Is anyone doing this?
if so…
Can you tell me a little bit about how you market it, roughly how you charge and what tools and equipement are needed?
thanks
I’ve been doing a bit in a very ‘experimental’ way, adverstising to my existing window cleaning clients only. I’m using the Linteater kit LintEater: The Rotary Dryer Vent Cleaning System and it works quite well. You can buy extra rods so that you can clean through long lengths of duct work.
The kit is meant for the average consumer but from what I’ve heard, even some full time pros use it on its own or in combination with more professional equipment.
I’ve been charging $70 for a basic job (dryer located in basement or ground level and 12’ or less of duct). Depending on where it vents out (2nd floor or roof etc) you could charge a lot more. Also, to make a serious go at this, one must prepare themselves to also do repairs or duct section replacement. So far all the ones I’ve done have been easy but I’ve heard of some peoples job lasting almost a day b ecause of duct work falling apart in the walls or even up in the attic.
simple service can take as little as 15 mins if you’re just sticking the rotary kit in from the outside and blindly cleaning or you can do it from the inside, removing the duct from the machine and making sure every bit is fully cleaned out including the entry point at the back of the machine. I do this as well as deep clean the lint trap and making sure the back, underneath and all sides of the maching are dust/lint free. Usually takes 30-40 mins.
I know one guy who also takes the dryer apart as well and makes sure there is no lint near the heating element.
As you can see, this can be a good quicky addon at the end of a window cleaning job or you can go all the way and be a proper dryer duct cleaning business charging several hundred dollars for service and repair.
I was doing some brainstorming about addons last night. This is one I decided to research.
Very timely.
Mark I was reading some of the reviews on the product you listed. Most of them were very positive but a few said they had problems with the thing coming apart in the duct. Have you had any issues with this?
Any extra insurance needed for it?
I know a guy charges $150
Pretty basic to do.
main competion our hvac companies duct Cleaning companies they will usually clean driers for free with whole home duct Cleaning. Carpet cleaners also do it.
Those companies listed above are usually $65 or less.
I really looked into this about 6 months ago:)
This is right on time for me. I’ve had that Linteater set sitting around for 6 months meaning to do it as an add on. Decided to try it on my own vents today. Easy and did a great job.
Here’s a picture of the shop vac afterward. It was empty when I started. Probably took 45 minutes, but that was with me not having any idea what I was doing.
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The only way it will come apart is if you reverse the drill while it’s inside the duct. but one thing I’ve noticed is by the time I,m done the job it actually takes a bit of strenght and a good grip on the connections to get the sections apart because as you’re drill through the vent the rods actually tighten more somewhat. No biggie, I just wear rubber gloves and it gives me the grip I need to undo them.
I ran this service through my insurance guy and he said it was fine provided I wasnt promising there couldn’t be a fire after I was done so Ive beenusing the “cleaner vents = better dryer performance angle and cost savig angle.”
Funny, a few months back I began considering this as well. My son just popped out so it’s put a few things on hold as you can imagine 
Interesting, Mark. I was planning on marketing it along the lines of house fire statistics, but I’ll have to check with my insurance as well.
I find the ‘fear’ would be a far better selling point, and very true.
Different service… But I stumbled across this vid in my research… Pretty interesting.
Yeah thats what I was thinking too. Maybe use “reduce” fire danger over “remove” the fire danger.
I will be checking with my insurance agent though.
Here is something to consider. You can’t garantee there won,t be a lint fire unless you open up the machine and make sure there is not one speck of lint around and heating elements. A fellow poster on these boards opens up the machine and has found smoldered pc’s of lint inside the machine. If he had just cleaned the vent and claimed no risk of fire now, he could be getting in some hot water down the road. I’ve stopped short of opening up dryers and make no safety claims.
If a client mentions the dryer fire scenario I tell them that a cleaner vent will help the machine run cooler, thus making it less likely to overheat and cause other related problems.
We offer it as an unadvertised service to existing clients and we get $100.00 for standard vent cleaning, we also typically sell those customers hose replacements etc. I have a good friend who owns a vent and duct cleaning company and they are over a million in sales but mainly ducts. They do vents free with duct cleaning though as I think Brian mentioned. Also been in business about 24 years
I looked into this a year ago, one place I did find Chris pro spin
spent a couple hours researching it last night, then found this thread. very timely.
I did some research on this also. I have been thinking about adding this service. Talked to Mark the Window Cleaner and he graciously gave me some advice. Funny thing I came across a name for a lady who supposedly does this in SanAntonio, Texas. She says she charges $6800.00 to come out to your city and train you for a week. I of course declined that offer but thought it was pretty funny. One can get certified through CSIA.org for this and use it as a promotional thing but not sure if it is required. Any way I will just offer it if it is asked of me for now.
Alex
Clean and Bright Window Cleaning & More
1-806-448-8965
A job we did today
Nice Brennon. What system do you have? Thanks for the video
Looks like it did the job for you. Was it simple to use? How did you advertise this? What do you charge? Seems like it might be a good winter slow season service to keep cash coming in.
Good thread. I also started Dryer Vent cleaning. I use the LintEater system with a shop vac from the indoors. Seeing it’s -20C these days, it makes most sense to work from the indoors.
I also take the dryer apart and clean/vacuum the lint trap and plastic cone leading up to the dryer fan. I find a huge amount of blockage near the fan in all cases. The job would only be half done if I would just do the vent itself IMO.
Look me up on Facebook for some pics or hit me up with some questions if any of you want some more info on this. I’m at: G & R Mobile Wash - Altona, MB - Home Improvement | Facebook
