What parts of an air system should be cleaned? 

There are three major parts to every air system. The supply and return grills, the interior surfaces of the supply and return air ductwork, and the furnace or air conditioner air handler. All three components must be cleaned when doing an air duct cleaning. If only one or two of the components are cleaned and any part of the system is not done, then contaminants from the third component will rapidly contaminate those that were cleaned.

Alot of duct cleaning companies in the Toronto area quote prices to clean the ductwork and air vents only, and then either skip the very important step of cleaning the HVAC equipment or air handlers, or they ask for exhorbitant additional charges to clean these components if you wanted to have those parts of the system done also.

I have learned this from discussions with a number of air duct cleaners over the years. The price that got them in there was what they consider to be an ”introductory” price. Now that they’re in there, they’re going to nail you with extra charges if they can, and if you don’t want to pay extra then you’ll get what you pay for.

At City Duct, every job that we do, whether it is a home in the Toronto area or a business, it always includes the cleaning of the HVAC equipment.

When cleaning the air duct system(s) in a home, we clean the furnace fan, the inside air conditioning coil, the furnace plenums and the air filter. On a commercial job we would always clean the air handler or rooftop equipment, and that always includes the fans, coils (both evaporator and condensor coils), the plenums, air filters… and everything in the air stream.

The cleaning of all air handling components is crucial to any air duct cleaning job. We can also replace worn insulation inside your HVAC units as needed, and often provide scheduled filter changes and maintenance.  

We have some very detailed specification sheets that we have been using since we started back in 1987, and they are very similar to the NADCA spec sheets that are in existance today.

The photos above show a rooftop HVAC system that serves an air duct system that we recently cleaned in Markham, Ont. There are two shots of a rooftop exhaust fan that serves a dryer duct system that we recently cleaned in Mississauga. The second of those shots shows what a difference we have made afer having only blown off the lint with our high-pressure compressed air. That fan looked pretty amazing after we washed it too.

Here are some examples of why it makes good sense to keep your air duct systems in good repair. The photos below show some of the recent dryer exhaust ducts that we have cleaned, but the principle applies to any air duct system whether it is for an exhaust system or for heating or cooling in a home or a business.

The first set of photos shows a broken 90 degree elbow that was found by our inspection camera or duct cam. The duct being photographed in this case is in a retirement home. We measured it out and broke a hole in the ceiling, and the dryer lint that fell out of the hole onto the floor was enough to fill five green garbage bags. You wouldn’t believe how much lint there was above that ceiling.

  
 
Duct cleaning is obviously our company’s main business, but I’ve been in the HVAC industry for almost 30 years as well, and have installed hundreds of new furnaces, central air conditioners, electronic air cleaners, HEPA systems, humidifiers and even complete duct systems. So doing minor duct repairs such as this one was not difficult for us to manage at all.

I’ve been finding out from my customers over the years that it was quite hard for them to find a heating company who is even interested in doing duct repairs of any kind, and several people have told me that. Most of the companies that they called before they found us said they basically do new installations only.

The same applies to dryer exhaust ducts as well. If you need your’s to be replaced, re-routed or to have a brand new one installed from scatch, or if you need new outside vents with bird screening installed, give us a call. We are here to serve you. Providing excellent service for reasonable costs and winning loyal customers is what we do best.

The second set of photos shows the state of a dryer exhaust duct that we found. The duct system was previously cleaned by another duct cleaning contractor and this is the way they closed the access hole… with duct tape only!

Duct tape is good for many things, but it is definitely not meant to act as a permanent fix in this situation. The hole had very rough edges, so they obviously didn’t even know how to use their sheet metal snips. All that was required to make this one right was to remove all the tape, trim the metal to make it flat, and then to simply screw a metal plate on it. It took me longer to go downstairs to my truck and come back with a metal plate than it did to fix the ductwork.

My best advice when looking for a duct cleaner to do any job, whether it is in your home or in a business or commercial establishment is not to assume that all duct cleaning companies are equally knowledgeable or reputable.

