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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Before
AfterFull System Cleaning in Northbrook, IL
Full system cleaning is a complete, documented cleaning of every component your forced-air system touches: supply and return duct runs, the main trunk lines, both plenums, the air handler cabinet, the blower wheel, and every register grille in the house. A full system cleaning in Northbrook typically runs $380 to $720 depending on system size, and most jobs are completed in three to five hours with no follow-up visit needed. If you’d like a written price before anyone sets foot in your home, call (224) 351-9772 – that number reaches a live person, any time.
Most duct cleaning companies clean the ducts. What they skip is everything else: the blower wheel that throws air through your home, the evaporator coil housing that air passes over, the plenum box that distributes flow to every room. Cleaning the runs while leaving those components fouled is like washing the hallways and ignoring the kitchen. Our Air Duct Cleaning in Northbrook service is where this work lives, and full system cleaning is the most thorough level we offer.
CleanRun Air Duct Cleaning services has been photographing the inside of duct runs before and after every job since 2013. Over 52,000 homes served, and the photo record has been standard on every single one. You don’t have to take our word for what we found or what we cleaned – the images are part of your job deliverable.
When You Need Full System Cleaning
Not every Northbrook home needs Residential Duct Cleaning on the same schedule. These are the situations where a partial cleaning or a filter swap doesn’t come close to being enough:
- You’ve been in the house five or more years and never had it cleaned. In Northbrook’s cold winters, forced-air systems run hard from October through April. Five years of continuous cycling means debris accumulation at every elbow, register boot, and blower housing – not just light surface dust.
- You’re buying or selling a home built before 2005. Older construction in Northbrook’s established neighborhoods near Techny Road and Shermer Road often has galvanized steel ductwork with decades of settled particulate. A pre-sale cleaning with a documented photo record gives buyers something concrete and gives sellers a record they can show.
- Renovation work was done inside the house. Drywall dust, sawdust, and construction debris enter the return side of a duct system within hours of a project starting. We regularly pull cameras through systems after kitchen and bathroom remodels in Northbrook and find a full debris pack at the first elbow off the air handler.
- You’ve noticed airflow differences between rooms. If the bedrooms on the north side of your home run noticeably cooler in winter than the main floor, partial blockage in the supply runs or a fouled blower wheel – which reduces system static pressure – is a common culprit. A full system cleaning addresses both.
- Someone in the household has respiratory sensitivities or allergies. Northbrook sits in the Des Plaines River corridor, and spring pollen loads here are real. Ducts that carry biological debris – mold fragments, dust mite matter, pet dander – distribute those particles through every room on every heating and cooling cycle.
- Your system hasn’t run right since a rodent or pest issue. Pest intrusion through duct penetrations in the basement or crawl space is more common in Northbrook’s older housing stock than most homeowners expect. A camera inspection as part of full system cleaning confirms the scope and documents it in writing before any work is quoted.
Our Full System Cleaning Process
Every step below happens in sequence, and nothing gets skipped. You receive a before photo and an after photo for every duct run, every cabinet, and both plenums as a standard part of the job record.
- Written scope and upfront price – before any panels come off. Our technician walks the system with you, counts every supply and return run, notes system configuration, and hands you a written price. This is Haven Standard Clause 1. There is no category on our invoice called “we’ll see” – the number is fixed before work starts.
- Camera inspection of every accessible duct run. We run a cable camera through each supply and return run and photograph what’s there. In Northbrook homes with tight elbow configurations – common in split-level layouts built in the 1970s and 80s – we use a smaller-diameter camera head to reach full depth. These photos are your baseline record.
- Negative-pressure extraction setup. We attach a Nikro or Abatement Technologies collection unit to the main trunk and establish negative pressure across the system. Negative pressure means the airflow inside the duct work is pulling toward our collection unit rather than pushing debris into your living space. Register grilles are sealed at the face with temporary covers while each run is cleaned in sequence.
- Mechanical agitation of every duct run. Negative pressure alone doesn’t dislodge compacted debris at elbows and register boots – it only removes what’s already airborne. We use Rotobrush rotary brush equipment to agitate settled material and pull it into the negative-pressure collection stream. Each run is brushed the full accessible length.
- Air handler cabinet, blower wheel, and plenum cleaning. The supply plenum sits immediately above or adjacent to the air handler and is the first place conditioned air touches after the blower. It accumulates debris at a higher rate than any single duct run. We clean the cabinet interior, the blower wheel housing (fouled blower wheels reduce CFM output measurably – a clean wheel moves meaningfully more air at the same motor speed), and both plenum surfaces. If your system uses an Aprilaire or Honeywell media filter housing, we inspect and document its condition as part of this step.
