Cleaning of air conditioning ducts - when performing?
The use of the air-conditioned air is widely used in the business environment, mainly coming through air ducts. Its use brings specific conditions of comfort to employees, but lack of cleaning can compromise the health of occupants.
According to WHO (World Health Organization), in 2016 respiratory diseases were among the top 10 causes of global death. This type of disease is connected directly with poor air quality.
Like all other air conditioning systems, air ducts must be in adequate conditions of cleaning, maintenance, operation and control in accordance with legislation.
Next, you will understand a little more about the laws that regulate air cleansing and the norms used.
Air ducts and current legislation
Ordinance No. 3,523, of August 28, 1998 determines the basic measures concerning the evaluation and cleaning procedures of air conditioning systems as well as the requirement of the elaboration of the maintenance plan, operation and control (PMOC) for air-conditioned environments with thermal capacity above 5 TR (15,000 kcal / h = 60,000 BTU / h).
Therefore, as the air ducts are part of the air conditioning systems, they must be cleaned periodically to maintain good air-conditioned air quality.
This frequency of cleaning is defined by the technical officer. However, in some cities in the country like Rio de Janeiro, Natal and Santos there are municipal laws determining the annual cleaning of the ducts.
The requirement is also determined by the New Law no. 13,589, of January 4, 2018, which reinforces the implementation of PMOC in public and collective buildings, as well as the adoption of ABNT standards to ensure good indoor air quality.
Cleaning air ducts and ABNT standards
ABNT NBR 14679 and 15848 are the standards establishing the guidelines for the execution of cleaning and cleaning services.
According to NBR 15848, the need for cleaning should occur whenever one or more cases mentioned below:
Mold inside the ducts;
Molded or damp fibrous material;
evidence of vermine contamination (vestiges of rodents or insects such as cheap and termite, which are destructive and harmful to health);
dissemination of particulate material from air ducts to the interior environment in a visible form and without the aid of equipment;
When ducts are with evidence of concentration greater than or equal to 7.5 g / m2 of particulate material (service performed by LBN analyzes).
There is a need for cleaning air ducts, it must be performed according to ABNT NBR 14679.
Avoid unnecessary spending
Cleaning ducts is a service that demands planning of the company's activities and has high costs for its execution.
If your city does not have laws that require the cleaning of air ducts in defined periods, you can clean the pipelines if some of the conditions defined above by NBR 15848 is found.
To avoid unnecessary expenses with the cleaning of air ducts you can hire the LBN analyzes to perform the evaluation of the particulate material in the air ducts, and if this concentration is greater than 7.5 g / m2 is the cleaning recommendation.
As you have seen, maintenance and cleaning aim at not only the conservation and efficiency of the device, but also guarantee the hygienic patterns. In the business environment it can reduce the risks of respiratory diseases, absences for reasons of diseases and even risks of labor processes.
