Cleaning of ventilation and air conditioning systems

Modern housing and industrial construction is unthinkable without the use of air exchange systems, since clean air is one of the most important components of the normal functioning of the body. Cleaning ventilation systems is a vital, important procedure, because without it, air-exchanging units can not only fail, but also cause serious damage to health. Next we will talk about why this is needed and how it can be done.

Why do you need it

Many of our compatriots and heads of enterprises, having installed an expensive air exchange system in their home or enterprise, believe that the problem has been completely solved.

But any design requires appropriate maintenance and the high price often does not guarantee stable, and most importantly, safe operation.

• At the moment in nature there are no filters that would protect completely from everything for a long time.. Moreover, the more difficult the air-conducting and filtering structures, the faster they will become clogged. No matter how wide the channels are, sooner or later they get clogged.
• No one will argue with the fact that the cleanliness of the atmosphere of modern megacities leaves much to be desired.. All this dust, smog and dirt first of all settle on ventilation filters and pipes. Indoors, there are also many dangers. Dust, pet hair, grease from the stove and other side effects of life are deposited on the hood.
• Such equipment, although it has a certain margin of safety, is designed to work with pipes of a specific section.. Internal plaque reduces the cross-section and the unit begins to work with overload. There were cases when the owners had time to replace the failed components several times, and only the cleaning of air ducts and ventilation systems was required.
• But the burned-out engine is not the worst. In these deposits, pathogenic microorganisms, various fungi and mold develop at a catastrophic rate; they feel warm and comfortable there. As a result, by turning on the fresh air supply apparatus, it is possible to obtain allergens sprayed under pressure and spores of unpleasant living creatures.

Important: especially often such breeding grounds appear in the kitchen hoods and in the ventilation channels of catering establishments. Therefore, more recently, inspecting SES, during raids on cafes and restaurants, began to demand a schedule for cleaning the ducts of ventilation systems.

• Air exchangers in businesses in homes and offices pose another grave danger.. They are an ideal place for fires. Dry organic dust, cobwebs and fatty deposits, with a constant supply of oxygen burning no worse than gasoline, plus the flame through the channels in a matter of minutes can spread to the entire building. Cases were fixed when entire floors were burned out with a single cigarette butt.

Cleaning technology

All such work can be carried out both at the household level and on an industrial scale, and the methods of work are radically different.

Prevention at the household level

Immediately, we note that cleaning the system of ventilation and air conditioning with their own hands is advisable only for a small private house or city apartment. In private homes, the length of the channels is not great and cleaning of ventilation systems here is similar to cleaning chimneys.

Vertical shafts are cleaned with a metal brush with a round weighting, horizontal and inclined canals are cleaned through special windows with a brush on a long pole.

In a city apartment is still easier. Cleaning of ventilation systems here is limited to regular cleaning of removable air conditioner filters. For each type of filter has its own instructions for cleaning, but as a rule, vacuum well enough, in some cases, remove and wash with household detergents.

The central ventilation shafts are the concern of the municipal authorities, it is enough just to signal the deterioration of traction in time.

Industrial options

It is important: no matter how strange it may sound, but in our country there are no official laws regulating such actions. Now the act of cleaning the air ducts of the ventilation systems No. 15780 adopted in Europe is used, but it also has only a recommendatory character.

At present, organizations providing such services start any work with a visual inspection of the channels. Since the length of the lines is large, special robots are used for this, equipped with portable video cameras and lighting. The frequency of cleaning of ventilation systems depends largely on the place of their installation and type of construction, but in any case, these works should be done at least 1 time per year.

Any line has special technological windows, the distance between which does not exceed 25 m. Therefore, cleaning of ventilation systems is carried out by sectors. The site is blocked on both sides by valves or inflatable membranes, after which work is done.

At the moment, the most common is a mechanical cleaning method. In the sector, with the help of vacuum systems, a discharged atmosphere is created, after which the cleaning machines with brushes knock off all deposits from the walls.

Depending on the diameter of the air duct, special self-propelled installations perform work or a rigid metal cable with a brush is used, attached to an electric drill or another rotating unit. The discharged atmosphere creates the effect of a vacuum cleaner, that is, all the dirt is drawn through the process window and falls into a special container.

For cleaning difficult-to-remove fatty deposits, it is customary to use special alkaline or acidic compounds that knock down dirt under high pressure. Such compositions subsequently create a repelling film on the surface that acts as an antiseptic. But this method is only good for hermetic systems.

The use of granular dry ice was a real breakthrough in this area. Dry ice is a solid form of carbon dioxide, the granules have an initial temperature of -79? When in contact with the surface, a microexplosion occurs, which breaks off all layers without damaging the surface of the pipe. Moreover, the constructions remain plaque, which has a disinfecting effect.

The video in this article shows one of the cleaning options.

Conclusion

Cleaning the ventilation and air conditioning system is not a whim or newfangled fashion. If you are attentive to your health and appreciate the ventilation equipment, this procedure should become the norm.