters who owned dogs that apparently liked to piss all over the place... we figured it was worth it to pay a couple benjamins to have our vents cleaned.

 

[PottedMeat]

However, the main guy said instead of having our fan on Auto we should keep it set to ON all the time to save energy. Does this make any sense to anyone? he said when it is set to Auto it kicks on at full speed multiple times per day, but on ON it stays on at a slower, more maintainable speed at all times. We keep our heat on ~60 degrees in the winter, so I can't imagine our heat is kicking on so much that leaving the fan on actually would give us an energy savings. Does anyone know if there is any truth to saving energy by leaving your fan ON?

'more maintainable speed'??? aren't most A/C unit blowers all on or all off?

2 guys for 2 hours 50miles away? it sounds like they may have lost money giving you those deals lol.

 

[casiotech wants a new accord]

damn man you got a steal

there are tons of people who pay $2000 to clean their gutters and you got it for $200.. that's nuffin

 

[Zebo]

Fuck you can remove and replace ducts in your house for that price.

 

[casiotech wants a new accord]

oh wait you didn't get the UV treatment, then it's not such a good deal

 

[guyver01]

^^

your username amuses me.

 

[F1N3ST]

$1954, lol.

Fine, I'll do it all for the low price of $1854. $100 OFF!!

 

[Zebo]

They also "tested for mold" in the vents and it came back positive

Imagine that!

 

[RESmonkey]

There are two kinds of duct cleaners. People who advertise for low prices like $69 or $99, and people who do it for what it's really worth: hundreds. The latter does the real kind of duct cleaning (cleaning EVERYTHING inside your ducts thoroughly and professionally).
People who clean for less are usually not cleaning the right way or using shitty machines.
Look for people who use the real industrial cleaning machines (Rotobrush systems, vacuums that come with massive bags that are placed outside your home, etc.)

If you're in the Chicagoland area (Chicago, suburbs, anywhere really) and want your ducts cleaned, I know of an excellent small group that can do it professionally. It's a single man owned business and he has 2 men accompany him who do the brute work. All professional. Just PM if you want more info.

 

[RESmonkey]

Imagine that!

Mold is often present in ducts. I'm not sure of these guys' tests were legit, but usually a reputable duct cleaning company doesn't lie about these kinds of things.

 

[lxskllr]

I'm more interested in their suggestion to leave my fan on 24/7

I never heard of that. All the fans I've seen are single speed; it's either on or off. Keeping them on can be good for air flow, but you'll use more electricity running it all the time. I'd set the thermostat to Heat in the winter, and Cool in the summer. Auto triggers the wrong thing on occasion, and wastes money. I don't want the A/C to come on in the winter if I'm running a stove all day or something. I'll wait it out until it naturally cools down.

 

[Utterman]

I didn't want to be a bastard, they still had equipment in my vents and didn't want them to damage something by telling them to go take a hike and have to deal with litigation and all that. I'm more interested in their suggestion to leave my fan on 24/7

Regarding the fan, it mainly depends on the type of fan you have and your preference. There is a single-phase AC fan which can use several hundred watts to run or newer systems have a variable speed DC fan that uses ~60 watts to operate. So if you run the fan all the time it will cost more to operate the single or dual phase AC fan than the variable DC fan.

 

[herrjimbo]

as far as i know, the auto/on/off switch is strictly for the fan. it won't mess with the heat or a/c.

auto means the fan comes on when the furnace or a/c kicks in.
on means the fan runs continuously 24/7.

the guy who told you otherwise is full of shit.

 

[Jeff7]

Pseudorandom thing here, but a fun thought for the Roomba people:
A robot that can crawl through ductwork, and on its way, bathe the interior with intense UV light. Perhaps it could incorporate this technology. :awe:


And now back to your regularly scheduled thread.

 

[Rudee]

Did you get the stem lube?

 

[randay]

i hope they at least topped off your duct fluids.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Holy crap that is ridiculously expensive. I need to get mine done, I had no idea it was THAT expensive. I'd be willing to pay a couple hundred bucks just to save having to do it myself, but if it's normally that expensive think I will just do it myself... does not have to be a super good job, just need to get the worse out. I'm sure I can find a long compressor hose and long vacuum hose for way lower then that price.

 

[KK]

Fuck you can remove and replace ducts in your house for that price.

This is where commas help. :hmm:

 

[Born2bwire]

I have been told to keep my fan on all the time to save energy too. But the reason I have been told, and I agree from personal experience to some extent, was that running the fan would make you more comfortable and would use the climate control less. It keeps the heat/cool air more evenly distributed in the house and the moving air makes you feel cooler in the summers. I think the effects would be more apparent if your thermostats are in a bad hot/cool spot. My grandmother's is across from the patio door and gets a full blast of sunshine for the better part of the day. So it reads much hotter than the rest of the house.