Does Your Business Require Air Supply Duct Cleaning Services?
How we can help you?
This is an essential part of ensuring that your staff are working in a clean & healthy environment. To Improve the quality of air being circulated around the building and help to reduce the number of working days lost due to bacteria being passed around from person to person through air supply system.
Critical areas of Air Supply Duct Cleaning
Health & safety requirements.
Help Reduce ‘Sick Building’ Syndrome.
Improve the air quality in the building.
Stop bacteria from growing in the system.
Help reduce the number of working days lost to illnesses caused by poor air quality.
Records should be kept showing when systems were inspected and cleaned.
How do we clean?
We ensure our Air Supply Duct Cleaning service is carried out to the correct standard.
Our Cleaning operatives will attend site to carry out the cleaning according to;
H.V.C.A – TR19 Standard.
Insurance Standards.
Health & Safety Regulations.
Site specific procedures.
And Take Before & After Digital Photographs.
Report any areas that cannot be accessed and the reasons why.
Position & Install Industry Standard Access Doors.
By hand – using degreasing chemicals.
Compressed Air – being forced through system and caught by an Industrial Vacuum.
Ventilation Grills will be sealed during the cleaning process and cleaned after.
The system will be sanitised at the end of the clean using a Fogging Unit. This sends a vapour into the duct which will sanitise the full system
On completion of work we will provide you with a comprehensive report including air readings, pre/post photographs as well as relevant certificate.
Contents
Introduction: Why Do We Need To Clean Air Supply?
Air ducting systems are essential for maintaining air quality in the hospitality, healthcare, education, and commercial sectors. They help remove stale air, dust, and pathogens from enclosed rooms, sustain a comfortable environment, regulate humidity, and promote a continuous cyclical flow of air – improving the health and well-being of all building users.
However, an air duct system that is not regularly cleaned can quickly become a health hazard, distributing harmful particles and allergens around your building. Furthermore, as filters become clogged and dust and dirt builds up in a ventilation system, it may not work as efficiently, placing fans and pumps under increased strain and at greater risk of failure.
The Covid 19 pandemic has shone a light on this problem by illustrating the role played by dirty air-conditioning systems and inadequate ventilation in spreading dangerous pathogens – and how professional deep cleaning of air supply systems can help counteract this risk.
Air duct cleaning, therefore, is an essential part of ventilation system maintenance, and brings a host of important benefits, including increased efficiency, fewer repairs, and a lower overall cost of ownership.
Continue reading to understand what air duct cleaning is, how often you should do it, what benefits you gain, and why you should consider Europa VCS when outsourcing your air duct cleaning requirements.
An air duct system comprises of inlet louvers to allow air in and exhaust air out, ductwork to aid the transport of the air, control dampers to regulate the air flow, CAV (Constant Air Volume Units) to produce an air supply that is uninterrupted, air terminals in the form of diffusers or grilles that direct supply or extract air, fan coils to control temperature, induction units that use outside air for ventilation, heating and cooling, attenuators or silences for noise reduction, VCDs (Volume Control Dampers) for calibrated air flow and temperature regulation, and smoke and fire dampers.
Additional air handling unit components include Air Handling Units (AHUs), fans, coils, filter racks, humidifiers, and dampers.
An air duct system may also include heat recovery mechanisms, thermal wheels, heat pipes and fixed plate heat exchangers.
This vast range of components allows you to choose an air duct system that allows for cleaning to the level that your business requires.
How Often Should You Clean Your Air Ducts?
Under current health and safety law, businesses must carry out air duct system cleaning depending on the use and occupancy level of a room or building in question. All commercial ventilation air supply systems require regular maintenance to ensure safety and efficiency, but the ideal frequency varies from system to system. Larger systems require more regular cleaning than smaller networks, and heavily used systems should also be maintained more regularly. Europa-VCS offer initial free inspections to determine the level of cleaning an air duct system requires. An inspection will qualify whether or not your air duct system needs cleaning fully or only in part. All businesses have different cleaning needs, and we take this into account at Europa-VCS. Upon inspection, we will explain what does and doesn’t need doing with your air duct system and how often, and create a plan to be put in place.
