Whole-system duct and dryer vent check with before-and-after photos - you see exactly what came out of your vents
That "$99 whole-house special" is a bait ad - the real number appears once they are in your hallway, or the "clean" is a shop-vac at the register. We photograph the inside of your ducts before and after instead.
Before
After
Before
After
Before
AfterFast, Reliable Air Duct Cleaning Across San Francisco
Air duct cleaning in San Francisco typically runs $450-$850 for a full residential system, and the job is usually completed in a single visit. That’s the honest range for this city, where Victorian duct retrofits and fog-belt moisture make the work fundamentally different from a track-home clean in the East Bay. We’ve seen it all across San Francisco, from Marina flats with duct runs squeezed through 1910s wall chases to Sunset Specials with sheet-metal runs resting on damp sand. Our team at CleanRun Air Duct Cleaning knows this city’s ductwork because we’ve been inside thousands of its crawl spaces, and we document every run with before-and-after photos before we leave. If you want a written price before anyone touches a panel, call (806) 606-6902.
Why CleanRun Air Duct Cleaning Is San Francisco’s Preferred Air Duct Cleaning Company
We built CleanRun in 2013 around one complaint we kept hearing from San Francisco homeowners: a company shows up with a $79 coupon, then the invoice balloons once the tech sees the ducts. We don’t work that way. Every job we do in San Francisco gets a written price before work starts, under Haven Standard Clause 1. That’s not a policy subject to a manager’s mood. It’s the document you sign before a single panel comes off.
Since 2013, we’ve cleaned more than 52,000 homes, and every one of those jobs ended with a Documented Photo Record of the inside of each duct run. In San Francisco specifically, that photo record matters more than in most cities, because what’s inside these ducts is often wet, organic, and active. You should see it before you decide anything about treatment. Our background-checked, uniformed technicians operate under the H.A.V.E.N. Standard, and our license number is published where you can find it, not buried in a footer. Tomas Reyes leads our crews, and every technician arrives with a name you’ll know before they walk in.
San Francisco homeowners tend to research before they call. That’s why we name our equipment rather than hiding behind vague promises. You’ll see Rotobrush, Nikro, and Abatement Technologies gear on our trucks, all brands you can look up and verify against manufacturer specifications. We also offer a Free Second Opinion on any written estimate. Bring us a competitor’s quote, and we’ll put our number next to it in writing.
Want to see the full Air Duct Cleaning scope of what we do? That page covers our process, equipment, and the 365-Day Done Right Promise in detail.
Our Air Duct Cleaning Services in San Francisco
Ductwork in San Francisco is rarely standard. The city’s dominant housing stock of Victorian and Edwardian row houses, largely built between the 1880s and 1915, was never designed for forced-air systems. Ducts were retrofitted into shallow floor cavities, under-building crawl spaces, and wall chases, which means access points are irregular and cleaning time runs longer than a suburban tract home. Here’s how we handle the four most common jobs.
Residential Duct Cleaning
For single-family homes, condos, and flats across San Francisco, this is a full clean of both supply and return sides using negative-pressure extraction with HEPA filtration. In Richmond District and Sunset District homes, we almost always include a mold inspection because condensation from the marine layer keeps duct interiors damp for weeks at a time. The photo record you receive shows the plenum, each duct run, and the register boots before and after.
Commercial Duct Cleaning
We clean duct systems in San Francisco offices, restaurants, retail spaces, and small commercial buildings. These jobs often involve longer duct runs, rooftop units, and tighter scheduling windows, especially in downtown and SoMa buildings where access requires coordination with building management. Written pricing still applies, and the same before-and-after photo documentation is a standard deliverable.
Supply Duct Cleaning
Supply ducts deliver conditioned air from your furnace or air handler to each room. In San Francisco, especially west of Twin Peaks, supply ducts are the most common place we find condensation-driven mold, because the cool marine air keeps the metal below dew point. We clean supply runs with source removal, not just air washing, and camera inspection confirms the metal is clean from plenum to boot.
Return Duct Cleaning
Return ducts pull air from your rooms back to the blower. In older San Francisco homes, returns are frequently under-sized and have been patched together across decades, which means they collect an outsized share of dust, pet hair, and construction debris. A thorough return-side clean improves airflow and reduces what gets recirculated through your AHU. In fog-belt homes, we inspect the return trunk especially carefully for moisture and microbial growth, since that’s the air you breathe most directly.
What happens when you call
- 1
A real person answersNo phone trees - you reach a local pro.
- 2
You get an upfront price rangeHonest numbers before anyone is dispatched.
- 3
A background-checked tech heads outLicensed & insured, dispatched right away.
- 4
You approve before work beginsNothing starts until you say go.
BeforeAfterTrusted Brands We Service in San Francisco
We stock and service components from Honeywell, Aprilaire, and Guardsman, which covers most of what we find in San Francisco’s newer condos and townhouses. If your system includes air quality equipment or media filters from these manufacturers, our techs already know the components and can clean and service them correctly the first visit. We don’t invent performance claims beyond what the manufacturers specify, and we won’t sell you a component your system doesn’t need.
Common Air Duct Cleaning Problems We See in San Francisco Homes
- Condensation-driven mold in fog-belt ducts. Homes in the outer Sunset and outer Richmond sit in the marine layer corridor where relative humidity inside ductwork stays elevated for weeks, even without a plumbing leak. Mold inspection is a standard part of every clean here because spore growth is a routine finding, not an anomaly.
