Truck Mounted Duct Cleaning
Printed From: Carpet Cleaning Forum
Category: Carpet Cleaners Discussion
Forum Name: Air Duct Cleaning & Indoor Air Quality Discussion
Forum Description: Discuss anything relating to air duct cleaning
URL: https://www.kleenkuip.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=88
Printed Date: 25/April/2024 at 5:14pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.06 - https://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Truck Mounted Duct Cleaning
Posted By: MR. STEAMER
Subject: Truck Mounted Duct Cleaning
Date Posted: 14/March/2004 at 4:28pm
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Any use that attachments for duct cleaning on there carpet cleaning machine??? I was just wondering how thats working out...can you charge the same price?? Does it do a good job??? |
Replies:
Posted By: dyna
Date Posted: 19/March/2004 at 12:21pm
  lol lol lol
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MR. STEAMER wrote:Posted By: MR. STEAMER
Date Posted: 20/March/2004 at 1:55am
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Actually I heard from my gas man that it's acutally a better clean...what kills a furnace is all that crap being blown down into the furnace...it could screw the burners and fry the fan...this only sucks... Direct energy actually took a look at the set up and liked it... feedback anyone?? any one??? |
Posted By: doug
Date Posted: 20/March/2004 at 10:49am
| I have a question for duct cleaners. If that is permitted. Why not just clean the cold side (intake). The furnace dosen't tale dust and toys from the hot side (exhaust). I mean after th ducts have been completely cleaned after years , construction or fire etc. would it not make sence to make appointments to keep the cold side clean. But then you would not need a lear jet extraction unit. Sorry I mean sucking unit. |
Posted By: MR. STEAMER
Date Posted: 23/March/2004 at 6:53pm
| Hey Ken why don't you have a demo at Teds...I've always wanted a closer look..... I wanted to get into this...but I wonder how the customer will feel about it...no big truck... |
Posted By: Monsterclean
Date Posted: 04/April/2004 at 4:54pm
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Who cares if cuct cleaning does a good job or not. Duct cleaning is not beneficial to the customer. Duct cleaning does not provide health benefits or improve airflow.
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Posted By: Stanley
Date Posted: 05/April/2004 at 10:20pm
------------- People & Standards You Can Trust |
Posted By: doug
Date Posted: 05/April/2004 at 10:41pm
| Yea. Your heart almost stops when they hand you the bill. I am not sure if you would consider that a benefit. It is a hard call how and when to clean. You could have ten duct cleaners all tell you something on the topic of when to clean. Maybe some one will answer that when? |
Posted By: dyna
Date Posted: 06/April/2004 at 12:06pm
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Posted By: dyna
Date Posted: 06/April/2004 at 12:58pm
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Posted By: doug
Date Posted: 06/April/2004 at 1:58pm
| Dyna: No offence but do the furnaces in your area not have filters? You make it sound like if you have a pet or kid your a bad person and Dyna to the rescue before you die. Dyna is the only duct and carpet cleaner in his area that knows everything. Your sales pitch may work for one of your less knowledgeable clients, but I think the rest is BULL. Then again that is just my opinion. Congratulations on your full serviese. Question is the oil change on their vehicle? After all would you not be the best at that to? |
Posted By: Cd-Ron
Date Posted: 22/May/2004 at 1:22am
What A bunch of Bulls*&t!!!!!! I also have my own heating company and I KNOW first hand that everything this idiot has said is BULL!!!!! AND There is a tonne of literature to prove it. Ducts should be cleaned every 5 years and I reccomend this OR longer if the furnace has a HIGH QUALITY Electrostaic air filter. I use my truckmount for ductcleaning with the Cleanco brush kit. IAQ 2000 to be exact. It does an awsome job, but then any equipment is only as good as it's operator...in most cases. Sorry to rant there, I get so pissed when I read crap like that. -Ron |
Posted By: monsterclean2
Date Posted: 29/May/2004 at 12:39am
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What the EPA says:
