The summer season is here, and if you haven’t done so already, it’s time to turn off the heating, and turn on the cooling system. Whether you are a commercial facility, educational campus, healthcare, or industrial facility, making sure your HVAC system is clean is the best way to ensure you building is clean and healthy. One area that plays a huge part in spreading bacteria is the building’s ventilation system. However, in many commercial duct systems it isn’t as easy as just changing out a filter, the entire system has become full of pollutants and leads to unhealthy air being circulated even when the filter appears clean. The only way to completely remove these pollutants from the air you are breathing is through standardized commercial duct cleaning and the installation of UVC Light Disinfection systems.
A dirty ductwork is the perfect breeding ground for mites, mold, bacteria, viruses, and other poisons that are toxic to the environment. This is why duct clearing in commercial facilities is an important part of keeping an environment safe and healthy for everyone that enters through the doors. Cleaning your facility’s ductwork is the first step in removing any airborne contaminants and allergens out of the air they breathe.
The Division of Occupational Health and Safety (DOHS) recommends the following for prevention of air duct contamination.
Standardized Commercial Duct Cleaning
- Perform routine preventive maintenance on HVAC systems, by complying with manufacturer schedules for changing HVAC filters, cleaning coils, and other components.
- Ensure that air intakes are located away from contaminant sources.
- Routine inspections of ductwork. The National Air Duct Cleaning Association (NADCA)’s standard, “Assessment, Cleaning and Restoration of HVAC Systems-ACR 2013,” recommends that HVAC systems be visually inspected for cleanliness at regular intervals, depending on building use. For healthcare facilities, the standard recommends annual inspections of air handling units and supply/return ductwork.
Total duct systems cleaning from the point where the air enters the system to the point where it exits, includes the grilles and registers. This is great for removing airborne contaminants. Another way to help eliminate bacteria and other viruses from growing and spreading through your ventilation system is the installation of UVC Light Disinfection.
UVC Light Disinfection for Coils
UVC Light is a method that uses short-wavelength ultraviolet light to kill or inactivate microorganisms by destroying nucleic acids and disrupting their DNA, leaving them unable to perform vital cellular functions. UVC refers to ultraviolet light with wavelengths between 200 – 280 nanometers (nm).
Germicidal UVC is designed to save energy and maintenance costs associated with HVAC Systems. Mold (biofilm) on coils of only 0.002 can reduce efficiency by 37%. Ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) is the most effective and practical solution for industrial facilities.
In-duct UVGI systems are mounted inside AHUs or ventilation ductwork. When selected to produce appropriate irradiance levels, in-duct systems can be effective for air disinfection. An in-duct air disinfection system inactivates microbes suspended in the air (e.g., viable influenza viruses) as they move through the duct or AHU, so the organism is no longer capable of causing and spreading disease.
- Installed close to the coil can restore coil capacity
- Has the ability to return HVAC systems close to the original system
- Kills bacterial growth by shrinking biofilm on the coil
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 30% of all commercial buildings have significant IAQ problems, and ventilation systems are implicated in the spread of infection and pollutants.” Therefore, using UVC light in a facility’s duct system close to the coil can restore coil capacity, return the HVAC close to the original system, and kill bacterial growth by shrinking biofilm on the coil.
For more information about standardized commercial duct cleaning that works, call us at 888-845-3952