- Wet debris in Sunset Special under-floor ducts. The 1930s-1950s stucco homes in the Sunset District typically have sheet-metal ducts installed under the slab or in the crawl space without vapor barriers. The surrounding soil is often damp, so what we pull from these runs is visibly wet and sometimes carrying active mold. This is a signature condition we rarely see on jobs in Fremont or San Jose.
- Retrofitted duct runs that are hard or impossible to access. Victorians and Edwardians weren’t built for forced air. Ducts run through shallow wall chases and under-floor cavities, sometimes with no access panel at the far end. A flat-rate clean without pre-inspection often leaves one return or branch untouched because the crew can’t physically reach it. We pre-inspect and document access limitations before we quote.
- Asbestos-adjacent duct insulation in pre-1980 buildings. Homes built before 1980 in San Francisco frequently have asbestos-containing duct insulation or surrounding materials. We treat any suspected asbestos material as an asbestos-adjacent scope, meaning we don’t disturb it and we recommend testing before any work that might contact it.
Pricing for Air Duct Cleaning in San Francisco, CA
A typical residential air duct cleaning in San Francisco runs $450-$850 for a full system with ten to fifteen duct runs. Smaller condos and flats on a single floor fall at the lower end. Larger Victorians with complex retrofits, multiple plenums, or inaccessible runs run higher, often $850-$1,200. Commercial duct cleaning in San Francisco is quoted per job, but most small commercial spaces fall between $900 and $2,500 depending on duct length, ceiling height, and access constraints. We never quote a per-vent price or a teaser coupon. You get one written price for the whole system before work starts, and that’s the number on the invoice. Call (806) 606-6902 for a written estimate. It’s free, and there’s no obligation.
We Also Serve Cities Near San Francisco
Our crews regularly handle Air Duct Cleaning in San Francisco and the surrounding communities, including Daly City, South San Francisco, Alameda, and Berkeley. If you’re just outside the city limits, we’re likely already working in your neighborhood.
Serving San Francisco, CA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the San Francisco area and know this community well. Use the map below to see our service coverage - if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
FAQs - Air Duct Cleaning in San Francisco
Because the marine layer keeps relative humidity inside the ducts above 60% for long stretches, even with the system off. San Francisco’s mild climate means forced-air systems run infrequently, so ducts sit dormant for months, trapping moisture and organic debris. Mold doesn’t need air movement to grow; it needs moisture, and the fog provides that for free. In the outer Sunset and Richmond, we regularly see supply ducts stay above 70% relative humidity for weeks at a time without a single plumbing leak. That’s a geography problem, not a housekeeping problem. If you’re seeing dark staining around registers or a musty smell when the system kicks on, call (806) 606-6902 and we’ll inspect it. Written estimate before any work.
You should assume asbestos may be present and treat it as an asbestos-adjacent scope unless testing says otherwise. That’s our standard practice. Pre-1980 buildings in San Francisco frequently have asbestos-containing duct insulation or surrounding materials, and disturbing them during a clean is a real health risk. If testing hasn’t been done, we proceed without touching suspect materials and recommend testing before any work that could contact them. Call (806) 606-6902 and we’ll explain what’s involved and what it costs.
Because the under-floor sheet-metal ducts were installed directly on damp soil with no vapor barrier. In the 1930s-1950s stucco homes around 34th Avenue and Ortega and throughout the Sunset, the crawl space is often just a few inches of clearance over sand that holds moisture from the fog and the water table. The metal ducts sit in that moisture, condensation forms inside, and debris collects and stays wet. We see active mold in these runs on a majority of jobs. On a 1938 Sunset Special we cleaned near 34th and Ortega, the under-floor supply ducts were resting directly on damp sand, no vapor barrier, and the return trunk was pulling visible mold spores into a bedroom register. We removed the source with HEPA filtration and negative pressure, then camera inspection showed clean metal from plenum to boot. Because the crawl space had no moisture separation, we documented the condensation points and recommended duct sealing rather than fogging, which would have left the wet debris in place. Call (806) 606-6902 and we’ll tell you exactly what’s in your ducts before we quote.
Usually not, and in fog-belt homes it can make things worse. A sanitizing fog cannot penetrate wet biofilm, and the added humidity inside the ducts reactivates spore growth within a week. If the debris isn’t removed first, fogging just adds moisture to an already damp environment. What actually works is source removal with HEPA filtration and negative pressure, which pulls the organic material out, followed by addressing the moisture source, usually through duct sealing, vapor barrier repair, or crawl space ventilation. If a company is selling fogging without a photo record showing clean metal first, that’s an upsell, not a fix. Call (806) 606-6902 and we’ll show you the before photos and explain what your ducts actually need.
The fog doesn’t just sit in the ducts, it reaches the air handler cabinet and the blower motor housing, where condensation can form on metal surfaces during temperature swings. When the system finally runs after months of dormancy, the blower pushes that damp air through the house, and any microbial growth that formed in the cabinet gets distributed through the registers. That’s the musty smell you notice on the first warm day. We inspect the air handler and blower cabinet as part of every San Francisco duct clean, and we document what we find. Call (806) 606-6902 for a written estimate.
Written by Tomas Reyes, Owner at CleanRun Air Duct Cleaning, serving San Francisco since 2013.