All work is performed by owner, Neil Ballard. 

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Neil will do his best to clean all areas of the air handling system. Often with HRVs, there are areas which are inaccessible as the majority of the ducts are behind drywall.

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How to Prepare:

• Multi-Level Homes: If your home has two levels above a crawl space or is a three level home, there is a chance that not all of the ducting between the upper levels will be accessible for cleaning due to lack of exposed ducting. We will the best that can be done to clean the entire system. 

• Work Area: Please ensure there is ample room to work around the air handler and throughout the home. This includes ensuring that stairs, hallways and ladings are clear before your appointment. We will require a pathway of at least 2.5 feet wide, from the entrance to the air handler so we can bring in tools and equipment. 

• Exposed Ducting: (unfinished area), we recommend wiping down the top of the ducting prior to your air duct cleaning appointment. This is because the agitation from cleaning the inside of the air ducts will often vibrate any dust and debris off the top of the ducting. This is not usually applicable for exposed ducting in crawl spaces. We are not responsible for cleaning the exterior of the air ducts, only the interior.

• 220/240v Power: Our equipment requires 220/240V power. We can usually plug into a stove or dryer outlet when one is easily accessible. If either of these outlets are not available, please let us know we may have another option.

• Parking: Our van will need a fairly level parking spot as our air compressor works best when it is level. Parking near the closest entrance to where the furnace is located is ideal, if available.

• If parking is not close to the entrance of the home or includes difficult stairs, pathways, etc, please let us know as this can make getting heavy equipment into the home more difficult. 

 

Scope of Work:

• Walk Through: Each appointment will begin with a walk through of the home or building to identify all the vents. We will only begin a job once it has been established that there is adequate accessibility to perform the cleaning properly. Please ensure that all furniture has been moved away from vents throughout the home, prior to your appointment. Our technician does not move furniture.

• Air Handler System Test: We will test your air handling system to verify it is functioning properly and then disconnect the power for the cleaning process. We will test the air handler once again after the job has been completed.

• Service Openings: We will create access points in key areas of the system to clean and inspect. All service openings will be sealed in accordance with industry codes and standards.

• Creating Cleaning Access: We will need at least a few feet of exposed ducting coming directly off the air handling unit. If your air handler is in a small area (under stairs, crawl space, closet, small furnace room, etc), we will ask for photos to ensure our technician will have enough space to work and connect the vacuum. It is important to us that our technician has adequate access so he can perform a thorough cleaning of the entire system. All access points will be sealed up once the job has been completed.

• Using Compressed Air Agitation Devices: We will slowly scrub the inner walls of the ducts to loosen dust, debris, and any airborne contaminants. We will not be able to remove any type of sludge, grime, urine, or anything else that is not considered an airborne contaminant. If your air ducts are contaminated with urine, rodent feces, or anything else of this nature please let us know.

• Floor & Wall Registers / Vents: We will use compressed air to clean as well as a damp wipe down with a cloth. If registers are extremely dirty or covered with grease, they may require a more thorough hand scrubbing.

• Ceiling Registers / Vents: We will use a special micro-line tool to fit through the register to clean the duct. We do not remove screws from ceiling registers because they are usually screwed into drywall ceilings. Once a screw has been removed from the ceiling it often cannot be screwed back in. Depending on the location of the air handler, the ducting for ceiling vents can be difficult to clean due to lack of access. This usually applies to ducting that is installed in the attic on the second or third floor of the home.

• HRV Unit: We will use compressed air to remove any loose dust out of the air handler and give it a damp wipe down. We do not disassemble your air handling unit. If an air handling unit is extremely dirty due to overall lack of maintenance and/or neglect, further disassembly/cleaning may be necessary, beyond what we are able to offer. Our cleanings will remove airborne contaminates. We do not remove any type of sludge, grime, etc, if it cannot be easily cleaned with compressed air or with a damp cloth.

 

Disclaimer:

• A service call fee of $100 + GST will apply for bookings cancelled within 24 hours of the scheduled arrival, if our technician arrives onsite and is unable to perform the job due to misinformation being provided during booking, inability to perform the job for safety reasons, or inability to perform the job due to lack of space to work (items not moved away from vents, air handler and exposed ducting). 

• We are not held liable for any damage/disconnections caused to electrical or plumbing that is located inside of air ducts. Our tools are designed to be used around wiring and piping that has been properly installed and secured inside of air ducts, without risk of causing damage. If we are unable to perform an air handler system test prior to beginning work, we are not held liable if the air handler does not turn on or there are operational issues after the work has been completed.

 

Crawl Spaces:

We do not take on all jobs when crawl space access is required. We do require well-lit photos of the air handler and as much of the ducting as you can show us, prior to booking. 

We do not generally take on jobs with crawl spaces if any of the following apply:

• Homes are larger than 2500 square feet in size, unless the crawl space is only under a small portion of the home. This can be determined before booking by sending us well-lit photos of the crawl space, air handler and ducting. 

• The air handler is inside the crawl space and is more than 25-30 feet from the crawl space entrance. 

• The crawl space is less than 3ft in height. 

• The crawl space flooring is not finished (dirt or gravel floors).

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Attics: We do not work in attics. if your air handler is in an attic, this is not a job we can take on.