Air Duct Cleaning, The Other Method
"The Better Mouse Trap?"
Mankind is
always looking for a “better mousetrap”.
It is only natural to attempt to find an easier way to
perform difficult tasks.
Unfortunately, desiring an easier method doesn’t mean
that one exists.
Sometimes, at a given level of technology, the “easy way” is the
“hard way”.
Since air duct
systems are usually hidden and partially sealed within the construction
of a building finding an easier way has been ongoing over the last
several decades. There is a
consensus opinion in the industry that there needs to be some sort of
vacuum collection applied to the air duct systems being cleaned so that
the dust cloud generated by the cleaning is contained and captured
without being released into the occupied space.
There is also a need for agitation to dislodge the dust and
debris that is settled or adhered to the duct system walls and sweep it
out. A method that has been
successfully employed over a long period of time is the attachment of
high powered vacuum to the main duct portion of a system and sweeping
through the ducts from the vents back to the vacuum hose with brushing
and compressed air sweeping tools.
This established
method employs the use of remote reaching sweeping tools that can reach
upwards of 25’ to 35’ and around some corners.
That reduces the number of access necessary into the air ducts to
perform successful cleaning.
However, a minimum number of access openings are necessary to
perform this method of cleaning, and are desirable.
Periodic access is the means by which quality control, which is
primarily by visual inspection, is performed.
Without periodic access the inside of the ducts can’t be viewed
and evaluated for success of cleaning.
An alternative
method has been promoted in the industry that purports to be the “better
mousetrap”. It puts the
vacuum and the agitation/sweeping tool together in a single unit that is
inserted into the duct system through the vents.
This tool reduces, if not eliminates altogether, the need for
duct access as the marketing story goes.
Pricing jobs is simple, as well, because you only need to know
the number of vents in a system to know what it is going to cost to
perform the cleaning. A
presumption is made, but never demonstrated, that the tool goes through
the entire system and successfully removes the contaminants.
The flaws with this
method are as follows:
- A 1 ½
horsepower electric motor generated vacuum through a 2” vacuum hose
can’t compare to the cleaning potential of a 20+ horsepower engine
driven vacuum through an 8” vacuum hose.
- On the
combination unit the rotating bristle brush coming out of the end of
the 2” vacuum hose holds the vacuum hose off of the duct bottom.
A vacuum cleaner hose does not have the capability to “lift”
heavy debris off of the bottom of duct work several inches away.
- Without the
ability to visually inspect a section of ductwork an accurate
assessment of cleanliness cannot be made.
The Machine itself...
Cleaning from this might make sense at quick glance
but how does he expect to make it through turns with that 3 inch pipe?..
What about your large trunk ducts or industrial situations?
The results... Only one "Clean" corner
This is the unit at work in commercial duct work. You think its ok
that all that stuff is dropping on that floor?
As always, only the facts... Maybe check out our process