It amazes me sometimes how people can get away with doing such shoddy work. In this case, the duct went for 16 feet, had two turns seperated by 12 feet of duct, and then there was a stack 90 where the duct went into a riser. And from there it went up six floors to a fan on the roof… and there was not a single access hole anywhere else to be found. So how did they clean this duct system? There absolutely has to be access into the duct system at the bottom of the riser. Always. Anyway, we fixed everything up and made this one work like new again.

Getting back to duct repairs, from patching holes to adding a new vent to re-routing or moving duct runs or even your main ducts, at City Duct we do it all, residential or commercial. Call us if you need any of these things done. We’d be glad to help.

A large percentage of complaints that are related to indoor air quality can be avoided by routine inspections of a facility’s occupied space and its mechanical systems by someone knowledgeable about and sensitive to IAQ issues.

Minor complaints can also be prevented in many cases from escalating into a full-blown crises simply with good communication between building occupants and the facility’s management team. A quick response to IAQ concerns is both prudent and extremely helpful.

Proactive measures to help maintain good indoor air quality would at a minimum include:

• Designating an IAQ manager
• Developing an IAQ facility profile
• Identifying potential as well as active IAQ problems
• Educating facility personnel about IAQ issues
• Developing and implementing an operation and maintenance plan

It is also essential to perform regular physical inspections of the occupied space, above-ceiling cavities, and ventilation system components, instead of relying solely on a building management system computer screen to indicate building conditions. Sensors often go out of calibration and damper linkages can fail.

This is where City Duct Cleaning’s expertise can be utilized to your advantage. We are way more than just an air duct cleaning company. In larger buildings we are able to provide building inspections and reports on HVAC systems and their components, as well as the cleaning and regular maintenance of these items as well.

Over the years we have taken some pretty amazing video of our duct cleaning procedures that were done in various office buildings and factories in the Toronto area. People are always quite impressed when they see the before and after shots… they knew the systems were dirty to begin with, but never fully understood what they really had in there. And air flow is always greatly improved as well.

We inspect and clean all the HVAC systems, heating and air conditioning ductwork, fresh air systems, all exhaust and ventilation systems including ductwork, grills, fans, coils and more!

Tornados Hit Maple, Ont. in August 2009

At City Duct Cleaning we’ve always been involved in water and smoke damage restoration, and we have done some tornado jobs in the past too. But those ones never seemed to be all that close to home.

The tornados that hit Maple, Ontario back in the summer of 2009 was a huge disaster where literally dozens and dozens of homes were so badly damaged that it required many people to have to vacate their homes.

Our part in the restoration started with the removal of the attic insulation. Many homes had large parts of their roofs blown off, and what insulation that remained was wet and had to be removed immediately before mold set in. 

Most people in the GTA did not see all the damage that happened but in several neighborhoods it looked like a war zone. Some will find the first set of photos here to be quite interesting and for others it might be an unpleasant reminder of what happened that day, but our point is merely to demonstrate another of the many ways that we are involved in disaster restoration clean up.

Part of the Disaster Cleanup Process

Removing the attic insulation can be done by either using a truck-mounted vacuum system or a portable one. But regardless of which type of vacuum is used, it is still necessary to get right in there and suck out every inch of the attic space.

The photos below show a part of that job while in progress. In many cases we were working in attic spaces that had crushed-in or severely damaged roofs.

It took almost a year for some home owners to get their lives back in order. After the emergency restoration work was all completed, we were once again called upon but this time we were needed to clean the air duct systems just prior to the homeowners moving back in. Many of the damaged homes also had most if not all of their drywall replaced, and an air duct cleaning is a normal part of any renovation.

If you require air duct cleaning in your Toronto area home whether it is due to a recent renovation or if it is required as part of your normal home maintenance, then call City Duct Cleaning today. We can help you and your family live in a cleaner environment and to breathe much cleaner air.

Save money on your air duct cleaning at City Duct. Visit our coupon page at http://www.cityductcleaning.com/coupon.html and print out the coupon. Our technician will deduct this amount directly from your invoice.

