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 Palo Alto
HVAC cleaning in Palo Alto homes typically costs $425-$780 for a full system when the job includes coil cleaning, blower cleaning, and documented before-and-after photos of every duct run. Most Palo Alto jobs take 4 to 7 hours depending on whether we’re working through a vented crawl space in Midtown or a sealed attic in Professorville. If you’re searching for HVAC Cleaning that actually shows you what was inside your ductwork, you’ve found the right page. Call (806) 606-6902 for a written price before any work starts.
Why CleanRun Air Duct Cleaning Is Palo Alto’s Preferred HVAC Cleaning Company
Palo Alto homeowners don’t ask us to take anything on faith. They want the written price first, the photo record after, and a company that knows the difference between a 1962 sheet-metal trunk line in Barron Park and a flex-duct retrofit in a 1980s South Palo Alto addition. That’s how we work. Every job starts with a written price under Haven Standard Clause 1, and every job ends with a documented photo record of the inside of every duct run, delivered as a standard part of the service.
Tomas Reyes, who leads CleanRun, built the company in 2013 on a simple observation: the duct cleaning industry had a credibility problem. $79 coupons, shop-vac noise, no documentation. So we do the opposite. The camera goes in before any cleaning starts. The photos come out after. You see what we saw, including anything left in place that doesn’t need work. That level of documentation matters even more in Palo Alto, where homes in Midtown and Barron Park carry decades of accumulated material in their vented crawl-space duct runs.
Our crews work across Palo Alto from Embarcadero Road down to Gunn High School and over to the Stanford Research Park side of El Camino. Dispatch and scheduling are coordinated from the brand’s San Francisco Bay Area office; crews serve Palo Alto locally. Every technician is background-checked, uniformed, and identified by name before arrival, per Haven Standard Clause 3.
Our HVAC Cleaning Services in Palo Alto
HVAC cleaning means more than vacuuming registers. In Palo Alto’s older housing stock, it means opening the air handler, pulling the blower, cleaning the evaporator coil, and checking every duct run with a camera before and after. Here’s what that looks like for the four sub-services Palo Alto homeowners request most.
Evaporator Coil Cleaning
In Palo Alto’s long dry season, the evaporator coil inside your air handler collects a film of dust, oak pollen, and wildfire ash that reduces cooling capacity and forces the blower to run longer. A typical evaporator coil cleaning in Palo Alto runs $180-$320 as part of a full system clean. Once it’s clean, the coil treatment we apply helps prevent the same film from re-forming before the next service window.
Blower Cleaning
The blower wheel is the part that moves air through your ducts, and in 1950s-60s ranch homes around Midtown and Barron Park, it’s often caked with years of particulate that settled there because nobody ever pulled it. Blower cleaning in Palo Alto typically adds $120-$200 to a full HVAC cleaning. A dirty blower doesn’t just move less air; it draws more power and wears the motor faster.
Condenser Cleaning
The outside condenser unit sits in Palo Alto’s dry summer air and unprotected oak canopy, collecting leaves, dust, and pollen on its fins. On homes along Oregon Expressway or near Foothill Expressway, we also see road dust and exhaust particulate. Condenser cleaning runs $110-$180 in Palo Alto. It’s a fast job, but it matters: restricted airflow across the coil raises system pressure and shortens compressor life.
Air Handler Cleaning
In Palo Alto homes with vented crawl spaces, the air handler often sits in the crawl space itself, pulling air from an environment with raised humidity and rodent activity. Air handler cleaning includes pulling the blower, cleaning the interior surfaces, checking the condensate drain, and treating the coil. Plan on $220-$380 for this service. We photograph the inside of the air handler before and after, same as every duct run.
What happens when you call
- 1
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 Palo Alto
We work on systems from every major manufacturer, and our equipment roster includes professional-grade tools from Rotobrush, Nikro, and Guardsman. When we pull a blower on a Carrier or a Trane in Old Palo Alto, we use negative-pressure extraction equipment that meets NADCA standards, not a shop vac. We also stock common replacement parts for the flex duct, mastic, and registers we encounter most often in Palo Alto’s older homes, which gets the sealing portion of the job done the same day.
Common HVAC Cleaning Problems We See in Palo Alto Homes
- Disconnected sheet-metal joints in crawl-space trunk lines. In 1950s-70s Midtown and Barron Park ranchers, the main trunk line runs through a vented crawl space, and the original slip-fit joints separate over time. Conditioned air leaks into the subfloor cavity, and the blower runs longer to compensate.
- Crushed flex duct at the plenum. We find this constantly in homes where the crawl space was used for storage or where a previous trade knocked a run loose. The camera shows it in the first five minutes of the inspection.
