Indoor Air Quality Blurb
Post Construction Air
Duct Cleaning
DO YOU WANT A NEW
CLEAN HVAC SYSTEM OR DO YOU WANT A NEW DIRTY ONE?
If you don’t like
the weather in Houston, wait 15 minutes. 50 weeks out of the 52 of
the year, you will be running your air conditioning system. Some
days, heat in the morning and cooling at night and some days cooling
in the morning and heat at night.
During the
construction phase of either a commercial project or a residential
project, remodeling or renovation projects, the General Contractor
is going to start running the HVAC systems as soon as it is
possible. This is done to control moisture through out the
construction process for the benefit of interior fit and finishes.
Too often we see
the failure to properly filter the returns and air handlers to
protect them from the construction dust during the building process,
assuming the components are clean when we they are installed. Most
commercial ductwork is delivered with an oily film to prevent rust
and corrosion during shipping. The construction process inside a
building generates dust. Even with filters in place, dust will
settle inside the duct work, and as we all know, filters do not stop
all the construction particulates.
On more and more
new construction projects we are seeing that the engineer is
specifying a “Post Construction” cleaning of the air ducts and air
handlers before turning the facility over to the owners. After all,
they paid for new CLEAN ductwork, why not get it?
Short of
providing spot cooling and completely sealing the HVAC system during
the construction process of any project, you cannot prevent dust and
debris from contaminating a brand new AHU and ductwork system.
At the end of the
project, the owner wants and is paying for, new and CLEAN ductwork.
Again, we are seeing more new construction specifications including
a post construction clean of the HVAC systems, but we are still
seeing too many disputes between the owner, general contractor, and
HVAC mechanical at the end of the project because the HVAC
mechanical did not see or believe the post construction cleaning
requirement.
Moisture in
residential projects can be controlled with spot coolers and
temporary cooling if needed and the HVAC systems can be kept clean
with plastic over the registers and grills, but commercial
applications, due to size and duration often must have the HVAC
systems functioning prior to building commissioning. All of us as
contractors want to provide our customers with attractive, safe,
work friendly and clean structures. Both for altruistic and
financial rewards. One part of this process is providing a clean
and healthy air conditioned building.
Doug Long, ASCS
Power Vac
America, Inc.
Air Duct Cleaning and HVAC Systems Cleaning in Texas