There is also a duct cleaning specials page at http://www.cityductcleaning.com/special.html. This changes monthly, and the new special can always be used in conjunction with our current coupon. This month we are including a free duct system deodorizer supplied with every residential air duct cleaning in the Toronto area.

$25 off any residential air duct cleaning   One coupon per order. Not valid with any other offer. Please mention coupon at time of call.Valid Until: October 31, 2010 (416) 293-1800

For optimum performance from your HVAC system, you will need to adjust your air duct system slightly at the beginning of the heating season, and then again at the start of the cooling season.

The reason for this is because warm air naturally rises, which makes it harder for your system to cool your second floor in the summer.

In the summer you should have all of the air vents on the 2nd floor wide open. This also includes any dampers in the pipes that are serving those vents.

On the main floor, the air vents should be about half-way closed, which in turn would force more air to go to the remaining vents which serve the upstairs.

Basement vents including the return air vent(s) should be temporarily closed or sealed. During the cooling season, your basement will be noticeably cooler anyway, so we want to push as much of your cooled air upstairs as possible.

And as always, be sure that there are no obstructions around air vents and especially any cold air return vents or grills.

Also be sure to close the damper in the bypass tube of any duct-mounted humidifier.

For the heating season, it is then necessary to go through the home and make some quick adjustments to the system at the start of this season.

Open the basement vents and be sure that any dampers are open as well. The vents on the main floor should be fully opened, and the vents serving the upstairs should be about half-way closed, with the exception of any specific rooms that seem to be hard to heat.

The reason you would want the basement vents to be open now is because since heat rises, the heat in the basement will warm the floor above it. And the same applies to the air coming out of the main floor vents.

You can fine-tune this procedure even further to help solve problems with cold rooms in the home. If you partially close any one damper in the system, that will cause more air to blow out somewhere else.

If you find that certain rooms are difficult to heat or cool, then those rooms are more than likely on your second floor, or possibly above a garage or some other unheated area. Keeping the door open to that room will help the airflow, especially if there is no return air directly in that room. Sometimes it is not so convenient to always keep the door to a specific room open, but this alone can sometimes solve the problem of reduced airflow.
 
Keeping your air filter clean is crucial for the operation of your furnace, to help maximize energy savings and for your own personal comfort. A dirty air filter will not allow the proper amount of air to flow through your HVAC system and especially through your ducts.

Making these simple adjustments twice per year takes about five minutes to do each time. Adjusting your air volume dampers and air vents is something that we can easily do for free while we are in your home cleaning your air duct system.

There are hundreds of clothes dryer fires every year which causes death, injuries and millions of dollars in destruction.

How many people toss a load of wash in the dryer and then go to work or simply go to bed? Watch this story and you probably won’t want to ever do that again.

What causes dryer fires? Experts say its a combination of heat and lint. Not just the lint you can see on your lint trap but the lint you can’t see in the dryer’s exhaust.

It’s a combination of heat and blockage of proper venting. If there’s a buildup of lint in areas that you may not be aware of, such as inside your dryer exhaust venting or piping, you may have a combustible that’s needed to start that fire.

What can you do to protect yourself from dryer fires?

First, look for the warning signs. Does it take higher temperatures to dry your clothes or multiple drying cycles? Both indicate lint blockage. Clean the lint screen before and after every load of clothes, and clean the dryer exhaust duct and vent periodically.

We recommend that a professional cleaning be done at least every two years, but we do have many customers who have us clean their’s annually. The frequency of cleaning needed would be determined by your particular dryer installation and the amount of use that your clothes dryer normally gets. Everyone who has ever had a dryer duct fire in their home has this service done at least once per year.

More tips to reduce the risk of a dryer duct fire include replacing your plastic flexible dryer venting with rigid or metal material. Also periodically clean behind the dryer where lint can build up.

If you are in the Toronto area and require a dryer duct cleaning or wish to have your dryer exhaust duct replaced or just inspected, then give us a call. This service is noticeably more cheaper or cost-effective when it is combined with our complete home air duct cleaning service.