DuctCleaning.ws

Independent guide · we don’t clean ducts

About DuctCleaning.ws

Direct answer

DuctCleaning.ws is an independent consumer publication about residential air duct cleaning. We research what government agencies, courts, standards bodies, and investigative journalists have actually established, publish it with sources attached, and label how strong each piece of evidence is. We sell nothing, we take no money from contractors, and our editorial position is that most homes do not need routine duct cleaning.

What this site is

Duct cleaning is a category where the buyer cannot check the product. The work happens inside walls and above ceilings, the scope is defined entirely by the seller, and the results are invisible. Almost all the writing about it online is produced by companies that sell it or by lead-generation sites paid to hand your phone number to companies that sell it.

This site exists to be the other thing: a reference that starts from primary sources, states plainly where the evidence is thin, and is willing to conclude that you should keep your money. Every substantive page lists the sources it was built from, and every number carries a label saying whether it is a documented fact, a range published by multiple independent sources, guidance from the industry itself, a single-source figure, or our own estimate.

What this site is not

  • Not a duct cleaning company. We do not perform any service on any home.
  • Not a contractor, and not staffed by contractors. Nobody here is a licensed heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) technician, an engineer, or a certified mold assessor. We have never inspected or cleaned a duct system. We say more about this on the editorial team page, because it changes what our work is good for.
  • Not a lead generator. We do not collect your address or phone number, we do not sell contact information, and there is no form on this site that hands your details to a company. Our calculator and decision tool run entirely in your browser and transmit nothing.
  • Not affiliated with NADCA or any trade association, certification body, or manufacturer. We cite NADCA where its guidance is useful and label it as what it is: guidance from a trade association about its own industry.
  • Not a substitute for someone looking at your actual system. See the disclaimer.

Why this category needs an independent source

The case is not hypothetical. The public enforcement record in residential duct cleaning is unusually thick for a service this small, and it is worth knowing before you answer the phone.

  • Washington State won $10 million in penalties and a permanent injunction against duct cleaning operators in 2020, in a case involving more than 13 million robocalls to over a million residents, caller-ID spoofing, roughly a hundred fake five-star reviews posted in a single week, advertised prices of $29 to $55, and charges that often exceeded $1,000.
  • Oregon’s complaint against the same operators documented the same item sold at wildly different prices: a UV light billed at $40 to one customer and $775 to another, and sanitizing spray charged anywhere from $1 to more than $300.
  • New Jersey collected $1.71 million in civil penalties over coupon advertising used to steer buyers toward higher-priced services.
  • Colorado’s action followed more than 230 complaints about $35 advertisements producing bills up to $1,000, and documented operators closing and reopening under new names.
  • A Better Business Bureau study in Denver examined 62 companies and asked 21 of them to change their advertising. Eighteen complied. That last figure is the one we find most telling, because it describes an advertising problem across a large slice of an industry with no allegation of fraud attached.

Alongside that, the federal position on the service itself is far more cautious than the marketing suggests. EPA does not recommend routine cleaning, states that duct cleaning has never been shown to prevent health problems, and identifies only three conditions that warrant considering it: substantial visible mold growth inside hard-surface ducts or on other system components, vermin infestation, and debris heavy enough that particles are actually being released into the home from supply registers.

Our editorial stance

We think most homes, most of the time, do not need duct cleaning. That is not contrarianism; it follows directly from EPA’s guidance, which frames the decision around observed conditions rather than a calendar. A dusty return grille is normal. Several years passing is not a reason. Much of the dust in a duct system adheres to duct surfaces and does not necessarily enter the living space, and studies have not conclusively shown that particle levels in homes rise because of dirty ducts or fall after cleaning.

There are real reasons to have the work done, and when one applies we say so plainly and help you buy it well. But a page that ends by recommending the service regardless of what the evidence says is an advertisement, and we would rather publish nothing than publish that. The full rules we work to are on the editorial policy page.

The fairness caveat we apply to ourselves

EPA’s finding that duct cleaning has never been shown to prevent health problems applies to the entire service category. It is not a statement about disreputable operators only, and it does not imply that the service becomes health-protective when a certified firm performs it. We hold ourselves to that reading even when a gentler one would read better.

How this site makes money

Right now, it does not. There is no advertising network on the site, no sponsorship, no affiliate link, no paid placement, no newsletter, and nothing for sale. Nobody has paid us to write anything on this site, and no company has been given favorable coverage in exchange for anything.

The intended model is ordinary display advertising, and possibly a small number of carefully chosen affiliate links where a product is genuinely relevant. Two commitments come with that:

  1. Commercial relationships will never determine editorial conclusions. If we recommend against buying a service, that recommendation stands regardless of what it costs us. The most valuable thing this site owns is the ability to say no.
  2. Anything that pays us will be disclosed on the page where it appears, not buried in a policy nobody reads. See the affiliate disclosure, which will be updated the day anything changes.

We will not run lead-generation forms, sell contact details, or accept payment from duct cleaning companies for coverage, placement, or a directory listing. Those revenue models are exactly what makes the rest of this category untrustworthy.

Getting in touch

We welcome corrections, better sources, and questions this site does not yet answer. We cannot recommend a contractor, dispatch anyone, or tell you what is happening inside your own ducts. The contact page explains the difference and how to reach us; errors are handled under the corrections policy.

What to do next

Sources & references