Duct cleaning has never been shown to actually prevent health problems. Neither do studies conclusively demonstrate that particle (e.g., dust) levels in homes increase because of dirty air ducts or go down after cleaning. This is because much of the dirt that may accumulate inside air ducts adheres to duct surfaces and does not necessarily enter the living space. It is important to keep in mind that dirty air ducts are only one of many possible sources of particles that are present in homes. Pollutants that enter the home both from outdoors and indoor activities such as cooking, cleaning, smoking, or just moving around can cause greater exposure to contaminants than dirty air ducts. Moreover, there is no evidence that a light amount of household dust or other particulate matter in air ducts poses any risk to health. EPA does not recommend that air ducts be cleaned except on an as- needed basis because of the continuing uncertainty about the benefits of duct cleaning under most circumstances. If a service provider or advertiser asserts that EPA recommends routine duct cleaning or makes claims about its health benefits, you should notify EPA by writing to the address listed at the end of this guidance. EPA does, however, recommend that if you have a fuel burning furnace, stove, or fireplace, they be inspected for proper functioning and serviced before each heating season to protect against carbon monoxide poisoning. Some research also suggests that cleaning dirty cooling coils, fans and heat exchangers can improve the efficiency of heating and cooling systems. However, little evidence exists to indicate that simply cleaning the duct system will increase your system's efficiency. |
Posted By: carpetologist
Date Posted: 31/May/2004 at 2:25pm
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Is it not interesting what marketing and sales ability can create. Here we have a reputable institution (E.P.A.), who says save your money because duct cleaning is generally not necessary especially for health reasons. And yet an entire multi-million dollar industry survives cleaning duct work. Chalk one up for sales and marketing. Or is it BS baffles brains? ------------- Kleen Kuip Supply Mart Inc. http://www.kleenkuip.com - New & Used Professional Carpet Cleaning Machines, Restoration Equipment, Training, Service and Supplies |
Posted By: MR. STEAMER
Date Posted: 31/May/2004 at 4:33pm
| I'd like to see the E.P.A study...... sounds like bull to me...... dust blowing out your vents can't be good for you |
Posted By: doug
Date Posted: 31/May/2004 at 4:55pm
Mr. Steamer : If you got dust blowing out vents than having your ducts cleaned is not the answer to your problem. I think duct cleaning has gone the way of the room cleaner. There is not a lot of ethics left in the duct cleaning business. Lets get something strait I don't mean everyone just the bad apples which probably amounts to about 80%. ------------- Just My opinion |
Posted By: MR. STEAMER
Date Posted: 01/June/2004 at 9:35am
| LOL I agree with doug......but I think if done properly it should have some kind of effect on air quality...and at least stop those nasty filtration marks |
Posted By: MR. STEAMER
Date Posted: 08/June/2004 at 6:36pm
| Never did get an answer on this one.......does the unit that attaches to the truck mount work????? |
Posted By: Superglide Ken
Date Posted: 26/August/2004 at 11:13am
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Yes Doug, It works, if cleaning the ductwork is what you are after. Our units have low cost camera systems to show the customer that they are clean when the job is done.The Turboteck ZX7 air duct cleaning system is both the least expensive and the best you can get for cleaning home ducts thoroughly. Been doing and proving that to my customers for 5 years now. And as an asthmatic myself, I can tell the difference having the ductwork properly cleaned.
Ken Harris Turboteck Supplies ------------- Inventor of the Teflon Wand Glide and the Turboteck Rotary Air Duct Cleaners for TMs. |
Posted By: carpetologist
Date Posted: 26/August/2004 at 7:24pm
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Nice to see Superglide Ken back in the ring. Ken is the most persistent person I have ever met. He invented the Superglide to attach to your wands that take the hard push and pull work out of carpet cleaning. We have had a love hate relationship with selling them. But the people who love them wish they had them 20 years ago. Believe me the small problems that Ken has had introducing them he will definitely overcome. He is that kind of guy.
