Get your air duct system thoroughly cleaned
Professional, capable, reputable and reliable.
Fully Specialized in Air Duct Cleaning for 15 Years and Counting
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“Breathable made air duct cleaning simple. Easy estimates, smooth scheduling, and great communication. Juna and his team were professional, efficient, and respectful of our home. Will definitely call them again!”
Sheld C. - Oakland, CA.
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“Breathable handled our air duct cleaning flawlessly. Booking was easy, and the quote was spot on. Felipe and his team arrived on time, worked efficiently, and left our home spotless. I’ll be using them again!”
Emily R. – San Francisco, CA
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“Breathable did a fantastic job with our air duct cleaning—our second time using them. Great communication, on time, and left everything spotless. Juan walked us through the process and showed the results. Highly recommend!”
James L. – Berkeley, CA
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“Noa and team made air duct cleaning a breeze! They arrived within a week, on time, and got straight to work. Showed us photos of the dust (and even some Legos!) before thoroughly cleaning everything. I’ll be doing this yearly—breathing easy all winter!”
Sophia M. – Berkeley, CA
About Breathable
For 15 years, Breathable has specialized in professional duct cleaning for HVAC systems, including furnaces, heat pumps, and air handlers. Our team’s commitment to professionalism and thorough service has earned us a 5-star rating from over 1,200 clients on Yelp and the title of neighborhood favorite on NextDoor for the past three years. We maintain our reputation by focusing on key components of our service:
Specialized – Breathable is the only Bay Area-licensed mechanical contractor fully dedicated to air duct system cleaning & restoration. With 15 years of experience and over 20,000 systems cleaned, we’ve seen it all.
Extra Time & Care – Air duct cleaning isn’t a one-man job. Our dedicated crew of 2-3 technicians ensures a thorough, careful cleaning—no shortcuts, no corners cut.
Reputation Matters – We’ve built a strong track record on Yelp, Google, & Nextdoor and are trusted by many of the Bay Area’s largest HVAC service providers.
Understanding air duct cleaning
Homeowners and renters often find the air duct cleaning process confusing, especially with various companies offering different prices and opinions. To clarify, I’ll answer some key questions below.
What triggers our clients to get their air ducts cleaned?
Our clients choose to clean their heating, AC, or heat pump ducts for several reasons, including:
Moving into a new home
After a remodel
Expecting a newborn
Respiratory sensitivities (asthma, allergies)
Routine maintenance
Excessive dust
Post-rodent infestation or mold remediation
What are the most common air duct cleaning techniques?
The most common air duct cleaning techniques are referred to as negative pressure or a combination of negative pressure and agitation tools, such as spiral brushes and air whips, to scrub the surface of the ducts. The latter method (negative pressure plus scrubbing tools) is the most thorough and labor-intensive. The negative-pressure cleaning technique is the most popular since it requires a single operator. However, while this technique tends to be the most profitable for the operator due to lower labor costs, it produces sub-par results. Dust and debris tend to adhere to duct surfaces due to humidity and, unless scrubbed, will continue to do so regardless of the amount of negative pressure applied to the ducts.
Identifying thorough air duct cleaning services
To determine which air duct cleaning technique a company uses, you can follow these steps:
Ask about the team size and service duration: A thorough cleaning of an air duct system usually requires a team of 2-3 technicians and typically takes 2-4 hours for 1,000-2,000 square foot homes, 3-6 hours for 2,000-3,000 square foot homes, and 5-8 hours for larger homes. If an air duct cleaning company estimates the service to take less than the durations mentioned above or uses a smaller team, chances are that you won’t get your money’s worth.
Check their reviews on Yelp and other review outlets: Yelp can be a great tool for researching a company when used correctly. Make sure to read both positive and negative reviews. Note when their first review was posted (usually a good indicator of the business's true age), check if most reviews mention air duct cleaning rather than other services, and assess the business’s review velocity, meaning how many reviews they receive each year/month. A business with many reviews submitted in a short amount of time is likely to purchase those reviews. From our experience, perhaps one out of 20-50 clients actually leaves a positive review. It is unlikely that a business with three employees would receive 20 reviews in a single month, meaning they perform 400-1,000 projects a month.
