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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AfterLennox Air Duct Cleaning in San Jose, CA | Hollis Air Duct Cleaning
Hollis Air Duct Cleaning - San Jose provides independent Lennox air duct and coil cleaning across the area, and the one thing that sets our work apart here is knowing what wildfire ash actually does to a Lennox system. The fine ash that settles into attics during fire season is coated in resinous compounds from burned chaparral and oak, and it fuses to evaporator coils and coats return plenums in a way standard vacuuming won’t remove. We’ve stripped and rebuilt duct systems behind Lennox air handlers and evaporator coils across San Jose for years, so we know how these units behave in real attics, not just on a spec sheet. Call (361) 326-5060 for a written quote before any work starts.
Why San Jose Residents Choose Us for Lennox Service
We’re not a manufacturer-authorized shop, and that’s the point. Every recommendation we make on a Lennox system comes from what we find inside your ductwork and at your coil, not from a corporate playbook. Roy Castellanos, our owner, came up through the sheet metal and air conditioning program at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College and spent years doing hands-on duct work before starting Hollis. He built this company on one standard: leave the system cleaner than we found it, no upsells, no guesswork.
We work on Lennox equipment in San Jose every week. That means we know the Merit Series air handlers, the Elite line, and the Dave Lennox Signature Collection from the inside. Our techs carry OEM Lennox replacement coils, gaskets, and plenum collars when the equipment warrants it, and quality aftermarket flex, mastic, and foil tape where code allows. You get a straight answer on whether to clean, seal, or replace before you spend a dollar on cleaning. Every job gets a written price up front and the 365-Day Done Right Promise in writing: if the work fails within a year, we come back at no charge, including a free second visit.
Common Lennox Air Duct Cleaning Problems We Solve in San Jose
- Resinous wildfire ash baked onto Lennox cased coils. San Jose homes in the eastern foothills and West San Jose hit by smoke from the SCU Lightning Complex and other fires end up with sticky, gray ash on their Lennox C33 and CH33 evaporator coils. Standard negative-air vacuuming doesn’t lift it. We manually brush the fins and apply a coil-safe chemical treatment to restore airflow and cooling performance.
- Original galvanized ducts pulling away from Lennox plenums. A lot of San Jose’s housing stock dates from the 1950s and 60s, especially the Eichler-style tract homes in West San Jose. Those original galvanized or early flex branch ducts pull away from the Lennox plenum collars over time, and every separation creates pressure loss that makes the blower run long and hot. We reseal those collars with mastic and replace failed runs where needed.
- Blower wheels clogged with lint and construction dust in downtown high-rises. Lennox Merit and Elite air handlers with PSC or constant-torque motors in downtown and North San Jose high-rises often recirculate lint and construction dust through shared return chases. That debris clogs the blower wheel and trips high-limit switches. We pull the blower, clean the wheel, and clear the return path before the system overheats.
- Rodent-chewed flex runs at the Lennox supply plenum joints. Homes in Alum Rock and Evergreen back up to open space, and rodents find their way into attics. Chewed flex duct at the supply plenum joint leaks conditioned air into the crawlspace and draws in soil dust and ash through every return cycle. We replace the damaged flex and seal the connection properly.
- Ash-loaded return plenums after fire season. After a major wildfire, the fine ash that settles in San Jose attics gets pulled into the return side of the system. That residue coats the inside of the return plenum and shortens filter life dramatically. We clean the return plenum and the return duct runs so your system isn’t recirculating smoke residue.
Lennox Service in San Jose: What Local Conditions Mean for Your Equipment
Here’s the thing about San Jose that doesn’t show up on a generic Lennox service page. The chaparral and oak that burn in the Santa Cruz Mountains and the Diablo Range produce ash loaded with resinous compounds, not the dry, powdery ash you’d get from a grass fire in the Central Valley. When that fine, tacky ash settles in a San Jose attic, it doesn’t just sit on surfaces. It gets drawn into the return plenum and bakes onto the aluminum fins of a Lennox evaporator coil during heating cycles. Once it’s baked on, a standard negative-air vacuum pass won’t remove it. The coil needs manual brushing and a coil-safe chemical treatment, and the return plenum needs to be wiped and sealed. This resin problem is specific to fire-affected markets around San Jose, and it means your duct and coil cleaning schedule has to be scoped around fire season, not just spring cleaning. We see it in Willow Glen and Alum Rock every time a smoke event passes through, and the older the ductwork, the more it acts as a reservoir for that residue.
We were called to a 1962 Eichler-style ranch in Willow Glen where the homeowner’s Lennox Elite EL16XC1 was short-cycling after the last smoke event. Our tech pulled the C33 coil and found fins packed with gray, tacky ash that had baked onto the metal. We manually brushed the coil, applied a coil-safe treatment, then sealed the failed plenum collar with mastic and replaced a rodent-chewed flex run off the supply trunk. The homeowner told us the house finally smelled like nothing again, and the Lennox cycled normally the same afternoon.
