by Nancy Gardiner
Northern News Services

NNSL (Aug 06/97) - Lost a pet in your duct work? Been the victim of a flood? Do you have allergies? Or do you just want to breathe clean air?

Arctic Dustbusters has changed owners, but it still responds to any of the above calls.

Normally, people just want their chimneys, furnaces or duct work cleaned. And there are other concerns such as hidden dust, pollen, insulation particles, dust mites, mould, bacterial viruses and other allergy stimulating substances.

Then Jacques Lafond swings into action, with his assistant, Krys McInnes.

Lafond became the new owner of Arctic Dustbusters on June 1. He's originally from St. Leonard, Que.

On the day Yellowknifer trailed him around, he was busy connecting his suction and pressure hoses from the back of his truck up to the semi-basement duct work system of a two-storey cedar home on Woolgar Ave.

The first thing he does is check the furnace. This one has already been cleaned, so today, it will just be duct work cleaning.

Once the hoses are connected together, he starts the suction, which inflates filter bags atop his truck and reminds one of a circus act.

The two dustbusters then grab their whiplike wire and wand, and start climbing stairs to the furthest duct from the entranceway, which happens to be the master bedroom. All the vents have now been closed.

"In the bedrooms, ducts are usually under the bed," explains Lafond, as he heaves the double bed over by himself to search for a duct. With no luck there he shoves a heavy dresser forward. Still no duct work. He searches an alcove and pulls out an exercise stepper. Nearby is the duct.

McInnes and Lafond grab their equipment and suction out the gook. They then take turns scouring the innards with a wire scrubber, dubbed "the scrubby."

On to the next bedroom, then the next, then the bathroom, then downstairs. There's about 10 ducts to do. Meanwhile the children of the household are reacting in different ways. The oldest is imbedded on a coach catching up on a soap opera wedding. The school grader follows the dustbusters around asking questions.

It's normally a two-hour process, but since the furnace was already done, it takes only one.

Once in the living room overlooking new construction and a tree growing out of the deck with a hole cut specifically for the tree, the pair sanitize more ducts.

Lafond pulls out a pair of wire frame sunglasses -- his own. They fell into the duct, which brings up the topic of newfound items in duct systems. They've found golf balls and sometimes pets perish in duct work. But they still haven't found rolls of cash, they joke.

"We usually work in summer. It's hard on the equipment in winter," says Lafond. "And we don't recommend it."

McInnes is originally from Inuvik and grew up there. He says the Dustbusters are planning a trip there real soon to do some work.

"Many of today's buildings are airtight to conserve energy and control heating costs," says Lafond. But often, sealed buildings can lead to health complaints. Cleaning air ducts helps eliminate airborne contaminants and can save up to 20 per cent on energy costs, he says.

Once the ducts are sanitized, the pair start disassembling the suction hose and take off for their next assignment.