Frequently Asked Questions

The service is real. Much of the advertising is not. The scam pattern is a headline price low enough to be implausible, followed by an on-site discovery that the job costs several times that. Ask whether the system is under continuous negative pressure, whether every run is individually agitated, and whether the air handler, coil, blower and plenums are included. A company doing the work properly answers all three without hedging.

It can, with the wrong tooling. Older rotating brush systems tear the inner liner of flex duct, and that damage is a large part of why the industry earned a bad name. We use compressed-air whips and air-sweeping tools chosen for the duct material, which clean flex without the contact that tears liners. Tool selection follows the material, which is one of the things established during the inspection.

It depends entirely on where the restriction is. A heavily fouled blower wheel or evaporator coil genuinely restricts airflow, and cleaning those restores it. But low airflow is just as often an over-restrictive filter, crushed or disconnected flex, undersized ductwork, closed dampers or a failing blower motor — none of which cleaning will fix. The inspection identifies the cause before you spend anything.

Whole-home air duct cleaning starts at $499. The main driver is the square footage of the home, then the number of HVAC systems and the condition of the equipment. We can give you a price over the phone from those details, and we confirm it against what we find when we arrive. What changes the price.

NADCA's position is that the interval depends on the condition of the system rather than a fixed number of years. Things that shorten it: pets, renovation work, high occupancy, a system that has never been cleaned, visible debris at the registers, or a musty smell when the system starts. In Northeast Florida, humidity and near year-round run time mean systems here generally reach that condition sooner than in a dry climate.

We run a truck-mounted vacuum system rated at roughly 15,000 CFM. Most duct cleaning companies work from portable units, which cannot generate the collection airflow that source removal requires across an entire system. More on the equipment and why it matters.

The air handler is included. Cleaning ducts and leaving a fouled blower wheel and coil in place means the system re-contaminates itself the moment it runs. Any quote covering ducts only is not cleaning your system.

Most single-system homes take three to six hours depending on the number of runs, attic access and the condition of the equipment. Multi-system properties take proportionally longer, and we give you an expected window when the job is scoped.

We will not tell you it will. Removing accumulated particulate from a system that has it is a sensible thing to do, and a cleaner system with better-sealed filtration circulates less of what is in it. Whether that changes a specific person's symptoms is a medical question, and any company answering it confidently is selling rather than informing.

Modestly at best from cleaning alone. A badly fouled coil or blower does restrict airflow and cost efficiency, and cleaning those helps. The larger efficiency loss in most Florida homes is duct leakage, which is a sealing problem rather than a cleaning one.

Someone over 18 should be there for the walkthrough at the start and the end. Not for the whole job.

Secure them away from the work area. Tell us in advance if you have birds, which are unusually sensitive to airborne particulate and to any treatment products.

Often yes, and it surprises people. Duct systems are open during construction and air handlers frequently run before a build is finished, so drywall dust and construction debris end up in the ductwork and on the coil. See post-construction cleaning.

They solve different problems. Cleaning removes debris; sealing stops conditioned air escaping and unconditioned air entering. Many Northeast Florida homes with attic ductwork benefit more from sealing.

Usually yes, and usually a boot sealing and insulation problem rather than a cleaning one. Warm humid attic air meeting a cold surface produces condensation. Cleaning will not change that.

Growth in a duct system nearly always points to a moisture source that has to be corrected, or it returns. Treatment sprayed over growth is not a solution. We clean and restore HVAC systems and ductwork, and where a project extends into building materials we will tell you that a licensed mold remediator is the right party for that portion of the work.

Annually for most households, more often with heavy use or a long duct run. Commercial and multi-family equipment needs a shorter cycle.

Yes. Florida certified air conditioning contractor license CAC1824362, fully insured, with a NADCA-certified Air Systems Cleaning Specialist on staff. We are also an Aeroseal certified contractor and a BBB accredited business.

