Air Duct Cleaning FAQ — San Rafael, CA
Common questions from homeowners in San Rafael and the surrounding area. If your question isn't here, call us and we'll give you a straight answer.
How often do air ducts in a San Rafael house actually need cleaning?
Most homes here land somewhere in the three to seven year range, and the spread is real. Our climate is heating-dominant, so the furnace runs October through May and then everything sits idle through a rainless summer, collecting crawlspace and attic dust. Then the first cold morning or the first 90-degree afternoon in September pushes all of it into the living space at once. If nobody in the house has allergies, no pets, no recent remodel, you can stretch it. Renovation dust, a new dog, or visible debris at the registers moves it up.
Call (415) 223-3423 for a same-day estimate.
Walk me through the cleaning from the first knock to the last register.
We start by walking the system with you, pulling a few register covers, and looking at the air handler so we know what we're dealing with. Then we seal every supply and return except one, hook a negative-air machine to the trunk near the equipment, and put the whole duct system under vacuum. Rotating brushes and compressed-air whips go in through each branch and drive the debris back toward the collection point. We clean the blower compartment and the return drop, reinstall the covers, and show you what came out before we load up.
Call (415) 223-3423 for a same-day estimate.
How many hours should I block off for the appointment?
A single-story Terra Linda ranch with one system and a normal register count usually runs two to four hours. A pre-1940 Gerstle Park or Dominican home with a long sheet metal trunk in the crawlspace, multiple zones, or a converted gravity-furnace layout can take most of a day. Flex runs added during a 1980s remodel slow things down too, because each one has to be worked separately. We give you a time estimate at the walkthrough, before anything gets unpacked.
Call (415) 223-3423 for a same-day estimate.
Why does one house cost more to clean than the next one down the street?
Register and branch count is the biggest driver, because every opening is a separate access point. After that it's how hard your runs are to reach. A shallow crawlspace under a slab-adjacent ranch, low attic runs you have to belly-crawl into, or a Victorian basement trunk with asbestos-tape joints at the seams all add labor and care. Second systems, badly crushed flex, and heavy grease or construction debris push it higher. We look at all of it on site, tell you what we found, and put the number in writing before we touch anything.
Call (415) 223-3423 for a same-day estimate.
Will you be shifting my furniture around, and how dirty does this get?
We slide light pieces off a register and put them back. Anything heavy, fragile, or wall-mounted we leave alone and ask you first. The system runs under negative pressure the whole time, so the dust goes into the machine instead of your rooms. We lay drop cloths at the air handler and under any register we open, wear covers on our shoes inside, and vacuum up before we leave. Most people walk through afterward and can't tell where we worked.
Call (415) 223-3423 for a same-day estimate.
How do I know whether the trouble is the dryer vent or the heating and cooling ducts?
Check what the symptom follows. Clothes coming out damp after a full cycle, a hot laundry room, lint on the outside flap, or a burnt smell when the dryer runs points at the dryer vent, and it's its own duct with no connection to your HVAC. Dust blowing from ceiling or floor registers, weak airflow in one room, or a musty smell on the first furnace morning in October is the HVAC side. If both are happening, we check both while we're there. Dryer vent runs in the older downtown homes are often long and twisted, which is why they clog faster than people expect.
Call (415) 223-3423 for a same-day estimate.
Suppose you find mold growing inside the system, then what?
We stop and show you. Wet winters and 35 to 45 inches of rain in the hills mean crawlspace ducts here do sometimes pick up moisture, especially where flex sags or a joint has pulled loose. Surface growth on a metal trunk or a blower housing we can clean and treat with an antimicrobial rated for duct work. Porous lining that's genuinely colonized gets replaced, not scrubbed, because cleaning it never holds. If it looks like a bigger remediation job or the moisture source is structural, we tell you that straight and point you to someone licensed for it instead of selling you a cleaning that won't fix it.
Call (415) 223-3423 for a same-day estimate.
Does the job include a new furnace filter?
We pull the old one, show it to you, and put in a fresh standard-size filter as part of the visit. Clean ducts with a loaded filter is half a job, since the blower just starts pulling fresh dust past it. If you run an odd size or a deep media cabinet on a Carrier, Trane, Lennox, Goodman, Rheem, or American Standard system, tell us when you book so we bring the right one. We'll also tell you how often yours needs changing, which in a heating-dominant climate usually means more often October through May than people assume.
Call (415) 223-3423 for a same-day estimate.
Can somebody come out today?
Often yes. We hold slots on the daily schedule for same-day calls, and San Rafael being the Marin County seat means we're usually working somewhere close by already. September and October are the crunch, when 85 to 95 degree stretches hit and everyone fires up AC that's been off since spring, so call early in the day during those weeks. Morning calls have the best odds year-round. If today is full we'll say so instead of stringing you along, and we'll get you on the next open block.
Call (415) 223-3423 for a same-day estimate.
Where do you travel for this work?
San Rafael is our base, and that covers downtown, Gerstle Park, Dominican, Montecito, Terra Linda, and the northern valleys. We work the full stretch on the inland bay side of the Marin hills, roughly 15 miles north of the Golden Gate, and we go out to the coastal towns and across Ross Valley as well. The pre-1940 Victorian, Craftsman and Spanish stock downtown and the 1950s-60s ranch tracts up north are both daily work for us, including the flat-roof Eichler-influenced plans. Call with your address and we'll confirm.
Call (415) 223-3423 for a same-day estimate.
Have a question that's not here?
Call us and ask. We'll give you a straight answer and tell you if it's worth coming out.
Call (415) 223-3423Or see our contact page for address and hours.