Whole-home duct cleaning
Dryer vent cleaning
Camera inspection
Sanitizing & deodorizingWhole-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.
Fast, Reliable Air Duct Cleaning Across Pasadena
Air duct cleaning in Pasadena means dealing with a housing stock most other Southern California cities simply don’t have. We’re talking Craftsman bungalows from the 1910s, Spanish Colonial Revivals from the 1920s, and ranch homes from the 1960s, each with their own ductwork quirks and failure points. Onyx Duct Cleaning has been serving Pasadena homeowners since 2013, and we’ve learned exactly what these systems hide. If your home still runs on original sheet-metal ducts or unlined wall-cavity returns, a standard truck-mounted vacuum won’t get it clean. Call (833) 589-9715 and we’ll show you what’s actually in there. We answer 24/7. Fast dispatch from 7am to 7pm, Sunday through Friday.
Why Pasadena Homeowners Call Onyx Duct Cleaning for Air Duct Cleaning
Most duct cleaning companies roll into Pasadena with a shop vac and a per-vent price sheet. That approach falls apart the moment a technician encounters a 1920s home in Bungalow Heaven where the return air travels through the wall cavity itself. Our air duct cleaning team runs Rotobrush contact-cleaning systems and Nikro HEPA vacuum equipment, the same platforms restoration and abatement crews use when contamination matters. We don’t agitate the dust and call it done. We pull it out, contain it, and check whether the duct system itself is the problem. Stan Merrick built this company around that distinction after spending years watching low-bid crews skip the actual source removal.
Pasadena homeowners call us because we can name the problem before we even arrive. Original redwood floor registers. Gravity-furnace remnants. Crushed galvanized branches behind 1960s kitchen walls. When you call, you’re not getting a franchise crew that’s never worked a pre-war home. You’re getting a specialist who knows exactly what your neighborhood’s houses tend to hide.
Styles & brands we work with
- Whole-home duct cleaning
- Dryer vent cleaning
- Camera inspection
- Sanitizing & deodorizing
Residential Air Duct Cleaning in Pasadena
Residential Air Duct Cleaning in Pasadena starts with understanding the era of your home, because that determines what cleaning even means. A sealed infill townhouse near Old Town has modern ductwork that responds well to standard source removal. A 1923 bungalow off North Marengo does not. Those homes often have unlined wall chases doing the work of returns, and those cavities hold decades of soot from old gravity furnaces plus wildfire ash that Santa Ana winds pushed in from the San Gabriel foothills. A typical full-system residential cleaning in Pasadena runs $450 to $900 depending on home size and duct condition. Historic homes needing hand-cleaning of wall cavities land on the higher end. The written estimate sets the final price.
Historic District Homes
In Bungalow Heaven and the landmark districts, we hand-clean what machines can’t reach. Original redwood or fir registers come off carefully, because they’re irreplaceable. Unlined wall cavities get hand-wrapped and HEPA-vacuumed before we seal the chase. That sealing step is what actually fixes the problem. A quick vacuum-and-blowout leaves the cavity pulling dust from the framing itself.
Mid-Century and Ranch Homes
East Pasadena’s 1960s and 70s ranch homes present a different problem. Flexible duct from that era sags, tears, and disconnects. A standard cleaning never sees it because the camera never goes that far. We find crushed runs and disconnected branches constantly, and we repair them rather than vacuum around them.
Commercial Air Duct Cleaning in Pasadena
Commercial Air Duct Cleaning in Pasadena covers everything from small medical offices near Huntington Hospital to restaurant kitchens and retail spaces along Colorado Boulevard. These systems run longer hours and pull more particulate than residential units. They also fall under stricter expectations from tenants, employees, and in some cases inspectors. A typical commercial duct cleaning in Pasadena runs $900 to $2,400, depending on square footage, number of rooftop units, and access constraints. Restaurant systems with grease-laden returns run higher. Every commercial quote includes a written scope of work before we start, so the building owner knows exactly what’s included.
Office and Medical Spaces
We schedule commercial work around your hours, not ours. That means early mornings or Sundays, when patient rooms and offices are empty. The Nikro HEPA systems run at 0.3-micron filtration, so what we extract stays contained. No recirculation into occupied space.
Restaurant and Retail
Restaurant ductwork in Pasadena’s older commercial buildings often shares wall chases with neighboring tenants. We document before and after with camera inspection, so there’s no question about whether the work was done. For property managers, that documentation simplifies tenant disputes and lease turnover.
Trusted Brands We Service in Pasadena
We work across Honeywell and Aprilaire filtration systems, which means our technicians understand how your air handler, filter cabinet, and ducts interact. If a Pasadena homeowner has an Aprilaire media filter upstream of a leaky return, we see it during the cleaning and we can address it. We stock common replacement components for these systems, so turnaround on repair work is faster than a company that has to order everything. The goal is one accountable specialist for the full pathway, not one company for the ducts and another for the filtration.
