I only have one mini-split for a finished basement. Is it worth cleaning?

Yes, and single-head installs are often the dirtiest ones we see. A basement, sunroom or addition head tends to be the unit nobody thinks about, and a basement in particular runs in higher humidity than the rest of the house. One head is $250 including the outdoor unit.

My mini-splits are my main heat. Does that change how often they need cleaning?

Yes. A system carrying the heat as well as the cooling runs twelve months a year instead of three, which is roughly four times the hours through the same blower wheel. Those systems need cleaning sooner than a cooling-only install.

Why does my mini-split smell musty when it starts up?

That smell is almost always the blower wheel. It stays damp through the cooling season because that is where condensation forms. Dust sticks to it, the damp keeps it there, and mold grows on the wheel and down into the drain pan underneath. Nothing sprayed into the vents reaches the wheel - it has to come apart.

I rinse the filters myself. Is that enough?

It helps, but it does not reach the parts that hold mold. The blower wheel sits behind the coil and has to be removed to be washed. On the Franklin job pictured here the filters themselves were covered in mold, and the owner had been rinsing them.

How often does a mini-split need deep cleaning?

Every two years for most homes. Sooner with pets, if the system runs year-round for heat rather than only for cooling, or if there is a musty smell on start-up.

Mini Split Cleaning in Franklin, MA

The short answer

Extreme Mini-Split Cleaning does full-teardown mini-split and ductless heat pump cleaning in Franklin, Massachusetts. $250 for one indoor head and its outdoor unit, $85 for each additional unit, about an hour per head. Every job covers the blower wheel, evaporator coil, drain pan and condensate line, and you get before-and-after photos of every unit. Franklin homes run the full range — a single head in a finished basement or sunroom, or a multi-zone cold-climate system carrying the whole house. Call (978) 935-3198 or see full pricing.

Why Franklin Homes Run Ductless

Franklin's housing covers a lot of ground — older homes near the town center, postwar Capes and ranches, traditional Colonials, townhouses and condos, and newer subdivisions out toward the edges. What most of them have in common is how they were heated. Many were built with boilers and baseboard heat, or other systems with no central ductwork anywhere in the house. Adding air conditioning the conventional way means finding room for ducts that were never planned for.

So ductless became the practical answer, and it shows up here two different ways. Some homeowners put in a single mini-split for one space — a finished basement, an addition, a sunroom, a bedroom over the garage that was always too hot or too cold. Others go the other direction and install multi-zone cold-climate heat pumps throughout the house, running them as the primary heat or alongside an existing oil or gas system.

Both end up in the same place. Once a unit runs for summer cooling and winter heating, dust and buildup collect inside the blower wheel, the coil and the drain pan. Deep cleaning restores airflow, cuts the musty smell and keeps the system working the way it's supposed to through both seasons.

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A Recent Franklin Job

King Street

An LG Dual Inverter wall unit. The filters had been pulled and rinsed, but they were growing mold right through the mesh — and behind them the coil was dark and the blower wheel had gone grey across every vane. Full teardown: wheel pulled and washed, coil, drain pan and condensate line flushed, filters cleaned, outdoor unit rinsed, system tested before we left.

Dirty evaporator coil and drain pan inside an LG mini-split in Franklin, MA before cleaning — Before — coil, pan, and the filter below

The same LG evaporator coil clean after a deep cleaning in Franklin, MA — After — same coil, washed

Grey blower wheel removed from an LG mini-split in Franklin MA, every vane coated — The wheel out of the unit — every vane coated

The same blower wheel washed clean, back to its original color, Franklin MA — Same wheel, back to the color it left the factory

Mold growing through the filter mesh of a mini-split in Franklin, MA — Mold growing through the filter mesh itself

LG mini-split head opened on the wall of a Franklin MA home before cleaning — Opened up — the head stays on the wall

Mini-split stripped down mid-cleaning in Franklin MA with the moldy filter removed — Stripped down — everything washed, not wiped

LG Dual Inverter mini-split clean and back together on the wall in Franklin, MA — Back together and tested

What a Deep Clean Includes

Full teardown of each indoor head — blower wheel, evaporator coil, drain pan and condensate line cleaned properly, not wiped. Outdoor unit rinsed. Filters inspected and cleaned or replaced. System tested before we leave, and you get photographs of every unit before and after.

The head stays on the wall. We bib the unit, drop-cloth everything underneath and run the wash water into a bucket — so what comes off your system ends up there and not on your wall or your floor.

Questions We Get in Franklin

I only have one mini-split. Is it worth cleaning?

Yes, and the single-head installs are often the dirtiest ones we see. A basement, sunroom or addition head is usually the unit nobody thinks about — and a finished basement runs in higher humidity than the rest of the house, which is exactly what the blower wheel needs to go bad. One head with its outdoor unit is $250.

I rinse the filters myself. Isn't that enough?

It helps, and it's more than most people do. But look at the third photo above — that filter is from this job, and the mold is growing through the mesh itself. Filters are the part you can reach. The blower wheel sits behind the coil and has to come out of the unit to be washed, and that's where the smell lives.

My mini-splits are my main heat. Does that change anything?

Yes. A system carrying the heat as well as the cooling runs twelve months a year instead of three — roughly four times the hours through the same wheel. If your cold-climate heat pumps are doing the work and the oil or gas system is just backup, you're on the shorter cleaning interval whether you realized it or not.

Will you make a mess in my house?

No. We bib the unit, drop-cloth everything underneath and run the wash water down into a bucket. What comes off the unit goes in the bucket, not on your wall or your floor.

How much does it cost?

$250 for the first indoor head and its outdoor unit, $85 for each additional unit. Full pricing is here, or the calculator gives you a number in about thirty seconds.

Book a Cleaning in Franklin

Franklin and the surrounding towns — Bellingham, Wrentham, Norfolk, Medway, Millis, Milford, Walpole.

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