Plain air duct cleaning gets the dust and debris out of a forced-air heating and cooling system. It does not replace treatment. So our vent job does both: we scrub each vent and return with a rotary brush, clean the registers, the coil and the outside of the air handler, then treat them. It is priced as air duct cleaning and treatment, $50 a vent on a whole-home visit, or from $399 on its own.
What does air duct cleaning cost?
It is priced as air duct cleaning and treatment, because the job cleans first and then treats. That is $50 a vent on the same visit as a whole-home disinfection for mold, with no extra minimum. Booked alone, it starts at $399. The price covers the registers, the duct work, the coil and the outside of the air handler.
| Vents | Time at the house |
|---|---|
| 12 | About 90 minutes |
| 15 | About 2 hours |
| 20 | About 3 hours |
| 25 | 3 to 4 hours |
Count your registers, supply and return, and you know the number before anyone comes out. The air duct cleaning and treatment page shows how to count them and what the price covers.
Having the whole house treated too? Whole-home disinfection is $0.30 per heated square foot, with a $200 minimum. The vents go on that same visit at $50 each, however many you have.
Why air duct cleaning matters
Dust, pet hair and debris build up in air ducts and get moved around every time the heat or AC runs. People notice it in the same few ways: a stale, closed-up smell in the first minute the system runs, dark specks around the registers, grit on the floor under a supply vent, and a house that never quite airs out after somebody else lived in it for years.
- The dust and debris come out of the registers, the duct run and off the coil
- The musty smell is dealt with at the surfaces it grows on, by oxidation rather than by covering it
- Debris that was being released from the supply registers is taken out instead of moved around
- Air moves through a run that is not choked with lint and debris
- The vent covers come off, get cleaned and go back on
Quick facts about air duct cleaning
The EPA lists pet dander and secondhand smoke among the sources of indoor air pollution found in homes (source). If your home has a smoker or a pet, hold to the NADCA inspection schedule below at a minimum, and clean sooner with multiple pets or smokers. If someone in the house reacts to the indoor air, that is another reason to shorten it.
There is no fixed cleaning interval, and NADCA, the National Air Duct Cleaners Association, does not publish one. Its homeowner guidance says frequency of cleaning depends on several factors, including smokers in the household, pets that shed high amounts of hair and dander, water contamination or damage to the home or HVAC system, residents who react to the indoor air, and homes that have just been renovated (source). What NADCA does publish is an inspection schedule. In ACR, The NADCA Standard, Table 1, the recommended minimum inspection interval for a residential system is one year for the air-handling unit and two years for supply and return ducts (source).
Home inspectors do not check for air quality: their job is a visual inspection of the property. If you have just purchased a home or condo, consider getting the air ducts cleaned shortly after moving in.
What is air duct cleaning, and what do we clean?
“Air duct cleaning” is a trade term for cleaning the components of a forced-air heating and cooling system, and the EPA’s own description of it runs wider than any one company’s job: its list reaches parts of the air handler that a treatment visit never opens (source). So it is worth saying plainly which parts we work on.
What Bactronix cleans and then treats is the part that grows the smell: the supply and return registers, the duct work, the cooling coil and the outside of the air handler. We run the system out and then go back over it, because one pass gets what is loose and the second gets what is stuck. Then the treatment goes on: BactroKill Plus, an EPA-registered product, applied with an electrostatic sprayer.
Where moisture is present, the EPA says the potential for microbiological growth increases and spores from that growth may be released into the home’s living space, where they may cause symptoms in people exposed to them (source). That is the case we treat, and it is why cleaning on its own is only half the visit.
This is treatment, not structural mold remediation. It does not fix an active leak, and moisture that is still wet can grow mold again. We look for the water first and tell you what we find.
Here is how to tell whether yours is one of them: when an air duct job is worth paying for, and how to tell a real one from a ripoff.
Where do you clean air ducts?
We clean and treat air ducts in Cane Bay, Nexton, Carnes Crossroads, Summerville, Goose Creek, Moncks Corner and Charleston. The price and the job are the same in every one of them.
The town pages have the local detail: Cane Bay, Nexton and Carnes Crossroads, Summerville and Charleston.
Frequently asked questions
Why should I get my air ducts cleaned?
Because they get dirty. The average homeowner does not have the tools to effectively clean a modern duct system. Beyond normal dust and dirt buildup, several factors increase the need for cleaning: moving into an existing home and wanting to remove the biological footprint of previous occupants, having pets, noticing excessive dust on floors and furnishings, musty odors, cigarette or cigar smoke, cooking odors, mold in the home, a recent fire or water loss, having a new furnace installed, or a newly constructed or renovated home with drywall dust or construction debris inside the ducts.
Are there health benefits to HVAC system cleaning?
That is not what we sell it for. We sell it because a house smells and something is growing on a wet surface inside the system. What the EPA names as worth cleaning for is substantial visible mold growth inside the ducts or on other parts of the heating and cooling system (EPA, Should You Have the Air Ducts in Your Home Cleaned?). That is the case we take. We clean the growth off the surfaces first and treat them after, in that order.
What are some other benefits of having my air ducts cleaned?
The lint and debris come out of the run and off the coil instead of sitting where the air passes over them. Odors from pets, smoke or must get treated at the surfaces they grow on rather than covered over. Air moves through a run that is not choked. The vent covers come back clean.
How often should residential HVAC systems be cleaned?
There is no fixed interval, and NADCA, the National Air Duct Cleaners Association, does not publish one. Its homeowner guidance says frequency of cleaning depends on several factors, including smokers in the household, pets that shed high amounts of hair and dander, water contamination or damage to the home or HVAC system, residents who react to the indoor air, and homes that have just been renovated. What NADCA does publish is an inspection schedule: in ACR, The NADCA Standard, Table 1, the recommended minimum inspection interval for a residential system is one year for the air-handling unit and two years for supply and return ducts. Mold in the home, a new furnace installation, or a recent water or fire loss is a reason to look sooner. The links to both NADCA documents are in Quick facts above.
How long should a professional air duct cleaning take?
It depends on the number of systems, the size of the home, and how much debris is in the system. We plan about 90 minutes at 12 vents, two hours at 15, three hours at 20, and three to four hours at 25. You can stay in the house while we work. Keep people and pets out of a room while we spray it. It is yours again fifteen minutes later.
What are the signs my ducts need cleaning?
Musty or stale odors in the first minute the system runs, dark specks around the registers, grit or debris on the floor under a supply vent, inconsistent airflow, and anything visible on the coil or the first run of duct.
Should I use a deodorizer on my ducts after cleaning?
Yes, and it is the step a cheap cleaning skips. Once cleaned, the system is treated with BactroKill Plus, an EPA-registered product, EPA Reg. No. 82972-1-90746, applied to its label. It takes out musty, smoke, pet and cooking odors by oxidizing them rather than covering them. Cleaning removes the dust. It does not replace the treatment, which deals with what the dust was growing on.
Tell us about the house
Send us the house and the price comes back in writing before anyone comes out.