As a rough guide, buildings or workplaces deemed ‘low level’ need few cleanings, whilst those deemed ‘high level’ require cleaning more often.
An example of a low-level setting would be a storage room with intermediate occupancy, whilst an example of a high-level setting would be a busy laboratory.
We recommend a professional deep cleaning of your full air duct network at least every 3 to 5 years as standard, but there may be circumstances in which additional cleans are beneficial, such as:
- You notice a visible build-up of dust and grime around air vents and filters, or a lot of dust on desks, computer equipment, and shelves.
- Your ventilation/extraction equipment is unusually noisy or sounds laboured. This may be due to an equipment fault, but equally could be caused by dirty air ducts and an accumulation of dust around fans and motors.
- You notice odours in indoor spaces, or signs of damp, such as black mould, stains on carpets and walls, moisture on windowsills etc.
- Your extraction system is being used for the first time after an extended shutdown – e.g. you are reopening your office after lockdown, or preparing your school for the return of pupils after the summer holiday.
You notice an unusual level of sickness, allergies, and other health and performance issues among employees, or you receive complaints about low air quality– this could be due to pathogens spreading through the air duct network and is sometimes called the sick building syndrome.
Some low use residential air-conditioning systems – e.g. in care homes and student accommodation – may need deep cleaning less regularly, potentially every 6 to 8 years.
How Long Do Cleaning Services Take?
Again, the question of how long air duct cleaning takes depends on the size of the system and the level of work involved, but our engineers always arrive on site with the full equipment they need to carry out a fast and efficient job. Your appointment can be scheduled to fit your working patterns with minimal disruption, including evening or weekend appointments if required.
What Are The Benefits Of Regular Air Duct Cleaning?
Regular air duct cleaning brings a wide range of health benefits to your customers, employees, and visitors, and can help save you money and energy, too. Here are the main advantages of professional cleaning:
- Extends the life of your equipment: Air duct cleaning means your ventilation equipment doesn’t have to work as hard to extract dust and keep clean air flowing through your system, thereby extending the life of your equipment.
- Save money on energy: Accumulated dust not only reduces the efficiency of extraction equipment, but also impairs its energy efficiency, so you spend more on operating your system. Regular air duct cleaning improves your energy efficiency and your green profile and cuts your expenditure on electricity in the process.
- Better dust extraction capability: A clean air duct and ventilation system is better able to extract dust from rooms, lowering dust retention and reducing the need for cleaning and vacuuming.
- Reduced blowback: Clean air ducts are better able to sustain a continuous flow of clean air in and out of your extraction system, reducing blowback and keeping ‘stale’ air out of interior spaces.
- Consistent internal temperatures: Efficient air ducts help stabilise air pressure and temperatures within internal rooms, with fewer fluctuations. This makes your building more comfortable to use and to work in, and helps inhibit the spread of pathogens.
- Better control over damp: An efficient air duct system removes excess water vapour from the air – an important consideration when windows are closed – and helps prevent the build-up of damp in enclosed areas, especially in bathrooms and kitchens. This inhibits the growth of mould and prevents the development of damp stains and smells that can make your space unpleasant and unhealthy to use.
- Reduced fire risk: A heavily clogged air duct network is an inherent fire risk, with a strong danger of fires spreading throughout the building, using individual ducts as bridges between rooms. A clean air duct system contains far less flammable material and, if a fire does take place, the blaze will find it harder to jump between floors using clogged ducts and filters.
How Can Air Duct Cleaning Help Reduce The Risk Of COVID-19 Transmission?
The Covid 19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of fresh air and ventilation in reducing the transmission of the coronavirus, as well as a wide range of other infectious diseases. This includes the full catalogue of seasonal illnesses, flu, coughs, colds, and bugs that frequently sweep through offices and schools over winter.
