Duct Cleaning ?

**hudson73** · 05-22-2007, 07:11 PM

Hey everyone.....
Haven't posed in a while due to crazy Illinois weather. Lots of overtime. Anyway....I do all comercial work.....mostly bigger York units, Trane intellepacts and so on.....on the roof all day. Basically never dipping into residential at all. Except a few of friends who asked for help.
Well....ya see...I live in this condo complex........three buildings.....35 units to each building and all condos of coarse have their own duct work. I was recently at a board meeting for the condo and ...got to talkin to some of the owners and many of them were wanting me to see if I would clean their ducts for them. So out of curiosty I went to one of the owners condos..... to see how hard this would be.....whothe owner was actually a really smokin hot girl......who I am going on the boat this weekend with.............YES!
Sorry.....anyway.....cleaning these ducts would not be bad at all. Basically it I would be taking off about 7 vents.....which are all located towards the ceiling throughout the condo. I looked inside them.......and it looks like a shop vac with a few long extensions would do the job. I dont know....never cleaned this....nor dont know what to do.
I guess my questions are:
What do duct cleaners use for cleaning?
How much should I charge for each condo unit?
Or any advice really on doing this!
I mean I know I would probably have a good amount of the owners asking me so I think I could make a little extra money$...........and money is exactlly what this single father of a 13 year old....... who needs braces very soon..... would definitly be needing to help pay for her straight teeth.
Thanks guys......
enjoy the summer...
Dan

**Senior Tech** · 05-22-2007, 07:35 PM

Cleaning ducts with a shop vac will not clean the entire run...period.
All you will be cleaning is as far as you can reach with the extensions, in fact your not cleaning anything, your simply vacuuming out loose dust.
Do yourself and your neighbors a favor and leave it to the pros who have the proper equipment to do a good job.

**hudson73** · 05-23-2007, 08:18 PM

Originally Posted by Senior Tech

Cleaning ducts with a shop vac will not clean the entire run...period.
All you will be cleaning is as far as you can reach with the extensions, in fact your not cleaning anything, your simply vacuuming out loose dust.
Do yourself and your neighbors a favor and leave it to the pros who have the proper equipment to do a good job.

Well actuallly thats what they want done. When you look inside these ducts......which I must add are all made out of drywall.........all you really see is dust that covers the bottom almost like a blanket. So vacuum is just a suggestion I gave.
I am sure their are professional duct cleaners.......and good for them! but Im sure they charge a good buck. I was looking for a little extra money...and to help save some money to my condo neighbors. They dont want professional job....they just want the dust out of their wrongly installed drywall ducts. Its all good...I was just looking for some suggestions......
but kinda not the one you gave me. Its all good. Thanks!
Anyone else?

**drk** · 05-23-2007, 10:22 PM

shop vac will just put the dust back into the air. You would need a HEPA vac.

**Senior Tech** · 05-23-2007, 10:43 PM

Originally Posted by hudson73

Well actuallly thats what they want done. When you look inside these ducts......which I must add are all made out of drywall.........all you really see is dust that covers the bottom almost like a blanket. So vacuum is just a suggestion I gave.
I am sure their are professional duct cleaners.......and good for them! but Im sure they charge a good buck. I was looking for a little extra money...and to help save some money to my condo neighbors. They dont want professional job....they just want the dust out of their wrongly installed drywall ducts. Its all good...I was just looking for some suggestions......
but kinda not the one you gave me. Its all good. Thanks!
Anyone else?

Yes, they charge a good buck, for a professional, well done job. Based on the info you gave, find out what a handy man or house keeper would charge and you'll have the answer and a few extra bucks.

**wrightbrigade** · 05-24-2007, 10:03 PM

What is it with the steaming piles of a--holes around here? I was really interested in seeing the answer to this question. I'm sure a commercial HVAC tech can be taught to clean ducts professionally! He could buy the equiptment and probably still make money off 35 units, but again I'm not a professional duct cleaner either, thank God.

**hillbuck** · 05-29-2007, 07:37 PM

I guess some of us steaming piles like to see professionalism.There are contractors who have taken the risk to become pros and shouldnt have to compete with a service tech with a shop vac.No offense to the gentleman asking about this.I don't know you nor am I judging....I just think it should be left to the pros.

**wrightbrigade** · 05-29-2007, 09:35 PM

Originally Posted by hillbuck

I guess some of us steaming piles like to see professionalism.There are contractors who have taken the risk to become pros and shouldnt have to compete with a service tech with a shop vac.No offense to the gentleman asking about this.I don't know you nor am I judging....I just think it should be left to the pros.

Yeah, I hire contractors all the time and I WISH there was more professionalism. I think there is one good contractor in 10 or even less than that! They are a dime a dozen. I bet this tech could learn duct cleaning in a heartbeat and be doing a better job than your so called professionals very quickly. But who am I to question the supreme professional contractors which I find very few of.

**HeyBob** · 05-29-2007, 09:59 PM

So you're gonna do this and make a few bucks on the side! I will have no sympathy at all when you knock over a lamp and have to pay for it.

I will have no sympathy when some old lady says you stirred up all kinds of dust and wants her whole house cleaned, after all you are using a shop vac.

Think before you do it, no license, no liability insurance, no work comp, insufficent equipment.

This venture could end up costing you more than you make! Leave contracting to contractors.

**HeyBob** · 05-29-2007, 10:05 PM

Originally Posted by wrightbrigade

What is it with the steaming piles of a--holes around here? I was really interested in seeing the answer to this question. I'm sure a commercial HVAC tech can be taught to clean ducts professionally! He could buy the equiptment and probably still make money off 35 units, but again I'm not a professional duct cleaner either, thank God.

I paid about 14K for my duct cleaning equipment, 35 condo's, do the math!

**wrightbrigade** · 05-29-2007, 10:15 PM

That's really impressive. I would still like to hear what it takes besides 14k to properly clean ductwork. I'm not being smart either. What's all involved.

**hillbuck** · 05-29-2007, 10:18 PM

Originally Posted by wrightbrigade

Yeah, I hire contractors all the time and I WISH there was more professionalism. I think there is one good contractor in 10 or even less than that! They are a dime a dozen. I bet this tech could learn duct cleaning in a heartbeat and be doing a better job than your so called professionals very quickly. But who am I to question the supreme professional contractors which I find very few of.

I don't understand.If it's so easy to just do a better job than the professionals,why do you hire contractors?You obviously could do their job.I'm sure he's intellectualy quite capable of learning the job.This is a "feel good" post.I'm happy for the low level contractors that there's people like you to give them work.

**BigJon3475** · 05-29-2007, 10:20 PM

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

Some info on the subject.

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