------------- Kleen Kuip Supply Mart Inc. http://www.kleenkuip.com - New & Used Professional Carpet Cleaning Machines, Restoration Equipment, Training, Service and Supplies |
Posted By: Superglide Ken
Date Posted: 01/September/2004 at 3:31pm
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Great pictures Ted. Thanks for posting them so the readers can see the improvements being made to the glides.Anyone that has any questions about glides or about how they work and what they can do for you, please ask on this forum. I will make sure your questions are answered.
------------- Inventor of the Teflon Wand Glide and the Turboteck Rotary Air Duct Cleaners for TMs. |
Posted By: steed
Date Posted: 22/October/2004 at 9:15pm
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I do like the truckmounts for the duct cleaning side of the business for a number of reasons. 1. WE use only diesel trucks , for lower opperating cost. 2. I strongly feel any form of mechcanial scrubing is the best form of cleaning . 3. Because you must cut into the pleuums, you see & retrieve all the hidden debris and polish the side walls from the mechanical brush ( hand or air driven brush ) this slow down the resoiling of the plenum. Yes it does take longer per job, customers do see your time is well spent, and don`t mind paying more for the job. And the referals are the best form of building any business. Dennis Steele (seals restorations ) sask.
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Posted By: Superglide Ken
Date Posted: 23/October/2004 at 12:10am
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Dennis: You are way ahead of most cleaners on this board in this regard. Most here have not discovered yet that less than $2000 is all it takes to add $25,000 or more to their income from adding this service to their customers part-time. ------------- Inventor of the Teflon Wand Glide and the Turboteck Rotary Air Duct Cleaners for TMs. |
Posted By: Steaminpile
Date Posted: 26/November/2004 at 8:50pm
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I have cleaned ducts both with the big honkin truck with the BIG compressor and with a TM system. If you know what you are doing,you can do a better job with the TM IMHO. I have also heard from one of Ken's competitor's (duct cleaning equip) that his stuff is actually of better quality. |
Posted By: Cd-Ron
Date Posted: 02/July/2005 at 10:52pm
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Okay Duct Cleaning with the truckmount. I've been doing it, successfully, for a number of years now. This system is better than the blowing system for one reason and one reason only. The blowing system when done propperly, and that is the key, will remove the dust and dirt however, the brush system removes not only the dust and dirt but also removed large debrie that gets into the ducts over the tears. Example, toys, construction material, pot lid (yes I said that), balls, grout...all of which can restrict air flow. As for price? You have to price what your market will allow for. We carge $99.95 plus 7.95 per vent and that includeds powerwashing the blower and cleaning the furnace and extended plennums. That's probably low compared to those of you in big cities, but I'm not so it works for out here. The way gas prices are going though, I think we will be rasing our price. Take Care -Ron ------------- Rockin'and Rollin' |
Posted By: Mo fo yo money
Date Posted: 19/January/2006 at 10:11pm
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[QUOTE=MR. STEAMER]
Actually I heard from my gas man that it's acutally a better clean...what kills a furnace is all that crap being blown down into the furnace...it could screw the burners and fry the fan...this only sucks...
Any competent duct cleaner blocks off the furnace until it's time to clean the furnace, coils, etc. |
Posted By: heidelhook
Date Posted: 29/August/2006 at 2:02pm
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Some of you guys are really missing the point. Yes, the EPA stated that there may be no benefit to cleaning your ducts. They also said-IF IT IS NOT DONE PROPERLY! Also, this is an older study, as the industry has evolved. DIdn't carpet manufactures at one time say that if you had your carpets professionally cleaned it would void the warranty? The EPA also wisely stated that you needed to clean up mold with bleach! They since retracted that, but the damage was done. How many "remediators" just wipe down mold with bleach and walk away? Also, keep in mind the standards. How many of you would be furious with a carpet cleaner that just comes in and cleans the carpet how they see fit? With no regard to IICRC, or any other standards? Yet you want to clean ductwork with no regard for the standard. NADCA ACR:2006 clearly states that to properly clean the ductwork you must have the system under full negative pressure. With the carpet cleaning attachment and the ROTOBRUSH, you cannot achieve negative pressure. You only have local vacuum. This is a clear violation of the standard, and is not acceptable unless you have an additional vacuum source for your negative pressure. An air scrubber is not enough either! There seems to be a lot of animosity between the two groups for some reason, but there doesn't need to be. If everyone respected the standards, and everyone worked together, it would be much better.
