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.
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AfterFast, Reliable HVAC Cleaning Across Mission District
HVAC cleaning in Mission District means working around homes built before forced air existed. The ductwork here was retrofitted into Victorians and Edwardians, often through damp crawlspaces and wall cavities that were never designed to hold a duct run. That changes what cleaning involves, how long it takes, and what it costs. CleanRun has been documenting this work with before-and-after photos since 2013, and we bring that same written-price, photo-verified standard to every Mission District job. Call (806) 606-6902 for a written estimate before any panel comes off.
Why CleanRun Air Duct Cleaning Is Mission District’s Preferred HVAC Cleaning Company
The Mission’s housing stock isn’t like the rest of San Francisco. Victorian and Edwardian flats from roughly 1890 to 1915 dominate, with stucco apartment buildings from the 1920s through 1940s filling in the gaps. Almost none of these buildings had forced-air HVAC when they were built. Heating was added decades later, which means ducts were squeezed into spaces that were never part of the original plan. We know what that looks like from the inside because we photograph every run before and after we work on it. Mission District customers don’t take promises on faith. They get a written price under Haven Standard Clause 1 before work begins, and a documented photo record when the job is done.
The 365-Day Done Right Promise applies to every job in the Mission, in writing. If the work isn’t right, we make it right. That’s not a slogan. It’s printed on the job record. Tomas Reyes, who leads our crew, has seen enough retrofit ductwork in this neighborhood to know that a cleaning job often reveals sealing problems, crushed runs, and condensation damage that a standard shop-vac approach would miss. That’s why we run camera inspections as part of our standard documentation, not as an upsell.
Our HVAC Cleaning Services in Mission District
Our HVAC Cleaning team handles the full system, not just the visible registers. In Mission District homes, the components that need attention are usually the ones that have been hidden inside a closet, a crawlspace, or behind a lath-and-plaster wall for thirty years.
Evaporator Coil Cleaning
The evaporator coil sits inside the air handler and pulls heat and moisture out of the air. In Mission flats with retrofit systems, the coil often sits in an uninsulated closet near the back of the unit, where cool, damp night air from the bay side makes condensation worse than you’d see in a drier part of the city. A dirty coil from the Mission’s sooty air forces the system to work harder and can leave rooms feeling clammy even when the thermostat says it’s cool. We clean the coil with professional-grade equipment and photograph the before and after.
Blower Cleaning
The blower pushes conditioned air through the entire duct system. When it’s caked with dust from decades of use, airflow drops even if every duct is clean. We see this often in Mission District apartments where the air handler was installed in a hallway closet and never received the routine maintenance a newer system would get. Blower cleaning restores the airflow that the system was designed to deliver, and it’s one of the first things we check when a customer reports weak flow from a single register.
Condenser Cleaning
The condenser is the outdoor unit that releases heat. In the Mission, it’s often mounted on a roof deck, a light well, or a narrow side yard where dust, leaves, and the neighborhood’s characteristic fine soot from Mission Street traffic settle on the coils. A clogged condenser can’t reject heat efficiently, which drives up runtimes and shortens equipment life. Cleaning it properly means more than hosing it down. We use coil-safe cleaners and document the coil pressure drop where the system allows.
Air Handler Cleaning
The air handler is the box that houses the blower, the evaporator coil, and the filter. In Mission District retrofits, it’s often shoehorned into a space that was never designed for service access. Cleaning the air handler means taking the panels off, cleaning the interior surfaces, the drain pan, and the coil, and making sure condensate drains aren’t feeding moisture back into the ductwork. This is the component most likely to harbor the mold and mildew that produces that telltale musty smell in older Mission flats. We use HEPA filtration and negative pressure during this work to prevent the debris we remove from recirculating into the living space.
What happens when you call
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A real person answersNo phone trees - you reach a local pro.
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You get an upfront price rangeHonest numbers before anyone is dispatched.
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A background-checked tech heads outLicensed & insured, dispatched right away.
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You approve before work beginsNothing starts until you say go.
BeforeAfterTrusted Brands We Service in Mission District
Our crews work on equipment from Honeywell, Guardsman, and Rotobrush, along with most major residential brands found in Mission District homes. Because so much of the housing stock here relies on older, retrofitted equipment, we stock replacement filters, sealants, and common coil cleaning supplies that match what’s actually installed, which means less waiting when a job reveals a problem mid-clean. If your system uses an odd-sized filter or an obsolete drain pan, we can usually source the replacement same-day from our Bay Area supply network.
Common HVAC Cleaning Problems We See in Mission District Homes
The Mission’s building stock is older than almost any other neighborhood in San Francisco. That creates a specific set of failure modes we see repeatedly. Here’s what our camera inspections find in this neighborhood:
- Crushed flex duct in undersized wall voids. When forced air was added to a 1910 building, installers often ran flexible duct through wall cavities that were too narrow. Over time, that flex gets crushed by the building’s natural settling, starving whole rooms of airflow. We’ll document the restriction with a camera before cleaning so you know what you’re dealing with.
