Wherever a person is - in his own apartment or at a workplace in an office, he needs clean air to maintain normal life. Only if there is a properly functioning ventilation system, air exchange is possible in the premises with the removal of contaminated air masses and the inflow of fresh air rich in oxygen. Ventilation helps get rid of condensation that forms after taking a shower, it removes steam and odors that occur in the kitchen when cooking.

The efficient operation of the ventilation system is a prerequisite for maintaining a comfortable microclimate and, as a result, health and well-being.

Ventilation system device

Most apartment buildings use natural ventilation, in which fresh air is supplied during ventilation through open windows, and contaminated air masses are discharged through ventilation shafts. Everyone must have seen the entrances to the ventilation shafts - they are located in the kitchen, toilet, bathroom and are closed with special gratings.

Forced ventilation is increasingly used in new buildings and in many office buildings. Such systems include, in addition to air ducts, complex supply and exhaust equipment, a whole cascade of filters, and a number of other components.

What entails contamination of the ventilation system

Contamination of the ventilation system can lead to negative consequences. It is important not to start this process and carry out regular cleaning on time.

Most often, the natural ventilation system ceases to function normally due to contamination of ventilation ducts and grilles.

In old apartment buildings, they have not been cleaned for years and are literally clogged with dust, fatty deposits, and small debris.

In addition, when cleaning the ventilation ducts, you can find the most unexpected finds there, for example, skeletons of rats, cats, bats and their excrement. Is it any wonder that a ventilation system contaminated with organic matter turns into a source of harmful bacteria and viruses?

In forced ventilation systems, not only air ducts are contaminated, but also filters and other equipment elements.

With poorly functioning ventilation, polluted air remains in the room, and dust particles, harmful substances and microorganisms, excess carbon dioxide remain with it. It becomes difficult to remove excess moisture in a timely manner. Entering a room where there is no ventilation, a person immediately feels that he has nothing to breathe.

In addition to discomfort, such an atmosphere is directly harmful to health. Polluted air causes allergic reactions from the respiratory system, eye diseases and even dermatitis.

Lack of oxygen negatively affects metabolic processes in the body and, as a result, there is a headache, fatigue, drowsiness, irritability. With such a state of health, a person loses his ability to work, which has a detrimental effect on the performance of his job duties, therefore it is important to monitor the state of the ventilation system not only in residential but also in office premises.

Ventilation contamination entails another extremely serious problem - an increased risk of fire . Fat deposits that accumulate in the air ducts are highly flammable and the fire spreads quickly over large areas. The entire building can be engulfed in fire in a very short period of time, measured in minutes.

How to determine if the ventilation system is dirty

To check the effectiveness of ventilation, a very dubious method is sometimes used, involving manipulation of a candle or lighter. But workers of gas services warn about the dangers of this method, especially if the house has a main gas supply. By bringing an open flame to the entrance to the ventilation shaft, an explosion can be caused if a gas leak has occurred in one of the neighboring apartments.

Therefore, it is better to use another, safe method to check ventilation using a thin sheet of paper. This can be newspaper, tissue, or regular toilet paper. Open the window and bring the paper sheet to the ventilation grill. If the draft is good, the paper is attracted to the grate. Thus, all ventilation vents in the apartment (office) are checked. You can also learn about poor ventilation by indirect signs:

• musty smell and mold on the walls in the bathroom;
• long-drying laundry in the bathroom;
• foggy windows in rooms for no apparent reason;
• smells from neighboring apartments;
• dust and cobwebs around ventilation entrances;
• after wet cleaning, dust appears on the furniture too quickly;
• the disappearance of the drafts usual for this apartment.

All these "symptoms" indicate that the ventilation system is either not working well enough or has completely lost its performance. In either case, it is necessary to carry out a thorough cleaning of the air ducts and other system components.

How to clean the ventilation in the bathroom and kitchen yourself

Maintaining the ventilation system of an apartment building in proper condition is the direct responsibility of utilities. Unfortunately, their actions do not always bring the desired result, so tenants often resort to the services of specialized companies, and sometimes decide to fix the problem on their own. Cleaning ventilation within the same apartment, of course, will not be as effective as taking complex measures. Nevertheless, one can hope for a certain increase in traction and improved air exchange.

Before starting work, you need to prepare the necessary tools - a screwdriver, brushes, a spatula, a thin steel cable or aluminum wire, a vacuum cleaner. You will also need detergents that can fight grease. This is especially important if you have to clean the ventilation in the kitchen.

At the first stage, you need to remove the protective grill from the ventilation well. Usually it is attached to the wall with screws that are unscrewed with a screwdriver. Debris and dirt are then removed from the outer area around the hole. Deposits adhering to the wall are removed with a spatula. When performing this operation, it is not recommended to use any chemical agents.

The protective grid must be cleaned with a brush and detergent, then thoroughly rinsed in running water and dried.

After the external contamination is removed, it is the turn of the ventilation shaft, which is cleaned with a thin steel cable to the maximum possible depth (usually to the common "riser"). After that, a vacuum cleaner hose is placed in the shaft and the debris present there is removed in the suction mode. Under no circumstances should you clean the ventilation shaft with a blowing vacuum cleaner .

When performing work, care should be taken, as in the ventilation shafts there can be not only animal skeletons, as mentioned above, but also living inhabitants. Aggressive rats and wasps, which create their nests inside the mines, are especially dangerous.

Cleaning the cooker hood

In kitchens, air exchange can be ensured through the use of flow-through or circulation hoods, the air duct of which is led into the ventilation shaft. Before cleaning, the hood is turned off and disassembled according to the manufacturer's instructions. As a rule, the cover is dismantled, which is located directly above the plate. Then the filters are removed, the outer pipe is removed, which goes to the ventilation shaft. All parts are washed with a degreasing agent, rinsed and dried. Filters that cannot be cleaned are replaced. Cleaning the ventilation shaft is carried out in the same way as described above. The hood is assembled in the reverse order.

How to clean the ventilation in the office

In modern offices, to provide ventilation, supply and exhaust systems with a mechanical type of induction are most often used. In this case, the main installation, together with a fan and air ducts, is fixed to the ceiling in the corridor, and branches are made to the offices. Since the design of the system is extremely complex, its cleaning is possible only if specialists of the appropriate profile are involved. Removal of contaminants is carried out using specialized machines. Office staff can only maintain the external cleanliness of ventilation equipment, which is also very important and helps to prevent rapid contamination of the system.

Professional cleaning of ventilation systems

If the ventilation system in the apartment or office is dirty, the specialists Air Duct Cleaning New York will promptly come to the rescue . In their work, they use brushing machines and vacuum installations. In the course of diagnostics of main canals, the scale and nature of pollution is determined. In the process of cleaning the air duct, the brush, rotating at high speed on a flexible shaft, knocks dust, dirt, and fat deposits from the inner walls. All this is immediately removed and collected in sealed bags using a vacuum unit. The shaft length of the brushing machine reaches 40 meters! If necessary, the ventilation ducts and elements of ventilation equipment are disinfected. The result of the work of professionals:

• compliance of the microclimate with sanitary and hygienic standards;
• decrease in morbidity;
• increasing labor activity;
• extension of the service life of ventilation equipment;
• increasing the level of fire safety.

Due to their high qualifications and extensive experience, the specialists of Air Duct Cleaning New York perform high-quality cleaning of ventilation systems of any type.