DH and I bought a house that had been owned by a couple with multiple dogs and cats. The former owners were not very clean people. Before we moved in we had it cleaned thoroughly, including the ducts. My BIL is severely allergic to cats but never had a problem when visiting us. I felt like we got value for our dollar with the duct cleaning. Make sure you find someone with experience and references.

Do you keep up with changing your intake filter on your HVAC system? I change my filter every month and have noticed a difference in overall dust if I use that schedule plus use a quality filter. I also have several HEPA room filters.

Listening in. I think we need to get ours cleaned, too. We use a MERV filter that only needs to be changed twice per year. But we always used to change the old ones out monthly.

We just had a brand new furnace installed. We'd been using a pellet stove for years since the old furnace was so old and inefficient. We didn't have the ducts cleaned prior and even though we used the new AC and now we've been using the furnace, we're not seeing much dust. I think the filters must be the trick. I have no idea how old the ducting is in our house, I'd assume at least dating back to the mid-70's? We've never had it cleaned...now I'm wondering!

I am pretty good about changing the filters but I don't really notice a difference in dust. My furnace is old, maybe 20 years old.I am sure the ducts have never been cleaned ever and the house is 71 years old. I know for certain they have never been cleaned in the 44 years I have lived here.

My bedroom and the den just below it get the dustiest by far.

I had mine done once after I did a kitchen remodel and wood floor refinishing. An amazing amount of debris came out during the cleaning. Not sure if there was any real benefit or not but I kind of liked getting all the junk out of there.

My ducts were cleaned about 10 years ago, and when we had A/C put in, the installer said we did not need to clean them, but they had only been used for heating before, and we use very little heat - generally only Dec - Feb and even then we sometime switch back to A/C on the warmer winter days. We do change the air filters regularly, and in one year, they do not get all that dirty, but we change them anyway. At first we waited two years, and that seemed a bit too long.

We had a new furnace installed a few years ago and we have it serviced every fall by the installer. He was out last week and said we should look into having our ducts cleaned. He agreed that many are scammy and recommended the service they use. One of our cats sheds terribly and I said I bet it was full of cat fur. He said yes, he saw a lot of cat fur. So I'd call a furnace installer or repair service for recommendations.

I am due for my yearly furnace maintenance so I will ask them. Fortunately they do not provide this service so they won't be inclined to promote it. Thanks.

I had the ducts cleaned several years ago. I could see the dust buildup in the ducts before, and the cleaning really made a difference.

This house, before we bought it, had all the ducts removed and replaced with better quality and nice clean ducts. New heat and air also with a very good filtration system and the black light system. Which is really good since I have a lot of allergies. The previous owner had been a smoker so before we bought it they were required to do several ozone treatments to the house to get rid of any lingering smoke odor. This house is very good about not being dusty so I think the whole new system and filtration have really helped.

I had never had the ducts cleaned in a house before. Of course we did after the flood in our old house. I think if it's done by a good reputable company it could be beneficial. And have the duct work checked for leaks and make sure they are all sealed and taped well. Because if they are leaky and suck in the dirty attic dust it won't help much to clean them.

We were thinking we should do this years ago. Looking into it we came to the conclusion/advise if you take the grates off, put your vacuum hose down as far as you go and clean what you can you are doing as much as any "duct cleaner" does. That in itself is a tedious job. I would think a house cleaner could manage that once a year.

Unscrewing all the vents and replacing them sounds like a nightmare to me! Also my vacuum hose would not reach all the way down the upstairs vents. Wish I could DIY it! Best left to a pro, if I decide to do it.

Glad to hear it worked for you, Sueto. Thanks everyone.