Yes. Square footage, the number of HVAC systems and roughly when the home was built is enough for us to quote whole-home cleaning. We then inspect on arrival and confirm that scope with photographs before any work begins, so the price you were quoted is the price you approve. If what we find genuinely changes the job, you see why before you agree to it.

Then that is what we tell you, and you have lost nothing but an appointment. Systems in newer homes, or systems cleaned within the last few years, often do not need it. An inspection that concludes you do not need cleaning is a successful inspection.

Less than people expect. Registers get covered, work areas get protected, and the collection unit stays outside with its hose run in. The noise is comparable to a vacuum cleaner inside the house, because the machine itself is on the truck.

Only what is sitting directly on a register or blocking the air handler. We will tell you what needs clearing when we schedule, so nothing is a surprise on the day.

Photographs of the same identified locations before and after, plus an explanation of what the images show and what we found along the way. For commercial work that extends to a written scope and a report you can hand to a client or an inspector.

No. We are not a licensed mould remediator. We clean, restore and treat HVAC systems and ductwork. We do not perform remediation on building materials, we do not do laboratory or clearance testing, and we do not diagnose health conditions. Where a job extends beyond the HVAC system we will say so and tell you it belongs with a licensed remediation contractor.

We do not perform laboratory air or surface testing. If you want contamination identified rather than described, that is a job for an independent indoor environmental professional — and ideally one who does not also sell the remediation.

Only EPA-registered products labelled for use in HVAC systems, only where there is a reason for it, and only after cleaning. A treatment is not a substitute for removing the material, and we will not fog a dirty system and call it clean.

While it is sound, yes, with tooling appropriate to the surface. Once the liner has been wet or has started breaking down, cleaning is not the answer — EPA, NADCA and NAIMA all recommend replacing wet or mouldy fibrous duct material rather than cleaning it. We would rather tell you that than take the job.

Almost all of them. We are not an HVAC installation company — we clean, inspect, seal and restore systems other people installed, which is most of our work.

Usually because the system is removing temperature but not enough moisture. Common causes are return-side duct leakage pulling humid attic air into the system, equipment that short-cycles without running long enough to dehumidify, or a genuine moisture source in the building. Measured work in Florida homes found that 85 per cent of the added load from air-handler-driven infiltration was latent — moisture rather than heat.

The method is the same standard. The conditions are not. Humidity means wet coils and drain pans, attic ductwork lives in a hot humid space for most of the year, and moisture problems that would be slow elsewhere move quickly here. It changes what we find far more than how we work.

It should at least be looked at. Water in a duct system is a different problem from dust, and the EPA is explicit that insulation which has been wet should be removed and replaced rather than cleaned. What is needed depends on what got wet and for how long.

EPA guidance is below 60 per cent relative humidity, ideally 30 to 50. Sustained surface humidity around 70 per cent is the accepted threshold where biological growth becomes likely, which is why the margin matters more here than in a dry climate.

Yes — offices, retail, medical, restaurants, multi-family and post-construction. Commercial work is scheduled around building operations, priced per system and per building rather than per home, and documented well enough to justify the expenditure to whoever signs off on it. See commercial services.

Yes, and it is one of the more useful things we do. A facility manager with a defined written scope gets comparable pricing from every bidder, rather than three quotes describing three different jobs. The documentation is yours regardless of who ends up doing the work.

For commercial work, routinely. Occupied buildings often cannot shut down during the day, so sequencing around operations — evenings, weekends, zone by zone — is normal rather than an exception.

NADCA certifies people, not companies. Refresh is a NADCA member company with a certified Air Systems Cleaning Specialist (ASCS) on staff, which is the accurate way to say it. Any company advertising itself as a "NADCA-certified company" is describing something that does not exist.

An owner-operated company means one of the owners is usually on the job. Aaron and Ammon both work in the field, which is the main practical difference between us and a company dispatching whoever is available.

Tell us before we leave if you can, and we will put it right while the equipment is still on site. If it surfaces later, call. We are a two-owner company in a county we live in, and our name is on the truck.