- Post-cleaning camera verification and photo record delivery. Every run is re-imaged after cleaning. The before and after photos are organized by duct run and delivered to you as part of your standard job record – not on request, not for an extra charge, just included. This is the documented record that backs the 365-Day Done Right Promise: if something wasn’t cleaned to the standard shown in those photos, we come back and make it right, in writing.
BeforeAfterFull System Cleaning Pricing in Northbrook
Full system cleaning in Northbrook runs $380 to $720 for most residential forced-air systems. The range exists because homes vary – a two-story colonial off Waukegan Road with 18 Supply Duct Cleaning registers and two return drops is a different scope than a three-level townhouse near Village Green with a dual-zone system and 26 runs. Below is how the job breaks down:
| System Size / Configuration | Typical Price Range |
|---|---|
| Single-story, up to 10 supply runs | $380 – $470 |
| Two-story, 11-18 supply runs | $470 – $580 |
| Large home or dual-zone system, 19+ runs | $580 – $720 |
| Add: blower wheel detailed cleaning (if heavily fouled) | $45 – $90 |
| Add: evaporator coil housing cleaning | $60 – $110 |
These ranges reflect Northbrook market conditions in 2025-2026 for a full documented cleaning – camera inspection, mechanical agitation, negative-pressure extraction, photo record, and the 365-Day Done Right Promise included. Every price is written before any work begins. That’s not a policy we apply sometimes; it applies to every job, every time, under Haven Standard Clause 1.
If you already have a written estimate from another company, bring it. We put our number next to it in writing – no cost for the comparison, no obligation to book with us. That’s our Free Second Opinion, and it exists because the $79 coupon industry depends on you not knowing what a documented full system cleaning actually costs.
Call (224) 351-9772 for your written estimate. The price goes on paper before we touch anything.
FAQs – Full System Cleaning
How is full system cleaning different from standard duct cleaning?
Full system cleaning includes every component the air stream touches – duct runs, trunk lines, both plenums, the air handler cabinet, and the blower wheel. Standard duct cleaning, as most companies define it, covers the duct runs and sometimes the register grilles. The components that most affect air quality and system efficiency – the blower wheel and the supply plenum – are often not included in a basic service. When you book a full system cleaning with CleanRun, the scope is documented in writing before we start, so there’s no ambiguity about what’s covered. Call (224) 351-9772 and we’ll walk you through the scope line by line.
How long does full system cleaning take in a Northbrook home?
Most Northbrook homes require three to five hours for a complete full system cleaning. A single-story home with 10 supply runs typically finishes closer to three hours; a larger two-story or split-level with 20-plus runs and a dual-zone configuration runs closer to five. We don’t set a clock and leave – the job is done when every run has a verified after photo and the blower cabinet is clean. If something unexpected turns up during the camera inspection (a disconnected duct, significant mold growth, a crushed flex run), we stop, show you the photo, and revise the written price before continuing.
Do I need to do anything to prepare before the technician arrives?
Clear a two-foot path to every register grille and make sure the area around the air handler is accessible – that’s the main preparation. If the air handler is in a utility room with stored items in front of it, move those before the crew arrives. Our technician will need to access the system from both the air handler end and the register end for each run. In Northbrook homes with air handlers in finished basements, it helps to have the ceiling tile nearest the unit accessible if the ductwork runs through a drop ceiling. We handle everything else from the moment we walk in.
What does the 365-Day Done Right Promise actually cover?
The 365-Day Done Right Promise covers the work performed on your job for a full year from the service date. If any duct run we cleaned shows the same debris condition documented in your before photos within that window, we return and re-clean it at no charge. The promise is written on your job record – not referenced in a terms document buried somewhere online. It applies to every run photographed during your cleaning. The one thing it doesn’t cover is new contamination from an outside source: a pest intrusion that opens after we leave, a renovation project that starts after we close out, or a filter that goes unreplaced for a year and backs up into the system. Those scenarios require a new job and a new written price.
What You’ll Have When the Job Is Done
- A written price that was agreed before any work started – Haven Standard Clause 1, no exceptions.
- Camera photos of every duct run, before and after, organized by run number and delivered as a standard job record.
- A clean blower wheel and air handler cabinet, documented with the same before-and-after standard.
- The 365-Day Done Right Promise in writing on your job record.
- A technician who arrived in uniform, was identified by name before the appointment, and has been background-checked under Haven Standard Clause 3: Verified Crews.
We’ve served Northbrook homes since 2013, and the documentation standard has been the same on every job. The before photo exists so there’s no question about what was actually there. The after photo exists so there’s no question about what we actually did. Those two images, for every single run, are what separates a documented cleaning from vacuum noise.
Ready for a written price? Call (224) 351-9772. A live person answers every call, and your written estimate is ready before anything in your home gets touched.
Written by Tomas Reyes, Owner at CleanRun Air Duct Cleaning Northbrook, serving Northbrook.