Please keep in mind too, how many "air cleaners" are being sold. Why? Because the homeowners are complaining about more dust and debris in their home. Why treat the symptom instead of the culprit? Clean the air ducts AND the carpet, and the homeowner will have less dust. Most times for about what they would spend to put an "air cleaner" in a couple rooms of their house. ------------- Jon Heidelberg President STEAMEX DSD, Inc 866-662-DUCT jon@steamexdsd.com |
Posted By: Superglide Ken
Date Posted: 10/November/2006 at 12:16pm
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Regardless of the many conflicting opinions about this subject, I am still convinced of 2 things regarding cleaning residential ducting: The Cleanco IAQ system and our Turboteck System are the 2 most best way for cleaning ductwork that you can buy.The Cleanco System came out first in 1995 and took into consideration all the requirements needed to clean ductwork well in the CANADIAN marketplace. That market is comprised of primary main and return ducting and secondary ducting running to the vents of the rooms. Cleaning the secondary ducting is the easy part. The ducting is mostly 4" and 5" in diameter in the older homes, with most homes newer than 30 years old using 6" ducts. The original Cleanco system used 3 different brushs to clean these different sizes. I had a better idea in 1998. I built just one tool that would take all 3 brush sizes. Next, I knew that these types of ducts(4" to 6" rounds) would clean up better is there was a rotating brush at the front of the tool to remove more debrie than the fixed support brushs were doing, so I asked Cleanco if they would be interested in me developing such a tool for them and them buying it from me. This was in March 1998 at the Orlando ASCR show. Instead, Cleanco developed their own tool instead, so the following year(1999) I started selling my own rotary system to distributers under the name of Spinmax. This system(as well as Cleanco's) work great with 200 cfms of airflow to power them.
They work by being screwed onto 25 ft of 1.5" carpet cleaning vacuum hose by the reverse threads on the aluminum tool body. This is the part of the hose that actually goes into the vents. The 1.5" hose is connected to 100 ft or more of 2" vacuum hose that is connected to the waste tank of your TM. The tool has 3 vacuum intakes at the front of it to take in the debrie found in the ducting, mostly the duct wall. There is an aluminum turbine located in the center of the tool that spins on a front mounted high speed bearing via a stainless steel shaft. The bearing is rated to 25,000 rpm , but since it only spins 1000 to 4000 rpm in the Turboteck Tool, it lasts for years. Most of these that I sold in this decade are still working on their original bearings.The turnine spins a counterweight at the front of the tool to which are attached screw in brushs. These brushes are worth $20/set and last an average of 10 jobs, reducing the cost to only $2/house, the lowest cost in the industry.After you finish a job, you un-screw them till the next job. The Cleanco system and the Turboteck system use the same type of rectangular shaped brushs for cleaning the main and return system. You can't clean a rectangular duct properly with a ROUND BRUSH, cause you miss the corners. So you must cut a 12"X12" hole into the furnace Plenum in the basements of most houses. Then you connect your vacuum hose to these larger rectangular brushs and you sweep these large Ducts with the brushs that are connected to fiberglass rods that screw into each other. If your access hole is located near the middle of the ducting, you will not have to go much more than 15 ft in either direction to accomplish this. Most of the contaminates are on the Return side of the system, and thats where you will spend the most time cleaning. When done, you place a 14" X14" patch over the access hole and use zip screws to seal it up. Duct tape covers all sharp edges as the final step. If you have a video inspection