Whether we’re cleaning air duct systems in a home or a commercial building, We’ve always got several duct cleaning tools at our disposal. Which ones we do use depends on the specific job.

You’ve likely heard of a skipper ball or an air snake, and this is a common air tool that we always use in every case. But there are several kinds of skipper balls too… spinning ones, forward-blowing balls and reverse-blowing skipper balls. These should be common tools for most air duct cleaners.

Besides the skipper balls, there are also scorpion and predator air whips available as well. These are attached to a high pressure air line as well, and once they are inserted into your ductwork they whip around violently while removing all of the built-up dirt from all of the interior surfaces of a duct.

These special tools whip the dirt off the top, bottom and sides while it is inside the duct, but this excellent tool does not actually blow the dirt back towards the suction. It is only a matter of switching tools and then using our skipper to easily get all the loosened dirt back towards our suction hose.

We (the owners of City Duct) have been in the duct cleaning industry each for 30 and 27 years respectively now, and the scorpion and predator air whips came about because of our very own recommendations. We didn’t make these things ourselves, but merely gave our specifications to someone who did, and they did such an amazing job on it that these tools are now almost standard equipment in any real duct cleaner’s tool pouch.

At City Duct Cleaning Inc. we have the expertise to easily handle all of these tools. In fact, we make it look pretty easy.

If you require air duct cleaning for your Toronto area home or office, please give us a call. We would be happy to serve you. We can clean any HVAC system and we are the problem solvers.

What does City Duct here in Toronto have to do with the 2010 Winter Olympics, you might ask? Well, nothing really, but I was thinking about taking a trip back to Vancouver to check out some of the games.

Vancouver is where I first got involved in the duct cleaning industry, something like 30 years ago. I have family there who are also heavily involved in the trade, so if I try to hit them up for a place to stay for a while they might be tempted to put me to work.

Its interesting for me to check out some duct cleaning jobs every time I go back for a visit, and that always gives me the opportunity to point out how we do things the right way back in Toronto.

It will be interesting to see what they’ve done to Hwy. 99 which goes from North Vancouver to Whistler since I was last there. They tell me the weather has been quite mild there lately. They’re laughing at us right now because we just got snow again. Oh yeah? It’ll be gone tomorrow. Just wait ’til it rains for four weeks in a row again and then we’ll talk.

The Olympics are all everyone is talking about in that area right now. Its all over the news and seems to be all that everyone wants to talk about for the moment. That’s good. It gives everyone something good to look forward to. The same thing would be happening here if something big like that was taking place in Ontario. It should be a good show because they’ve been planning this event for years.

Anyway, I hope I can make it out there but I also have some big family events happening this month at home too. So if the wife will allow it, I’m out of here!

We wish all the participants and especially the Canadian athletes the best of luck. Bring us the Gold!

We’ve been cleaning ductwork for a long time, and over the years we’ve found some pretty strange stuff. Here is a partial list of some of the things that we’ve found so far.

A dead fox, a raincoat, a running shoe, a cash box, diamond rings, besides the usual stuff such as hair, cereal, coins, dead mice, pencils and lots of dust. All kinds of old hockey and baseball cards. Pop cans, coffee cups and beer bottles are usual items.

We’ve found pieces of drywall, lunch bags, and we even found an open can of sardines that was still half full and was growing.

There were several cars from an old wooden train set, marbles and all kinds of half-melted plastic toys. We used to have an aquarium full of neat stuff that we found in people’s ductwork that we used as part of a homeshow display, and I will always remember how alot of people were quite surprised to see that collection.

One time I went to do a service call because the homeowner was complaining that one of his air vents was not blowing any cooling into their family room. It was an older wall vent with big wide slots on it. I took the grill off the wall and looked down it with a flashlight and a mirror and I could see what looked like a book.

It was about 10 feet down, so with the owner’s approval, I measured it out and had to break a hole into the drywall ceiling of the basement so that I could cut a hole into the duct. I ended up pulling out 19 books, as well as 45 VCR tapes. By the time I was done there were a few good stacks of things on the table. No wonder he wasn’t getting any airflow!

