Why is it extra to clean a furnace with central air conditioning?

One of our most frequently asked questions for customers who have newly installed central air conditioning is – why is there an extra charge for air conditioning? My air conditioning coil wouldn’t be dirty just after installation, would it?

The additional charge is not only for cleaning the coils

When you have central air conditioning, we have to clean your furnace and ducts in a different way than if you do not have air conditioning, and there is an additional cost to do that because it takes extra time. 

When you have air conditioning installed, there is a large “air conditioning unit” installed which will be outside of your home, and then there is an air conditioning evaporator coil installed inside of your plenum (ductwork) above your furnace.

How we clean without AC

With no AC, to clean your ducting & vents we create an access hole directly above your furnace and then position our large, high power vacuum in the furnace to suck up everything that is loosened from above by cleaning of the ducts with high pressure air. We also open up and air wash the blower and blower compartment in the furnace.

How we clean with AC

When you have AC, we still have to access the top of the furnace heat exchanger (which is between the blower compartment and the AC coils) to clean the built up dust there. There is extra time involved to access between your AC Coils and the furnace heat exchanger. We will also use high pressure air to clean dust and debris from the AC coils as necessary. We also open up and air wash the blower and blower compartment in the furnace.

So what you are paying for when you have an additional charge for AC with your furnace & duct cleaning is not just the cleaning of the coils, but the additional work created by the access that we have to create and the different way we have to clean when you have air conditioning coils, no matter how old or new or clean or dirty the coils are.