system, you show the customer the job you did before you seal it . Vacuum the blower wheel on the furnace, clean all the vent covers and you are done.Most smaller homes can be done in 2 hours and larger homes (up to 2000 sq ft )can be done in 3 hrs or less. Limitations: Not all houses can be cleaned using these systems. Many of the newer homes have dampner doors that you may shut accidently if you do not use a video camera system. Larger homes(bigger than 2000-3000 sq ft also may pose a problem with muliple furnace and main and return systems. But these comprise no more than 10 to 20% of most markets in Canada, and there is still 80 to 90% that you can do with no problems. With experience, you can tell the ones that cause you problems and do the rest. The market demand for this service is still bigger than the demand for carpet cleaning, and the money is better. There is no reason that you need to leave it to someone else. The biggest fear that stops most people from acting is fear of the unknown. With an entry fee of only a couple of thousand dollars(including tools)on these types of air duct cleaning systems, the only big unknown IMO, is how many thousands in profits are you losing each year by not offering the survice? Thanks for reading all this. Hopefully is helps some of you from seeing that it is not rocket science. It is only the fear of doing something new that keeps people out of it. The same fear that stops most from cleaning furniture in the home, or asking the customer if they would like Scotchgard. Get over it. It is costing you to much! ------------- Inventor of the Teflon Wand Glide and the Turboteck Rotary Air Duct Cleaners for TMs. |
Posted By: Options
Date Posted: 08/April/2007 at 12:37am
I'm not familar with construction in Canada, but do know several Canadian duct cleaners from the duct cleaning forums and all use negative air machines and pneumatic cleaning tools and this equipment will clean any type of construction and do an excellent job of it! With this equipment you aren't limited to just residential systems either and the best money is in cleaning commercial and industrial applications. The Viper (Duct Cleaners Supply) and Scorpion (Heat Seal) cleaning systems do an excellent job and require only a 1" opening. Regardless of size or number of systems, these tools will clean any duct system that is too small to crawl or stand in to clean. Dampers and panned returns aren't a problem and neither are floor openings or wall cavities with wiring, plumbing and other obstacles inside. These tools are also far more versatile and will clean larger ducts as well as long runs. Specific designs will also safely and thoroughly clean fiberglass (ductboard) and internally insulated metal ducts. Here's a list of those manufactuers that I'd recommend: In Canada: Heat Seal Duct Cleaning Equipment Canadian Caddy-Vac Inc. Biltwel Duct Cleaning Equipment In USA: American CaddyVac Meyer Machine and Equipment Wm. Meyer and Sons Nikro Harold's Power-Vac Duct Cleaners Supply ------------- To Give Real Service You Must Add Something Which Cannot Be Bought Or Measured With Money, And That Is Sincerity And Integrity. ---Douglas Noel Adams |
Posted By: Hammy
Date Posted: 08/April/2007 at 12:43am
Food For Thought?  ------------- Could somebody just clean my carpets! |
Posted By: Ken Harris
Date Posted: 08/April/2007 at 1:33am
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I have cleaned houses that have used these so called reccomended systems. In each case , our Turboteck system was able to outclean these systems that cost up to 50X more money! For residential systems our system can't be beat. I make no claims about being able to clean the larger commercial systems with it. That is were the large systems have their best application. ------------- Inventor of Teflon Carpet Wand Glides.Free Glides for all Cleaners in June! |
Posted By: Options
Date Posted: 08/April/2007 at 8:51am
Possibly, but only if a blo & go did the cleaning and even then I have my doubts!
