Air Duct Sanitizing in San Rafael, CA
Call (415) 223-3423
Does sanitizing a duct actually fix the odor?
Only if the source is gone first. Fogging a disinfectant over settled dust just wets the dust. Sanitizing is the last step of a source-removal job, not a standalone service. If someone offers it alone, the odor comes back.
What we document before any product is used: rodent droppings and nesting in the trunk, a boot pulled off the register, torn flex at the takeoff. That combination is routine in crawlspace-mounted systems around Ross Valley and the hillside streets, where the crawl is vented, damp and open to animals. Photos first. Then we decide whether sanitizing is even the right answer.
Porous material cannot be sanitized. Wet fiberglass insulation, a shredded flex inner liner, a lined plenum: those get replaced. Musty startup odor on foggy mornings is often condensation on cold supply runs soaking the insulation. Chemistry does nothing there. Sealing and dry insulation do.
We use antimicrobials registered for HVAC surfaces, applied to bare sheet metal, boots and registers after negative-air vacuuming and brushing. The blower wheel and coil usually hold more odor than the trunk ever did.
In pre-1940 homes with cloth or asbestos-wrapped joints, we stop. That material is not ours to disturb.
Same-day air duct sanitizing available in San Rafael, CA.
Call (415) 223-3423What happens after you call us
- 1
Call and tell us how many supply registers you have and where the furnace sits, crawlspace, attic or closet. We book a two hour arrival window and text you the tech's name before he leaves the shop.
- 2
He walks the house first, pulls a register cover, checks the return and the trunk line, then gives you one firm number. Vent count, flex versus sheet metal, and crawlspace access move that price.
- 3
We tape off the registers, run the vacuum under negative pressure, test airflow at every supply, and put the covers back clean. You pay the number you were quoted, nothing added after the fact.