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 Los Gatos
HVAC cleaning in Los Gatos typically runs $450 – $850 for a complete system cleaning on a standard single-family home, depending on furnace size and how many returns your house has. That’s the honest range we quote before we ever touch a duct. We cover every Los Gatos neighborhood, from the Almond Grove to the Shannon Road hillsides, and our crews know exactly what pre-1970 ductwork looks like when it hasn’t been opened in decades. Call (737) 727-2314 and you’ll get one flat per-system price in writing before any work begins.
Why Cardinal Air Duct Cleaning Is Los Gatos’s Preferred HVAC Cleaning Company
Los Gatos homeowners have a specific problem: houses built before Nixon was president, with duct systems that have been patched, extended, and remodeled around for fifty-plus years. Most duct cleaners show up with a shop-vac and a per-vent price sheet. We don’t. Our HVAC Cleaning team runs Rotobrush rotary brush systems, Nikro HEPA-rated vacuums, and Abatement Technologies containment units, and we camera-inspect the trunks before we start so there are zero surprises on either side of the transaction. Omar Haddad leads the crews that work Los Gatos, and every technician who walks through your door is background-checked, uniformed, and named on your booking confirmation before they ring the bell.
What truly separates us in Los Gatos is the 365-Day Done Right Promise. If the work isn’t right within a full year, we come back and correct it at no charge. That’s not a limited warranty on select services. It applies to every job we book. We also hand you a written price before any work starts, and that number does not change at the door. Los Gatos homeowners who have been burned by bait-and-switch duct cleaning quotes tell us that’s the part they actually care about.
Furnace Duct Cleaning in Los Gatos
Furnace Duct Cleaning in Los Gatos means opening up the supply and return trunks, mechanically agitating the interior walls, and pulling the loosened debris out under negative pressure. Negative-pressure extraction means the dust and lint go straight into a HEPA-filtered vacuum, not back into your living room. In Los Gatos specifically, this matters more than in newer Bay Area developments, because many homes still have original galvanized sheet-metal trunks from the 1950s and 1960s with flex-tube branches added during remodels. Those junctions collect lint and fine particulate at rates a 1990s tract home simply doesn’t.
You need furnace duct cleaning when you see dust at the registers within days of dusting, when airflow to certain rooms drops noticeably, or when you’ve just finished a remodel. Drywall dust and construction debris love settling into return ducts. A full furnace duct cleaning in Los Gatos runs $350 – $600 for a single furnace system, depending on the number of returns and the length of trunk line we’re cleaning.
Camera Inspection First, Always
Before we agitate anything, we run a camera through your main trunks. On pre-1970 Los Gatos homes, that inspection regularly reveals collapsed flex runs, disconnected takeoffs, and lint dams at the air handler. We find it, document it, and fix it as part of the job where possible.
What Gets Cleaned During the Service
We clean the complete loop: return boots, supply registers, trunk lines, branch lines, the plenum, and the blower compartment. If your furnace sits in a crawlspace or basement, we seal and clean the return path there too. Los Gatos hillside homes with crawlspace furnaces tend to pull in more dust and rodent debris than slab-foundation houses.
AC Coil Cleaning in Los Gatos
AC Coil Cleaning in Los Gatos is not a luxury add-on. Your evaporator coil sits in the airstream and acts like a damp nickel-covered net for every particle that slips past the filter. In Los Gatos, where summer temperatures routinely push into the high 80s and low 90s in the flats, a dirty coil forces the compressor to run longer cycles, which shows up on your PG&E bill within months. A residential evaporator coil cleaning here runs $250 – $400 per system, and it’s typically done in the same visit as the duct work.
If you’ve noticed your AC blowing lukewarm air in August, or your system is freezing up on humid days, the coil is usually the first suspect. We chemically clean, rinse, and treat the coil surface to restore proper heat exchange. Full coil treatment with our Guardsman product line extends the window between cleanings.
Signs Your Coil Needs Attention
The two biggest tells we hear from Los Gatos homeowners: short cycling, where the unit kicks on and off every few minutes, and a noticeable temperature difference between supply and return registers. Both point to a coil working too hard for too little output.
Done Alongside Your Duct Cleaning
We recommend coil work whenever we’re already inside the air handler for duct cleaning. It costs less than a separate trip, and the results compound: clean ducts feeding clean coils equals a system that doesn’t have to fight its own airflow. Call (737) 727-2314 for a combined quote.
Common HVAC Cleaning Problems We See in Los Gatos Homes
- Mixed duct systems in pre-1970 homes. Original sheet-metal trunks with flex takeoffs added during remodels create junctions where debris collects fast. Camera inspection is the only way to see what’s really inside.
- Collapsed flex runs behind remodeled walls. We regularly find perforated or crushed flex tubing behind kitchen and bath remodels, where contractors didn’t reconnect the takeoffs properly.
- Crawlspace return air contamination. Hillside homes along Shannon Road and the eastern slopes often have crawlspace furnaces that pull dust, rodent nesting, and pest debris directly into the return path.
- Oversized furnace filter neglect. Many Los Gatos homes with older systems run 1-inch filters that get forgotten for a year. Fine dust bypasses the filter rack and coats the blower wheel and heat exchanger surfaces.
Pricing for HVAC Cleaning in Los Gatos, CA
Here’s a straight answer: a standard single-furnace duct cleaning on a Los Gatos home runs $450 – $850 for the full system. Add an evaporator coil cleaning, and you’re looking at $700 – $1,250 total. Larger homes with multiple returns, two furnaces, or dense hillside layouts run higher. We do not charge per vent. We quote one flat price per system, in writing, before any work begins. That price includes camera inspection, HEPA-filtered negative-pressure extraction, and before-and-after photographs of your own ducts and coils. Call (737) 727-2314 and get an exact number for your house.
We also serve the surrounding communities: HVAC Cleaning in Los Gatos extends to Saratoga, Campbell, Cupertino, and Santa Clara, so if you’re just outside the Los Gatos town limits, we’ve got you covered.
Serving Los Gatos, CA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Los Gatos 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 About HVAC Cleaning in Los Gatos
Every 3 to 5 years for most homes, but pre-1970 houses in neighborhoods like the Almond Grove or the Shannon Road hillsides with original ducts and remodel history may need it more often, especially after construction or pest activity. We won’t sell you an annual plan. We’ll tell you what your camera inspection shows and let you decide from there. Call (737) 727-2314 and we’ll give you an honest assessment.
One price per system. Per-vent pricing is how homeowners in Los Gatos get quoted $99 and then invoiced $1,200 once the crew is inside. We quote a flat per-system price in writing before we arrive, and it doesn’t change at the door.
We camera-inspect your trunk lines, then mechanically agitate the interior with a Rotobrush rotary brush while running the entire system under negative pressure with a Nikro HEPA-rated vacuum. Then we clean the blower compartment, registers, boots, and plenum. You receive before-and-after photos of your own ducts so you can see exactly what was removed. Call (737) 727-2314 for a detailed walkthrough of the process on your specific system.
Yes. The air handler is already open for the duct work, so coil access takes minutes, not hours. We quote both together at a lower combined price than booking them separately. Most Los Gatos homeowners choose the combined service once they see the coil under camera light.
No, we schedule service. We serve Los Gatos with booked appointments so our crews arrive with the right equipment and enough time to do the job properly. What we do offer is a live arrival window you can track, and a live person who answers the phone 24/7 when you call (737) 727-2314 to book.
Written by Omar Haddad, Owner at Cardinal Air Duct Cleaning, serving Los Gatos and the surrounding Bay Area through the Relay Home Co. family.