Duct cleaning survey

Ever wondered if your ducting needed cleaning?

Are you having trouble getting a duct-cleaning job approved?

Do you think your ducting may be the reason for your poor indoor air quality?

Maintenance and facility managers are often faced with a brick wall when it comes to getting funding to alleviate these problems which may not be obvious to the layman but blatantly obvious to them. System efficiency and indoor air quality are issues that every facility manager must confront some time or another. They are issues that can become quite costly if they are not addressed early. The quality of the air and the efficiency of the HVAC system rely heavily on the state of the system which, in most cases, is out of sight within a ceiling plenum or under the floor.

Often referred to as 'The Hidden Menace,' air conditioning duct pollution is a common phenomenon. Over time ductwork builds up with dust, debris and other contaminants drawn in from the outside or from the ceiling plenum, filters become clogged and the systems efficiency declines with the resistance. The efficiency of the system has a direct correlation with the quality of the air within the building.

Occupants within a building where air is not properly distributed to all occupied areas or where there is inad­equate infusion of fresh air into the system, are likely to have indoor air pollution complaints. It finally takes an occupant complaint for management to investigate only to find what was known all along - that the HVAC system was dirty, not performing to specification and in need of attention.

Duct cleaning is a misleading term as it applies to a specific part of the HVAC network that needs to be cleaned. To yield positive results, total system cleaning, including all ductwork, fans, coils, and other components is required. Naturally if only a portion of the system is cleaned, the areas, which were not, will quickly re-contaminate the rest of the system. So what can Clean Air Management do to provide their client with the ammunition to warrant action when these concerns are raised? A duct cleaning survey.

Our duct cleaning survey includes the following:

• Meeting on site with the client and interested parties.
• A study of the as-built drawings and system layout giving us the locations to focus our investigation on.
• Inspection of outside air sources, air-handling unit, condensate trays, cooling coils, filters, dampers and diffus­ers.
• Inspection of ductwork by cutting viewing panels to enable photographs to be taken which will identify evidence of corrosion, debris, dilapidated equipment and polluted pathways.

The result will be a comprehensive report including photos that will give the client evidence and hopefully some leverage to instigate some form of action. Once the survey has been completed, our knowledge of the system is such that we can quote an accurate price for the cleaning activities suiting that particular situation.