Video: Furnace Filter Replacement


Most people know it's important to replace your furnace filters, but they don't know how often they should change them. To learn more, we're in Millbrae with Joe Frediani of AWC speaking on behalf of our Diamond Certified expert contributor Ron Frediani.

Your furnace filter should be replaced as often as needed. Some of them are washable, so just make sure you wash it as directed. Others are disposable. A lot of the disposable ones have a longevity of three months, so make sure you change that out after three months of running either your air conditioning or your heating. Just know when and how to replace that. If you don't know, then call an expert and get it replaced, and that will help on your indoor air quality.

To learn more from local top-rated companies, visit our Diamond Certified expert reports at experts.diamondcertified.org.


Video: Caution for Discount Duct Cleaning

 If you get a coupon in the mail for discounted Duct Cleaning Services, beware. It may not be the bargain it appears. To learn more, we're in mib with Joe Frediani of AWC, speaking on behalf of our Diamond certified expert contributor Ron Frediani. When hiring an air duct company, always be aware of the coupons that come in the mail or over the phone, where they claim that they'll clean all your air ducts for $50 or $75. Just make sure that you read the fine print and it's a reputable company. Do your research and make sure you're hiring someone that will be doing a good, thorough job. To learn more from local, top-rated companies, visit our Diamond certified expert reports at experts.diamondcertified.org.

Video: Dryer Vent Test

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If you're unsure whether your dryer is getting adequate ventilation, there's an easy way to test for this. To learn more, we're in Millbrae with Joe Frediani of AWC speaking on behalf of our Diamond Certified expert contributor Ron Frediani.
So 11 tips to checking to make sure your dryers functioning properly and and the dryer vent is getting the airflow that it needs. This you could oh If you have access to the outside of the dryer where events out of your house. A lot of times, it's on the side of a wall. Feel the air pressure; should feel like a blow dryer. If it doesn't feel very strong, then there's a chance that you could have a clog in your dryer vent, and that could be dangerous. It could be a fire hazard. Also, if if you get this cleaned, it'll help to speed up your drying process, so you won't have to dry your clothes for 22 loads; you do it in one load.
To learn more from local top-rated companies, visit our Diamond Certified expert reports at experts diamond certified org.
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Short video showcasing AWC, a Diamond Certified Company. Updated June 2026, AWC cleans air ducts, dryer vents, windows, and gutters for residential and commercial clients in San Mateo, Santa Clara, and San Francisco Counties.

AWC - Diamond Certified Company Story

AWC cleans air ducts, dryer vents, windows, and gutters for residential and commercial clients in San Mateo County and San Francisco. The family-owned a...

AWC - Diamond Certified Video Profile

 My name is Ron Frediani, owner of AWC and president of the company. This company was started in 1946 and originally was a janitorial and window cleaning company. I took over approximately 25 years ago, and I was always looking for another add-on that would be adequate to this company and that would keep everybody working all year long.

When we got into the air duct cleaning, it has been a great add-on, and we feel very proud of it because of what we do. For this, as we all know, dust is a lot of human scales. In an average house, you pick up about 45 pounds of dust a year.

We do air duct cleaning. We use the rotor brush system, which we feel is a very adequate and efficient way to clean your ducts. The machine goes down each vent, including the cold air return, and the brushes are big enough to go down each duct, and it vacuums and brushes as it goes.

When we come to your house, it's like having your family come and do work for you because we treat you as we would treat everybody in our family, and we want to give you the utmost respect. By doing that, our guys take all the time in the world, and our equipment is so efficient that when you're done with the duct, sometimes the ducts look like they're brand-new.

After you have your carpets cleaned, your floors redone, or construction done, you should call AWC and talk to Carol about making an appointment. Or you can also go to BayAreaAirDuctCleaning.com and put your name down, and we will contact you immediately or within the next 24 hours. 