Lennox Models & Products We Service in San Jose
We service the full residential Lennox line in San Jose. That includes the Merit Series like the ML14XC1 and ML17XC1, the Elite Series including the EL16XC1 and EL18XCV, and the Dave Lennox Signature Collection with the SL18XC1 and SLP98V. We also still work on older Lennox Complete Heat units and the G50 and G60 furnaces that show up in 1980s San Jose homes. When we open a system, we use OEM Lennox replacement coils, gaskets, and plenum collars if the equipment still warrants it. Where code allows, we use quality aftermarket flex, mastic, and foil tape. If your Lennox coil is pitted or the heat exchanger is cracked, we tell you that duct cleaning alone won’t fix it. You get the honest repair-or-replace call before you spend money on cleaning. That’s our approach whether you’re in a Willow Glen rancher or a North San Jose townhome.
Lennox Service Pricing in San Jose
Duct cleaning for a typical San Jose home with a Lennox system runs between $450 and $900, depending on the number of returns, the duct configuration, and whether the evaporator coil needs the full manual-brush and chemical treatment we described above. Evaporator coil cleaning for a Lennox unit in a San Jose attic adds roughly $175 to $325. Duct sealing with mastic and foil tape on a typical single-system home here runs $300 to $700. Before we do anything, we walk the system and put a written price in your hand. That number does not move at the door. Call (361) 326-5060 and we’ll schedule a walkthrough and give you a firm quote.
Serving San Jose, CA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the San Jose 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 – Lennox Air Duct Cleaning in San Jose
Yes, it really does, and San Jose’s specific vegetation makes it worse than in other markets. The chaparral and oak in the Santa Cruz Mountains and Diablo Range produce ash with resinous compounds that are sticky and fine enough to pass through a standard filter. Once that ash settles in the attic, your Lennox system’s return side pulls it into the plenum and across the evaporator coil. If you’re in the eastern foothills like Evergreen or Alum Rock, or in an older West San Jose home with original ductwork, you’ll see the evidence on the coil and inside the return plenum. It’s not marketing. It’s physics. Call (361) 326-5060 if you want us to open your system and show you what’s inside.
In San Jose, we recommend scoping your cleaning schedule around fire season, not the calendar. A home in Willow Glen or Alum Rock that gets hit by a major smoke event should have the coil and return plenum inspected within a few months of that event, even if the last full cleaning was only a year prior. Homes in San Jose that don’t get direct smoke exposure can typically go three to five years between full duct cleanings, but the coil should be checked every two years. Compare that to a coastal market where smoke events are rare. The ash load is the variable, and it changes your schedule. Give us a call at (361) 326-5060 and we’ll tell you what your system actually needs after looking at it.
In most San Jose attics, yes. We can access the cased coil through the service panel on the ML14XC1’s air handler without removing the entire unit. We pull the panel, brush the coil fins by hand to break up the baked ash and debris, apply a coil-safe chemical treatment, and rinse it in line with manufacturer guidance. If the coil is in an especially tight attic or the plenum needs collar work, the job gets more involved, but the air handler itself stays in place. Call (361) 326-5060 for a quote on your specific setup.
Expect to hear about separations at the plenum collars. Those original galvanized ducts in San Jose’s Eichler-era tract homes were installed decades before your Lennox furnace was, and the metal has expanded and contracted through enough seasons to work loose. When a collar separates, your blower pushes conditioned air into the attic instead of the living space. We’ll inspect every collar, reseal with mastic where the fit is still good, and replace sections where the metal is too far gone. The furnace itself is likely fine. It’s the connection points that fail. Call (361) 326-5060 to schedule an inspection.
We do, with some coordination. Downtown and North San Jose high-rises with shared return chases and building management-run HVAC require access approval before we can clean the portions of the system that run through common areas. The portion inside your unit – the supply registers, the return in your unit, the fan coil if you have one – we can typically service directly. For the shared return chase and central air handler, we coordinate with building management or the HOA. We’ve done enough of these to know the drill. Call (361) 326-5060 and we’ll walk you through what your building allows.
Service Areas Near San Jose
We service San Jose and the surrounding communities. If you’re outside the city, see our San Jose service area page for the full coverage map. For Lennox work in other Hollis markets, check our Lennox service in Columbus and Lennox service in San Francisco pages. You can also see our broader Lennox sales & service overview.
Book Your Lennox Service in San Jose Today
If your Lennox system has been through a San Jose smoke event, or if the ducts haven’t been opened in years, call us at (361) 326-5060. We’ll put a written price in your hand, do the work by the book, and stand behind it for a full year. Clean ducts, straight answers – that’s the whole job.
Written by Roy Castellanos, Owner at Hollis Air Duct Cleaning, serving San Jose and the surrounding communities since 2004.