Duct cleaning, any ideas?

LarryJM wrote:

westend wrote:

LarryJM wrote:

westend wrote:
I wonder how a leaf blower and a furnace filter to catch the debris would work?

I know you and a couple of others are actually trying to help and offer solutions, but I think if you found what I did and saw how flimsy and fragile this ducting might be I would again caution one NOT to attempt anything that might put undo stress on this ducting. I for one sure would not be trying to pressurize or attempt to use something like a leaf blower in fear of "blowing" any duct connections apart (I had a couple because of the long runs of close to 20' for one duct) or even blowing a hole in the ducting itself. I think the ducting might be paper thin because that provides better heat into the enclosed underbelly by simple radiation so it's now one of these "TWO SIDED SWORD" things where a singular purpose trumps all other considerations. In general if you have an enclosed underbelly with the ducting in there it's not generally easy to get access to major areas of the underbelly to inspect or fix things and you might only know you have created a big issue is when you are freezing on that first cold day 6 mo from now because something is now wrong with your hidden and fairly inaccessible heat system ducting.

Just due to the "NATURE OF THE BEAST" some of these RV systems are very atypical of what we think of based on our normal experiences and we need to be every mindful of that when we start "MUCKING" around with them.

Larry

Cautions noted.

If the duct that is normally used is that fragile, I'd pull it all and replace it. I know that's just me, though, and beyond what most would do.

Insulated duct would be my choice of replacement and if under floor heating is needed, I'd install separate registers.

That's definitely one way to go and I have considered using the insulated ducting, but after a lot of noodling I decided against it.
This decision was based on many factors such as I would have to add mods to replace the heat I might loose and I didn't know how to do that and not loose what I already had. I have mounted a remote temp sensor in my underbelly in the general location of all the main water lines and where they go across the trailer from side to side and there is a lot of general radiate heat that gets into the underbelly area just from the heat soaking of the floor in the trailer and when you use the furnace the temp shoots up really fast. Thus I decided to just put some extra insulation in the underbelly when I did my major upgrade to that portion of the trailer. Details can be found in THIS ALBUM. At some point if I ever have the opportunity I might install some of the insulated type ducting in the front portion of the longest duct run mainly to try and get better heat back to the furtherist register.

Larry

Yeah, the insulated ducts work well, especially the newer ones that have gotten away from corrugation.

I looked through your album and see that you did a beautiful job on the insulation and frame treatment. Kudos!

there are round duct like pictured above and rectangular hard duct (not so hard)…

Super soft sponge balls which compresses so small that it allows you to make a great duct cleaner out of them, or the nylon net kitchen scrubbies …

For the round duct vacuum a small foam ball with a string attached through the duct from one end to the other to be used as the draw string…

attach soft sponge ball to the string and pull the sponge through the duct (making sure string is long enough that the foam ball is attached to the middle and can be pulled back and forth or pulled back if something is binding it…
and vacuum whatever it pulls out… you may have to do this several times… this should work if the duct isn’t already damaged…

there are better, and good, round duct out there if you need to replace them…

the rectangular duct is easier to clean because it straight, but remember it isn’t much more than foil itself… don’t stick anything hard in them… use string the drew the cleaner back and forth and you should be ok…

westend wrote:

LarryJM wrote:

westend wrote:
I wonder how a leaf blower and a furnace filter to catch the debris would work?

I know you and a couple of others are actually trying to help and offer solutions, but I think if you found what I did and saw how flimsy and fragile this ducting might be I would again caution one NOT to attempt anything that might put undo stress on this ducting. I for one sure would not be trying to pressurize or attempt to use something like a leaf blower in fear of "blowing" any duct connections apart (I had a couple because of the long runs of close to 20' for one duct) or even blowing a hole in the ducting itself. I think the ducting might be paper thin because that provides better heat into the enclosed underbelly by simple radiation so it's now one of these "TWO SIDED SWORD" things where a singular purpose trumps all other considerations. In general if you have an enclosed underbelly with the ducting in there it's not generally easy to get access to major areas of the underbelly to inspect or fix things and you might only know you have created a big issue is when you are freezing on that first cold day 6 mo from now because something is now wrong with your hidden and fairly inaccessible heat system ducting.

Just due to the "NATURE OF THE BEAST" some of these RV systems are very atypical of what we think of based on our normal experiences and we need to be every mindful of that when we start "MUCKING" around with them.