 Um, yeah, so helpful expertise, uh, for us is we're on, we're on the job, uh, in the customer's home. Um, and we, if we see anything that we need to address with them, we will go ahead and talk to the customer about, uh, you know, what we know, our expertise on, on whatever it be. We do a lot of services.

So, uh, for example, for air ducts, um, a lot of times we'll notice, oh, this air duct, this certain duct is disconnected or, um, you know, we'll give them guidance on on their filters, how often they should replace their filters, um, how often they should clean their ducts.

Um, and other, other services, for example, would be like, uh, um, with gutter cleaning. Uh, sometimes their, their gutters aren't functioning properly. So, we want to address that with them. Let them know that, you know, you need to fix this, replace it, or whatever needs to be done.

Um, and if it's a service that we don't do, it's, it's good to be connected with Diamond Certified because we could just hand them a book and say, "Here, you know, these are all going to be reputable companies."

Okay. So, we hired about, probably, it was probably about 15 years ago that we hired a guy. He was going down the wrong path in life, really, and he lost custody of his children and, um, you know, he really turned his life around with us. He ended up getting back custody of his children. He got to see his kids grow up now.

Um, he's since, uh, since then he's left and started his own company doing the same thing. Um, he's just further down south from us, so he's not really a competitor, but, um, he is doing the same thing and we stay in touch with him. He'll refer us for people, we'll refer him to clients, um, and he, and so yeah, he's doing good.

I think it's a great success story for us because we basically got to see this guy grow.

 One of the things that we enjoy is the satisfaction of a job well done, especially when a customer gives us positive feedback. We get feedback all the time about the, about the air duct cleaning that people feel like their house feels more clean and people with allergies don't have as many allergy problems.

And window cleaning. People are always saying, "Oh my gosh, it looks like my windows aren't even there. They're so sparkling clean."

Another thing that we really like about our work is that we feel a lot of pride when a customer tells us about our crew and they compliment our employees all the time. They're always telling us how hardworking and friendly they are and how clean they are.

We also enjoy our office camaraderie because, after all, we're a mom and pop and son organization. So, we get to work together every day. And the person that I have in the office with me, Christy, she's like one of the family, even though she really isn't.

So, those are the things we believe. It's the size of our company. It's not too big. It's not too small. It's just right. We're big enough to have enough staff and crew members to take care of a job right away for people. And yet we're small enough to provide personalized service so that we are talking to the person from the beginning of the job to the end.

And they know that somebody here in the office or one of the staff members or one of the crew members knows what's going on and will take care of it. We answer the phone, not an outside answering service. And people don't have to wait on an automated phone thing to ask some questions. They get a real person every time they call.

And because we treat our clients as if they're family, the personalized service starts when we answer the phone for the first time and ends when we talk to them after the job is done. And we do our best to provide our best knowledge and professional care, still making sure it's a customized service experience with each individual customer in mind.

Well, my dad started this company in 1946 when I was born. In 1965, one of his workers fell off his horse and the horse fell on him and the union had nobody available. So, he said, "Hey, I need you."

And being very athletic at the time, climbing and all that stuff was no problem at all. So, I started as an apprentice window cleaner in San Francisco under Union Local 44, the window cleaners union. I worked there with my dad for seven years and then I was voted in as secretary treasurer of the union.

I did that for the next 17 years thereabouts and got to work with Kalosa and helped the safety laws be put together in 1974 and that was a great undertaking. I left the administration department in 1987 and then in 1990 I returned as a window cleaner.

By that time my dad had semi-retired and had very little work. But unfortunately, from 1987 through 1994 before he died, uh, he had heart failure. So my days off I did his work for him.

And, um, we decided in 1997 to rebuild, rebrand window cleaner, AWC window cleaning company. Approximately 20 years later, Joe came to work for us. Joe runs the company now, which I'm very happy for.

We went from a mom and pop one-man operation to eight techs, full-time office staff. And the best part of this whole operation is I get to go to work every day with my wife of 56 years and my son Joe. And as they say, life is good. 

AWC in Company Story

AWC - Diamond Certified Company Story - video transcript

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