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I patched up the hole in the duct with sheet metal no problem. I could have installed a grill to hide the hole in the drywaall, but the guy said he’d take care of the drywall repair himself. He was just so happy that he now had perfect air going to his family room again, because at the time it was over 30 degrees outside. He also said that he’d been wondering what had been happening to all his tapes. He had a four year old son who had been dropping that stuff down the duct.

If you need your ducts repaired or cleaned, or need a vent moved or are wondering if you can get more airflow into certain parts of your home then give us a call. We are total problem solvers in this area, and we even do the small jobs that no one else seems to want to bother with.

What are some common factors for it being cold in the house? It could be lots of things, such as poor insulation, old windows, bad air flow…

As Mrs. Angela Sheridan of Toronto, Ontario writes:

‘My husband and I were having a problem in our daughter’s room with it being very cold at night. We would turn up the furnace to no avail as it was still very cold. On the other hand, the rest of the house was quite comfortable.

We called a local heating/cooling company to come service the furnace and we were told that the furnace was old and we should replace it and that would solve our problem. It sounded quite costly and we were still wondering if that would solve the problem in our little girl’s room. The windows were old but still, they did not seem to be the problem. We called an air duct cleaning company and within hours they were at our house with a large vacuum truck and video equipment.

I was amazed that one of the technicians on the job was John, one of the owners of the duct cleaning company. He turned up the thermostat then went to our daughter’s room and felt little air flow as compared to the rest of the house. He put a video camera into the bedroom duct and showed me the problem. We did not need new windows or a new furnace, we needed a good duct cleaning so he could remove the running shoe that was stuck in the duct pipe in our daughters room!

After a whole house duct cleaning I could not believe my eyes at all of the debris they took out of the ducts, it was truly amazing and the air flow is now great.’

So before you replace a furnace, etc… it does pay to have the air ducts cleaned or video scoped as opposed to spending countless dollars on needless work.

Duct cleaning will not solve every problem, but it is a general maintenance item and is a wise investment in your family’s health.

Remember 20 years ago when there were only about 5 or 6 air duct cleaning companies in all of the GTA to choose from? We were one of them. We’re still here, and we’re the best!

We’ve seen several other companies come and go in that time, and they all knew that City Duct was doing something right. That’s why many of our competitors have always strived to be like us. And since we’ve always been a leader in the industry, they always tried to do what we were doing, but they never truly understood what that was. Well, I have news for you guys… most of what we’ve been doing right all along is simply taking care of our customers.

We’ve always provided the most honest, complete job, and customer satisfaction is extremely important to us and always has been. That shows in the quality of service that we provide. We’re also always up-front about our pricing, and there are never
any hidden charges for anything here at City Duct Cleaning. Very few of our competitors can make such a claim. They figure they’re in your house right now, so why not soak you for every penny they can? Because you’ll probably never call them back again anyway, right? The service mentality of those companies is a joke, and if you think about it, its clearly gotten worse over the past generation or so.

We are the most well-known and the most reputable company serving the air duct cleaning industry in Toronto, and we have many thousands of very satisfied customers to prove it. In fact, we are proud to boast that over 75% of our work is repeat business, something that very few, if any, of those other guys can claim.

We’ve won the Consumers’ Choice Award as well as the Top Choice Award for Best Duct Cleaner in Toronto numerous times. We are your best choice hands-down when it comes to cleaning your ducts. Call us today for a free, no obligation estimate.

What is it you ask? Well, it’s an organization which conducts surveys, residential and commercial alike, across North America to determine who is the number one company in a variety of services ranging from travel to car rental to in-house service work.

The Consumers Choice Award has been conducting their surveys in the GTA for the past twelve years and since 2005, City Duct Cleaning Inc. has been chosen as the NUMBER ONE Air Duct Cleaner for the GTA.

We have, since day one, always taken pride in everything we do. To be recognized by an organization such as Consumers Choice, is beyond words, because the people of the GTA have spoken, through Consumers Choice, about how they feel regarding duct cleaning, and have made us the Number One company in this field.

We are greatful for the acknowledgment and will continue to do the best we can to make you realize again that we here at City Duct Cleaning Inc. are the right choice when it comes to air duct cleaning.

Receiving the 2005 Consumers’ Choice Award for Business Excellence in the field of Air Duct Cleaning is (left) Glenn Gilbert, President, and (right) John Hardy, Vice-President of City Duct Cleaning Inc.

Thank you Toronto!