Larry

Cautions noted.

If the duct that is normally used is that fragile, I'd pull it all and replace it. I know that's just me, though, and beyond what most would do.

Insulated duct would be my choice of replacement and if under floor heating is needed, I'd install separate registers.

That's definitely one way to go and I have considered using the insulated ducting, but after a lot of noodling I decided against it.
This decision was based on many factors such as I would have to add mods to replace the heat I might loose and I didn't know how to do that and not loose what I already had. I have mounted a remote temp sensor in my underbelly in the general location of all the main water lines and where they go across the trailer from side to side and there is a lot of general radiate heat that gets into the underbelly area just from the heat soaking of the floor in the trailer and when you use the furnace the temp shoots up really fast. Thus I decided to just put some extra insulation in the underbelly when I did my major upgrade to that portion of the trailer. Details can be found in THIS ALBUM. At some point if I ever have the opportunity I might install some of the insulated type ducting in the front portion of the longest duct run mainly to try and get better heat back to the furtherist register.

Larry

LarryJM wrote:

westend wrote:
I wonder how a leaf blower and a furnace filter to catch the debris would work?

I know you and a couple of others are actually trying to help and offer solutions, but I think if you found what I did and saw how flimsy and fragile this ducting might be I would again caution one NOT to attempt anything that might put undo stress on this ducting. I for one sure would not be trying to pressurize or attempt to use something like a leaf blower in fear of "blowing" any duct connections apart (I had a couple because of the long runs of close to 20' for one duct) or even blowing a hole in the ducting itself. I think the ducting might be paper thin because that provides better heat into the enclosed underbelly by simple radiation so it's now one of these "TWO SIDED SWORD" things where a singular purpose trumps all other considerations. In general if you have an enclosed underbelly with the ducting in there it's not generally easy to get access to major areas of the underbelly to inspect or fix things and you might only know you have created a big issue is when you are freezing on that first cold day 6 mo from now because something is now wrong with your hidden and fairly inaccessible heat system ducting.

Just due to the "NATURE OF THE BEAST" some of these RV systems are very atypical of what we think of based on our normal experiences and we need to be every mindful of that when we start "MUCKING" around with them.

Larry

Cautions noted.

If the duct that is normally used is that fragile, I'd pull it all and replace it. I know that's just me, though, and beyond what most would do.

Insulated duct would be my choice of replacement and if under floor heating is needed, I'd install separate registers.

jbres wrote:
ditto on the air compressor on one end, and shop vac on the other end....

The reason I suggested compressed air and vacuum is because that is exactly what a professional service uses.

I bought an old house and did some major rehab on it. I hired a professional duct cleaning service to clean the ducts. They arrived with a huge truck mounted vacuum which they attached at the furnace. They then went around and hit each opening with compressed air.

westend wrote:
I wonder how a leaf blower and a furnace filter to catch the debris would work?

I know you and a couple of others are actually trying to help and offer solutions, but I think if you found what I did and saw how flimsy and fragile this ducting might be I would again caution one NOT to attempt anything that might put undo stress on this ducting. I for one sure would not be trying to pressurize or attempt to use something like a leaf blower in fear of "blowing" any duct connections apart (I had a couple because of the long runs of close to 20' for one duct) or even blowing a hole in the ducting itself. I think the ducting might be paper thin because that provides better heat into the enclosed underbelly by simple radiation so it's now one of these "TWO SIDED SWORD" things where a singular purpose trumps all other considerations. In general if you have an enclosed underbelly with the ducting in there it's not generally easy to get access to major areas of the underbelly to inspect or fix things and you might only know you have created a big issue is when you are freezing on that first cold day 6 mo from now because something is now wrong with your hidden and fairly inaccessible heat system ducting.

Just due to the "NATURE OF THE BEAST" some of these RV systems are very atypical of what we think of based on our normal experiences and we need to be every mindful of that when we start "MUCKING" around with them.

Larry

I wonder how a leaf blower and a furnace filter to catch the debris would work?

ditto on the air compressor on one end, and shop vac on the other end. Works very well as I cleaned my entire duct work this way. After killing a mouse in my trailer and knowing he was living in my ducts, I had to find a way to get the dropping out of the ducts.

You could use a dryer vent cleaning kit.

Compressed air at one end and a powerful vacuum at the other.