Common Air Duct Cleaning Problems We See in Pasadena Homes
- Unlined wall-cavity returns pulling dust from inside the walls. This is the signature Pasadena problem in pre-1940s homes. The framing itself becomes the filter, and the only real fix is sealing the chase, not just vacuuming it.
- Wildfire ash and Santa Ana particulate settled deep in return boots. Pasadena’s dry wind season pushes fine foothill ash into homes through every gap. It settles in the lowest points of the duct system and stays there until someone removes it.
- Crushed or disconnected flexible duct in east Pasadena ranch homes. 1960s and 70s flex duct fails quietly. Systems lose pressure, rooms never feel right, and the blower works harder than it should. A camera inspection finds it. A vacuum doesn’t.
- Original gravity-furnace remnants left in place. Many Bungalow Heaven homes still have abandoned floor registers and old transition boxes connected to nothing. They hold decades of soot and dead air, and they get missed by a standard cleaning unless the technician knows to look.
See the difference
Before
After
Before
After
Before
AfterPricing for Air Duct Cleaning in Pasadena, CA
Residential full-system cleaning in Pasadena typically runs $450 to $900. Homes in the historic districts that require hand-cleaning of wall cavities and register work fall between $700 and $900. Commercial work starts around $900 and scales with square footage and access. What changes the price? Access to the air handler, the number of returns, the condition of the duct material, and whether sealing or repair work is needed. We give one flat price per system before work starts. If we find damaged duct runs during the cleaning, we document it with camera images and quote the repair separately rather than surprising you on the invoice. Estimate is free. Call (833) 589-9715.
We Also Serve Cities Near Pasadena
Onyx Duct Cleaning covers the San Gabriel Valley and nearby areas, including Glendale, Burbank, Toluca Lake, and the NoHo Arts District. If you own a historic home or a mid-century property in any of these cities, the same equipment and process apply. We bring the Rotobrush and Nikro systems wherever the work is.
Serving Pasadena, CA – Our Local Coverage Area
We serve Pasadena and nearby communities. Use the map below to see the area we cover. If you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
FAQs About Air Duct Cleaning in Pasadena
Standard truck-mounted negative pressure stalls on unlined wall-cavity returns and original redwood floor registers. In a Bungalow Heaven Craftsman, the wall chase itself has been acting as the return for decades, collecting soot from the old gravity furnace and ash from foothill fires. Hand-wrapping and HEPA vacuuming those cavities gets the material out without damaging the historic fabric. Call (833) 589-9715 for an exact quote. Estimates are free.
It usually means a replacement section, not just more vacuuming. In a 1920s home, the galvanized branch behind a wall may have been crushed during a past remodel or simply failed at the seam after ninety years. Cameras find it. We replace the run so the system holds pressure again. That’s the difference between cleaning around a problem and fixing it. Call (833) 589-9715 for an exact quote. Estimates are free.
1960s and 70s ranch homes in east Pasadena have flexible duct that sags, tears, and disconnects, not the rigid galvanized and wall-chase systems of the historic districts. Source removal in these homes means running a camera down every branch, because the failure points are inside runs, not at the registers. Repair is frequent. The cleaning is the discovery process. Call (833) 589-9715 for an exact quote. Estimates are free.
Yes, but only if the cleaning actually removes what’s packed into the returns and boots rather than loosening it and letting the blower redistribute it. Our Nikro HEPA systems capture down to 0.3 microns, so the ash and fine dust stay contained. In Pasadena’s dry summers, HVAC systems run constantly and pull that fine particulate through every leak. Cleaning plus sealing the leaks addresses the load at the source. Call (833) 589-9715 for an exact quote. Estimates are free.
Yes. A 1920s short-cycling blower is often a symptom of a sealed-up or disconnected return, not a failing motor. We check the handler, the filter setup, and the blower during a standard cleaning. If we find something that needs a different specialist, we tell you directly rather than pretending cleaning alone solved it. Call (833) 589-9715 for an exact quote. Estimates are free.
Schedule Your Air Duct Cleaning in Pasadena
If your Pasadena home still breathes through original ductwork or unlined wall cavities, you already know the air doesn’t feel right. We’ll show you what’s in there. Call (833) 589-9715 for a free estimate. We answer 24/7. Fast dispatch from 7am to 7pm, Sunday through Friday. Stan Merrick and the Onyx crew will bring contractor-grade equipment and leave you with documentation of exactly what was found and what was fixed. No per-vent pricing, no bait-and-switch, no vacuum job pretending to be source removal.
Written by Stan Merrick, Owner at Onyx Duct Cleaning, serving Pasadena since 2013.