- Wildfire ash from the 2020 CZU Lightning Complex still inside duct runs. Palo Alto sits directly downwind of the Santa Cruz Mountains, and when fires ignited above the Peninsula, fine particulate smoke funneled into residential HVAC systems citywide. Brushing without negative pressure just re-aerosolizes that ash into the living space.
- Rodent nesting material in return runs. Vented crawl spaces in South Palo Alto and Barron Park provide easy access for rodents. We see nests blocking returns and contaminating the air path in a large share of older homes.
Pricing for HVAC Cleaning in Palo Alto, CA
A full HVAC cleaning in Palo Alto, including evaporator coil cleaning, blower cleaning, condenser cleaning, and air handler cleaning, ranges from $425 to $780. That’s the honest range for the market. Homes with vented crawl-space trunk lines in Midtown and Barron Park trend toward the higher end because access is tighter and the sealing work after cleaning takes extra time. Homes with sealed attics and newer flex duct trend lower.
What affects the price: system size, crawl-space access, the condition of flex duct, and whether sealing work is needed at the supply plenum or at mid-run joints. You’ll receive a written price before any work starts, every time, under Haven Standard Clause 1. If you have a written estimate from another company, we’ll put our number next to it in writing: free second opinion, no cost.
| HVAC Cleaning Service in Palo Alto | Typical Price Range |
|---|---|
| Full HVAC system cleaning | $425-$780 |
| Evaporator coil cleaning | $180-$320 |
| Blower cleaning | $120-$200 |
| Condenser cleaning | $110-$180 |
| Air handler cleaning | $220-$380 |
| Duct sealing after cleaning | $150-$450 |
Call (806) 606-6902 for an exact written price. Estimates are free, and the price we put in writing is the price you pay.
We Also Serve Cities Near Palo Alto
Our crews work throughout Palo Alto and the surrounding Peninsula. If you live in Menlo Park, Los Altos, Redwood City, or Mountain View, we serve those areas too, and you’ll get the same written price and documented photo record on every visit. Scheduling is handled through our Bay Area office; the crew that shows up knows the housing stock and duct systems of this region.
Serving Palo Alto, CA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Palo Alto 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 Palo Alto
In homes that have not had a full HVAC cleaning since August 2020, we commonly find a measurable layer of fine particulate ash in the supply trunk and on the evaporator coil. The amount varies by neighborhood and system age. Homes in Midtown and Barron Park with original 1950s-60s duct runs show more accumulation because those runs were not sealed against outside air. The fix is a full source removal under negative pressure, which captures the particulate rather than blowing it back into your living space. Call (806) 606-6902 for a written quote.
The original sheet-metal trunk lines were joined with slip-fit connections and sometimes held with sheet-metal screws and tape, not mastic. Fifty to seventy years of thermal expansion and contraction in a vented crawl space loosens those joints. Add rodent activity and occasional crawl-space moisture, and the joints separate. A camera inspection finds them immediately. We seal them with mastic as part of our standard cleaning, because without sealing, the disconnection just reopens within months.
Yes, and the effect is measurable. A dirty evaporator coil reduces heat transfer, which means the system runs longer to reach the thermostat setpoint. In a Palo Alto rancher with original ductwork that also has a few disconnected joints, the combination of a dirty coil and leaking ducts can extend runtime significantly. Coil cleaning typically pays for itself in restored cooling capacity within one season. The sealing work then prevents the conditioned air from leaking into the crawl space.
A cheap cleaning often means brushing registers with a vacuum at the return, but not inspecting the trunk line in the crawl space. Source removal means the system is placed under negative pressure while mechanical agitation loosens debris from the full length of each run, and the camera shows the before and after. For Palo Alto homes with vented crawl spaces and decades of accumulation, that difference is the reason the work lasts. Call (806) 606-6902 and we’ll put the scope in writing before we start.
Every 3 to 5 years, depending on whether the crawl space has a rodent problem and how much dry-season dust gets pulled through the return. We recommend a camera inspection after any major wildfire smoke event, regardless of schedule. After the 2020 CZU fires, many Palo Alto homeowners had the inspection done and were surprised by what the camera found even when their filters looked clean.
Written by Tomas Reyes, Owner at CleanRun Air Duct Cleaning, serving Palo Alto since 2013.
Ready for a Written Price and a Camera-Verified Cleaning?
Every Palo Alto HVAC cleaning we do comes with a written price before work starts, a documented photo record of every duct run, and the 365-Day Done Right Promise in writing. If you want to see what’s inside your ducts before deciding what needs to happen, call (806) 606-6902 today. We’ll schedule the inspection, put the price in writing, and show you the photos when we’re done.
HVAC Cleaning in Nearby Areas