As part of an enhanced ventilation strategy as people return to the workplace after lockdown, regular professional air duct cleaning can potentially reduce the risk of Covid 19 transmission. It does this in two ways:
1) An efficient and well cleaned air duct network continually refreshes the supply of air in interior spaces, removing viruses from the air and surfaces before they are given time to cause an infection. When air duct cleaning also includes the cleaning, decontamination, and periodic replacement of extraction filters, contaminated dust particles can be successfully captured by the filters, removing them from the air supply entirely. (Dirty and clogged filters are less efficient at doing this, with the risk that viruses and pathogens may be returned to the room or spread to a different floor of the building.)
2) Cleaning reduces the presence of live viruses within the air duct network and ventilation system itself, lowering the chance that your extraction system will inadvertently spread Covid 19 between rooms, or through blowback from clogged extraction machinery. The same principle applies to mould, allergens (e.g. pet hair and pollen), and bacteria, so that a clean air duct system helps prevent the spread of all airborne infectious diseases and allergies, resulting in a healthier working environment.
How To Choose A Good Air Duct Cleaning Company
There are plenty of duct cleaning businesses to choose from but, with the health of your employees and customers potentially at stake, it is important you choose a contractor with the skills and equipment to do a thorough job.
What should you look for in a good air duct cleaning company?
- A decent number of years in the business is a good sign.
- Businesses employing a comfortable number of full-time Field Technicians minimises the likelihood of last-minute delays or changes to the plan.
- Seek out a range of recent case studies, reviews, and testimonials from businesses in your sector, and use social media and comparison sites to get a feel for the company’s level of experience, customer service, and professional reputation.
- Check that the contractor has the appropriate accreditations and qualifications to guarantee compliance. For instance, at Europa VCS, our senior managers and all team leaders have up-to-date AEME training and NAADuk membership, and the company is Safe Contractor Accredited (TX3270).
- Ensure that the business has the correct licenses and insurance in place for your sector.
Feel free to request quotes from two or three providers if you are unsure, and benchmark these prices against averages for your type of business. A good provider will always strive to provide excellent value for money, and this doesn’t necessarily mean they will be the cheapest on the market. It is reasonable to ask questions if the quote you receive is significantly lower than expected, and also to request that the supplier provides a breakdown of costs and an explanation of the services covered by the quote.
Download Your Free Copy Of Our Air Duct Cleaning Guide
Keep Your Air Supply Ducting System Clean, Safe, And Compliant
Air ducting systems are essential for maintaining air quality in the hospitality, healthcare, education, and commercial sectors.
Your FREE guide includes:
- How often you should clean your airducts?
- How long do cleaning services normally take?
- What are the benefits of regular air duct cleaning?
- How can air duct cleaning help reduce the risk of Covid-19 transmission?
- How to choose a good air duct cleaning company?
- Why use Europa Ventilation cleaning services?
- And much more!
Simply fill in the form on this page to receive your free copy of the guide.
Why Use Europa Ventilation Cleaning Services?
Europa VCS provide an efficient and cost-effective deep cleaning service for all types of air duct, extraction, and ventilation system, helping maintain health and safety, and lowering your repair bills.
With five teams of mobile engineers based throughout the Midlands and southern England, we work with schools, colleges, and universities in the education sector, restaurants, hotels, pubs, and food outlets in the hospitality sector, care homes and hospitals within the healthcare sector – and many other organisations in which hygiene and safety are paramount.
We have been in business for 15 years and combine over 50 years’ experience in professional air supply cleaning, commercial kitchen deep cleaning, and kitchen extraction deep cleaning to TR19 standards.
We offer a thorough and straightforward service grounded in the three ‘C’s of cleanliness, compliance, and confidence. Our technicians are always punctual in attending appointments, provide a professional and efficient service on site, and are accommodating of client requirements.
Each job is concluded with a clear handover that includes full project documentation and photographic reports (pre-and post-clean), as well as micron readings and relevant compliance certificates.
Find Out More
To find out more about our air duct cleaning, bacterial fogging, and specialist cleaning services, please call 01992 927911 today, or click here to fill out our contact form and request a free quote online.
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