What is the process of air duct cleaning?
A typical air duct system is comprised of return ducts, supply ducts, plenum (sheet metal boxes), an air handling unit (whether it’s your gas furnace or AC/heat pump fan-coil), boots, and registers, aka vent covers. The return duct is the duct that draws air from inside your home and into your furnace or AC fan and has the most significant impact on air quality as it's under constant negative pressure, which can invite unwelcome guests, such as dust and debris, into your HVAC system and your home. It is crucial that the return duct is thoroughly cleaned during an air duct cleaning service.
In order to effectively clean the return, the fan motor of your heater/AC, which moves the room temperature return air through the heating/cooling element, should usually be dismantled. Alternatively, an access hole should be created on the plenum that connects your return duct to the furnace. Once the fan motor is removed from the furnace/fan coil, other sections of the air handling equipment are accessible for cleaning.
The supply ducts, which deliver the cooled/warmed air into the different rooms in your home, are cleaned using mechanical brushes with vacuum attachments that are inserted into the vent openings in each room and snaked in as deep as possible toward the air handling equipment. This should happen on each and every vent/duct several times for effective cleaning.
The vent covers, furnace/air handler doors, and fan should be cleaned outside using air compression and brushes.
FAQ
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Breathable has been in business since 2010.
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Breathable provides services in most cities in Marin, Contra Costa, San Francisco, Alameda, San Mateo, and Santa Clara counties.
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Breathable also offers duct system repairs and adjustments, replacement of ducts, design and installation of air duct systems, whole-house air purification integration, and heat pump installations.
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Breathable is fully licensed, bonded, and insured. Our employees are insured (workers' compensation), and our CSLB number is 979977.
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Anywhere from 2 hours to an entire day, depending on the service type, house size, number of vents, etc. The typical 1,000-1,500 square foot home can take 2-4 hours, while a 5,000-7,000 square foot home may take a day.
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Our comprehensive process involves a larger team (typically three technicians) and additional equipment to prevent contamination in our clients' homes and achieve superior cleaning results. For instance, a typical 1,200 sq ft project would require 2-4 hours with our team of three, whereas most companies would finish within an hour using a single technician. This approach allows us to provide a more thorough cleaning.
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Breathable is a locally owned small business in the Bay Area. We have no plans to franchise at the moment.
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Both dryer vent cleaning and bathroom fan and vent cleaning are available as add-on services on the same day.
Our Cleaning Process
We'll remove all of your vent covers, AKA diffusers.
We'll deep-clean each duct with mechanical brushes, air compression, and high-velocity HEPA vacuums.
We'll clean and sanitize your air handling unit.
We'll test your system before leaving to make sure everything is working properly.
Fully specialized.
Cleaning air ducts safely and thoroughly requires specialized equipment and a coordinated, experienced, and dedicated team.
Thorough.
Air duct cleaning isn’t a one-person, one-hour job. What takes another vendor an hour to complete with a single technician, takes us several hours to complete, with a larger team, and more specialized air duct cleaning equipment. We're not slow – just thorough. Our goal is to maximize cleanliness, at minimal particle release, while keeping the integrity of your heating and air conditioning equipment.
We can clean sheet metal, aluminum, and plastic ducts.
Unlike most air duct cleaning vendors, Breathable can clean sheet metal, aluminum, and plastic (aka Wireflex) ducts due to our more specialized techniques and cleaning tools.
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Air Duct System Inspection
Inspect your air ducts for issues affecting energy efficiency, comfort, and air quality.
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Heat Pump Installation
Switch to a greener indoor comfort system with central air purification capabilities.
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Whole House Air Purification
Protect your home against wildfire smoke particles and other common indoor air pollutants.
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Air Duct System Replacement & Redesign
Breathable's low friction air duct systems are designed with comfort, air quality, and energy efficiency in mind.