This is a trickier question. We provide duct deodorizing and sanitizing upon customers request. We do not do this on every job and here’s why. For many years duct cleaning companies have used this as an add on to mark up the bill. For this reason primarily, we never really supported it. In addition to the up-sale, we’ve never really believed 100% in the process. Ultimately, we are spraying a chemical down into your vents, leaving residue down in your ductwork for dust to stick to later. Why? So it can smell better temporarily or give the appearance of being sanitized. Let me explain a common example. Example: Customer calls saying there is a dead rodent in the vents and it smells horribly. We come out and the body is sucked out (which we cannot guarantee, by the way, depending on the situation) and the customer tells us ahead of time they want to sanitize. I say “ok” and fog the system. You now have a disinfectant substance left over the surface that was left by the decaying rodent. To put this into perspective, consider if the rodent died on your kitchen floor, would you scoop up the body and spray some cleaner on the left overs and call it good enough? No! Hopefully…. you would scrub the surface until everything was gone. Now considering the limitations of your duct work, that is not always possible. In my honest opinion, the best course of action is to locate the animal, which is often found outside the ductwork. Then you could have that ductwork removed and replaced with a brand new piece. The rest of the rodent dropping and nesting material can then be easily sucked out. An exception would be where large infestations have occured. This is why sanitizer, although not a bad thing, and in some cases is the only option, is not the best solution. By the way, we offer duct replacement, which most duct cleaners don’t do.