- Condensation mold in uninsulated crawlspace ducts. The Mission sits in San Francisco’s warmest microclimate, sheltered from the marine layer by Twin Peaks, but the cool night air still drops temperatures enough to create condensation inside ducts that run through unventilated subfloor spaces. That moisture feeds mold growth that standard cleaning won’t touch. Source removal with HEPA filtration and negative pressure is the standard here.
- Fine diesel soot from Mission Street and South Van Ness corridors. Buildings on the main transit and truck corridors accumulate a layer of fine carbon soot in duct intakes that’s noticeably worse than what we see on quieter streets like Valencia or Guerrero just one or two blocks west. The soot clogs registers faster and forces filters to choke out sooner than the manufacturer’s interval. If your unit faces Mission Street, you’ll likely need filter changes twice as often.
- Disconnected runs that have been dumping conditioned air into a crawlspace for decades. This is the big one. A joint that pulled apart in a damp subfloor means a good chunk of the air you’re paying to condition goes straight into a space nobody occupies. Our camera inspection finds these, and we’ll show you the photo before recommending a repair. The cleaning itself won’t fix a disconnected run, but the sealing work will.
Pricing for HVAC Cleaning in Mission District, CA
Whole-system HVAC cleaning in the Mission District typically runs $450 to $850 for a flat or small apartment, depending on the number of duct runs, access points, and whether the air handler is in a serviceable location. Larger Victorians with multiple units or unusually long runs can reach $1,100 to $1,500. Evaporator coil cleaning alone runs $180 to $320. Blower cleaning typically runs $150 to $250. Condenser cleaning is $120 to $200. Air handler cleaning averages $300 to $500 depending on whether the drain pan and condensate line need descaling. What affects the price most is access: if the air handler is in a crawlspace with 18 inches of clearance, the job takes longer and costs more, regardless of square footage. What does not affect the price is the quote itself. You get one written price before work starts, covering the entire system. No per-vent pricing, no bait-and-switch. Call (806) 606-6902 and we’ll send a written estimate. A free second opinion on any competitor’s written estimate is available. Bring it, and we’ll put our number next to it.
We Also Serve Cities Near Mission District
CleanRun’s HVAC cleaning crews serve the entire Bay Area and beyond, including Mission District neighbors in Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, and San Francisco. If you’re in a nearby city or managing a property across multiple neighborhoods, we can coordinate scheduling and written estimates for all of your units at once.
Serving Mission District, CA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Mission District 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 - HVAC Cleaning in Mission District
The smell almost always comes from moisture inside the ductwork itself, not from the filter. In Mission District buildings with ducts running through unventilated crawlspaces, cool night air causes condensation on the inside of the duct walls. That moisture feeds mold and mildew, and changing the filter does nothing to address it. The fix is source removal with HEPA filtration and negative pressure, plus sealing and insulating the affected runs so condensation doesn’t return. Call (806) 606-6902 for a documented inspection.
Yes, in most cases. Our camera inspection uses small access points that we create carefully, typically at the register or a nearby joint. We’ll document what we find before any cleaning begins, and we’ll patch and restore the access point when we’re done. In older Mission buildings where the duct runs behind lath-and-plaster, we’ll show you the before-and-after photos so you know exactly what was cleaned and what wasn’t.
That depends on the condition of your system. We recently cleaned a 1908 Edwardian flat near South Van Ness where the supply duct had been crushed behind a lath-and-plaster wall during a 1970s retrofit. Our camera inspection showed a 60% airflow restriction and a layer of fine carbon soot from the Muni bus corridor that was three times thicker than what we see on Valencia. That particular apartment was pulling dust from the duct runs every time the system cycled. After source removal with HEPA filtration and negative pressure, and resealing the accessible joints, the tenant’s allergies cleared within a week. If your system has never been cleaned and your register fins are caked with gray or black residue, a meaningful portion of your dust is likely coming from the ducts. We can tell you definitively with a camera inspection.
Weak airflow from one register usually points to a restricted duct run, not the air handler itself. In Mission homes, crushed flex duct or a disconnected joint is the more common culprit. But if the weak register is the furthest from the air handler, a dirty blower wheel can also be the cause. We’ll start with a camera inspection to trace the run. If the restriction is in the duct, cleaning and sealing fixes it. If it’s in the air handler, we’ll clean the blower and evaporator coil and document the airflow before and after. Either way, you get a written price before any work happens. Call (806) 606-6902 to schedule the inspection.
Most of the time, yes. Cleaning removes the debris. Sealing prevents the leaks and air loss that let debris and moisture back in. Mission Victorians have duct runs that were retrofitted through crawlspaces and wall cavities, and these runs develop gaps at the joints over time as the building settles. A cleaning without sealing leaves those gaps open, which means your system pulls unconditioned crawlspace air (and whatever’s in it) right back into the living space. We’ll show you the gaps on camera and give you a separate written price for sealing before any work happens. The cleaning and the sealing are quoted separately, so you know exactly what each one costs.
Ready to get a written price and a documented photo record? Call (806) 606-6902 and ask for Tomas. We’ll schedule the inspection, quote the whole system in writing, and show you the inside of your ducts before and after.
Written by Tomas Reyes, Owner at CleanRun Air Duct Cleaning, serving Mission District since 2013.