I've been cleaning for 7 years and for the record have never simply blown air into a duct to clean it! My tools consist of a variety of pneumatic whips in 14 to 28" lengths and numbering from 1 to 8 tentacles on each 1" diameter head. These operate at up to 220psi of air pressure and will thoroughly remove all of the dirt from any duct. I do make a final pass with a forward or reverse air sweep, but this is simply to remove anything heavy that may have been left behind. I also have Heat Seal's Scorpion Brush which has a built-in air sweep and is only about 6" long. It too fits thru a 1" hole and uses very inexpensive trimmer line. It will remove even the most stubborn dirt from any of the smaller branch ducts and dryer vents. All cleaning rods and tools sold by Heat Seal and Duct Cleaners Supply come with interchangeable locking quick connects making it easy to mix and match their accessories. Granted the equipment I have is more expensive than yours, but then again it actually works and not only is it faster, but I've never needed x-ray vision to figure out which 10 to 20% of the homes have HIDDEN obstacles or oversized ducts that can't be cleaned with your system! From what I've seen your equipment has the same limitations that Rotobrush and its other knockoffs do. In addition to being an underpowered vacuum, the hose and brush assembly are simply too large to get past many of the obstacles in the wall cavaties, panned returns and branch ducts. Nor can it fit thru anything but the largest of vent openings except possible those that go directly into attic spaces. The most common floor openings here are less than 1 1/2" wide and are rarely more than 2 1/2" deep in the walls. In ranch style homes with vents located on the outer walls and at least the first floors of multiple story homes, these are generally followed by one or more 90 degree ells directly below the floor. Those nice sharp zip screws securing the ducts together and the nails holding the molding to lower wall surfaces must also play real havoc with your hose covering! Although your website doesn't mention it - the small suction openings in your vacuum hose aren't likely to be big enough to pick up much of anything except the finest dust and I suspect that you have no immediate way of knowing when they plug up which presents the very real possibility that some homes are going to need dusted when you're done! My hoses range in size from 8 to 12 inches and I have yet to find anything large enough to plug even the smallest of those. Nor do I have a large rectangular brush pushing the heavier dirt ahead and into a corner somewhere, so I never have to worry about leaving large construction debris, banana peels, toys, crayons, paper or other debris behind and I've always been able to remove the occasional dead mouse when I've been called to rid the home of their unpleasant odor! I too have the same fiberglass (chimney cleaning) rods that you supply. As these don't bend very, I only use mine for cleaning commercial dryer vents and am curious how those owning your equipment manage to negotiate the 90 degree turns or tees occasionally found in the main ducts that are located above finished ceilings without having to cut additional access holes in these surfaces? ------------- To Give Real Service You Must Add Something Which Cannot Be Bought Or Measured With Money, And That Is Sincerity And Integrity. ---Douglas Noel Adams |
Posted By: Ken Harris
Date Posted: 08/April/2007 at 11:53am
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Most people that buy our systems use it in conjunction with other equipment if they are into duct cleaning in a fulltime way. Again, our primary customer is a carpet cleaner doing duct cleaning only part-time, in situations were it can be used. For the record, our ZX7 tool is only 3.75" long and only 1.75" wide, making it the smallest tool of it's kind in the world. It is actually more narrow than the 1.875" OD of the 1.5" vacuum hose it attaches to. It has no problem getting into over 99% of all existing vents in homes. Those in areas were vent size is smaller than that, should be using another system.
In any case, because of the extremely low price of our Silver system(only $369US), many cleaners are using it successfully to clean dryer vents only. Even if this were the only application, the low purchase price quickly generates thousands of additional dollars of income. The only people that can not make good money with our system are those that never use it. The rest find it one of the most profitable purchase decisions they have ever made. ------------- Inventor of Teflon Carpet Wand Glides.Free Glides for all Cleaners in June! |
Posted By: tokmik
Date Posted: 19/March/2009 at 3:52am
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Hey Ken why don't you have a demo at Teds...I've always wanted a closer look..... I wanted to get into this...but I wonder how the customer will feel about it...no big truck... - Chandler Carpet Cleaning |
Posted By: Superglide Ken
Date Posted: 19/March/2009 at 3:28pm
I have talked to Ted about this a couple of times now. Why has it not been done? My guess is that Ted is just busy and has not got around to doing it yet. When I am in Toronto next time later this year, maybe I will help him get it done. 1 day is all it would take.  ------------- Inventor of the Teflon Wand Glide and the Turboteck Rotary Air Duct Cleaners for TMs. |