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.
Issues A Dirty Duct Can Cause?
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.
Less Efficient HVAC System
A major source of waste and money loss often happens in the ventilation system. When a building goes without regular HVAC duct cleaning services, the air ducts can build up with dust and other debris; which can cause the system to run less efficiently. In fact, according to the EPA, a buildup of just 0.42″ of dirt on a heating or cooling coil can result in a decrease of efficiency of 21%.
Dirty ductwork can load filters quickly and lead to more stress on the air handler and potentially higher energy costs. Blockages in reheat coils, mixing boxes, VAV boxes and other terminal boxes found in commercial HVAC systems can also restrict airflow. This can cause parts to break down and wear out faster. And the repair costs for commercial duct work can be costly, even just replacing parts of the system can cost thousands of dollars.
Sick Building Syndrome
The air movement inside is much lower compared to the air movement outside. This leaves a small percentage of fresh air being circulated through a facility. There are also many sources that can contribute to indoor air pollution such as printers and copiers, insulation, carpet, furniture made from pressed wood, cleaning chemicals, and dust from building occupants. In an industrial facility, pollution sources would also come from the machinery and the dust or debris created during the manufacturing process. Because the pollution is often held inside, it is constantly blown around through the facility’s HVAC system. This allows the ducts to become a breeding ground for dangerous pollutants mites, mold, bacteria and viruses. These toxins will grow inside of a dirty ductwork and can cause devastating harm to those with weakened immune systems.
Combustible Dust Explosion
Accumulated dust in the ductwork can pose as a fire hazard. Dust is flammable and a fire can start from a spark of energy, or an extremely hot surface. The more dust builds up there is, the more chances there are for a fire to happen.
You would think since the ducts are covered; they would be safe from an ignition source. But in fact, the flowing air actually causes potential ignition sources to be drawn into the ductwork. Sparks and embers can stay hot for a long time. And once sucked into the HVAC system, they can come into contact with dust, or a piece of metal traveling through the ductwork. This will create an ignition spark. The dust moving through the ventilation also creates a buildup of static electricity, which can have the potential to create an explosion. The pressure builds with the initial explosion, and the confinement forces the flames to travel down the ductwork, consuming the collected dust along the way. It acts much like the barrel of a gun or cannon, and builds up immense pressure until it hits something that blocks it, where it then exerts the pressure to force through the weakest point. This is where the explosion becomes dangerous to employees, because the force of these dust explosions can blow entire roofs off buildings, buckle concrete floors, or throw heavy machinery through a building.
Commercial HVAC Duct Cleaning
This is why routine HVAC duct clearing is an important part of keeping an environment clean and safe regardless of the industry. Cleaning your facility’s ductwork is the first step in removing any airborne contaminants and allergens out of the air they breathe. This will help to improve employee health and productivity within the work environment. Not to mention, A clean HVAC System helps to improve indoor air quality as well as help your company save money by running more efficiently. Lastly, making sure your facility’s commercial HVAC system is cleaned and free of any combustible dust accumulations is critical to the safety of your employees. Components of HVAC Duct Cleaning for Commercial Buildings Include:
- Supply & Return Ductwork
- Dedicated Exhaust Ductwork and Fans
- Air Handler Units
- Internally Lined Ductwork: Cleaning and Encapsulating (Sealing)
- Mold Remediation from all types of Ductworks
- VAV’s Reheat Coils, Mixing Boxes
- Filter Replacements
There are many benefits to performing regular commercial HVAC systems cleaning services, especially in an industry that produces a lot of dust. Here are several other reasons why your facility can benefit from commercial HVAC systems cleaning service:
- Help control fungal, bacterial and insect growth of contaminates
- Prevent fire hazards to make sure your systems run efficiently
- Prevent quality control issues with routine maintenance
- Prevent loss of energy required from most industrial facilities
- Removal of all debris, dirt, dust, or sludge that cause blockages or potential health concerns
Hughes Environmental
From infection control for duct cleaning in hospitals to OSHA confined space training and fall protection when working from lifts, Hughes Environmental’s technicians are experienced and trained to meet your facility’s safety requirements. We’ve performed hundreds of HVAC systems cleaning projects in all kinds of facilities. So, whether your building is a manufacturing facility, a university, school, hospital, or office building, we can help you breathe easier with commercial duct cleaning.
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