What’s in Your Ducts?

According to the EPA, most Americans spend up to 90% of their time indoors. No wonder people are concerned with the quality of the air we breathe when inside buildings. Pollution levels are often higher indoors than outside. The EPA estimates that the indoor levels of many pollutants are 2—5 times higher, and on occasion, 100 times higher than outdoor levels. Because of this, the EPA ranks indoor air as one of the top five environmental threats to human health.  Where do all these contaminants come from?

Airborne Contaminants:

An air duct system in a home or office provides recirculation of not only air, but particles that float in the air. These particles consist of dead skin cells (humans and pets) fragments, pollen, carpet fibers, fiberglass fibers, carbon based particulate, mold, bacteria, etc…. Once build-up occurs in the dark, temperate and moist environments of an air handler and associated ductwork the risk of mold/bacteria growth increases exponentially.

Every time the fan motor turns on for heat or cooling, it agitates a portion of the contaminates on the surface sending them back into the breathing zone of the office or home.  Your HVAC system is designed to change the air every 15 minutes.  For example: a 3000 square foot home or office with 8 foot ceiling has 24,000 cubic feet of air.  Every hour 96,000 cubic feet that can become potentially displaced with airborne containments.

Indoor environmental studies show that a typical indoor environment has as many as 850 mold spores per cubic meter, 20 pollen spores per cubic meter and 30,000 opaque particles per cubic meter.  This is an alarming number considering that we spend 90% of our time indoors.  With the alternating high and low humidity conditions which regularly occur in air conditioning air handler and associated ducts during air conditioner operation, mold and bacteria will grow, spread, produce spores and distribute the spores throughout a home or office. Mold, bacteria and other ubiquitous allergens contaminate the air conditioning system which can pose serious health problems.

Occupant Symptoms:

Occupant symptoms relating to poor indoor air quality (IAQ) may include: sneezing, wheezing, headaches, lethargic, respiratory irritation, eye irritation, coughing, asthmatic episode, etc…Many times the foreign allergens causing allergy type symptoms are a direct result of the invaded HVAC system.

In a recent environmental study, over 560,000 colony forming units (CFU)/gram of Pseudomonas sp were isolated from deep within the evaporator coil system.  With an average of 10 pounds of debris removed in a typical coil that would equate to over 2.5 trillion CFU in one typical 75 ton evaporator coil system. Potential aerosolization of these micro-organisms from the infested coil is immense due to a discharge of air stream with 6 miles/hours (commonly observed) across the evaporator coils.

Therapeutic Benefits of HVAC Cleaning:

According to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLB) “it is desirable to identify and remove common allergens and modify the home or office to reduce the level of ubiquitous (common) allergens.”  Cleaning out the accumulation of nutrient rich material in your air ducts is an essential strategy for maintaining good indoor air quality in your home or offices providing marked therapeutic benefit for the home and/or office occupants.  In addition to the professional cleaning of the ductwork environmental cleaning of the air handling units with specifics on the evaporator coils.

A revolutionary program called PURE-Steam Coil Cleaning, a chemical free coil cleaning process, provides a safe and effective cleaning process designed to save energy and create a healthy learning environment for students, school staff and visitors.

As a part of Charlotte County School Districts initiative they have contracted with Pure Air Control Services a national leading indoor environmental contractor with over 25 years of building IAQ experience.  Because the PURE-Steam Coil Cleaning program is totally GREEN (NO CHEMICALS) students, school staff and visitors don’t have to worry about potential dangerous chemicals or Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) entering into the air or water system.

Don Terry, Manager of HVAC Maintenance with Charlotte County School District noted that “not only are we saving energy, but we are creating a healthy learning environment for our students and faculty.”

Contact the Building Remediation Scientists at Pure Air Control Services for a professional evaluation of your buildings or homes IAQ and/or evaporator coil condition at 1-800-422-7873.

About Pure Air Control Services, Inc.

Alan Wozniak founded Pure Air Control Services, Inc. in 1984 as a small mechanical contracting firm. Today, the work distributed from its offices in Tampa, Atlanta, West Palm Beach, Houston and Washington D.C. sets the industry standard for indoor environmental quality diagnosis and remediation.

Pure Air’s nationally performed services include: Building Sciences Evaluation; Building Health Check; an AIHA accredited Environmental Microbiology Laboratory; Environmental Project Management; and Mold Remediation Services, among other indoor environmental services. The company’s expanding client roster includes the General Services Administration (GSA); Allstate Insurance; Carrier Air Conditioning; Naval Air Warfare Center, Orlando; and Naval Air Station - King's Bay, Georgia, and many other Fortune 500 companies, school boards, and city, state, and county governments, making Pure Air Control Services the reliable industry leader.

For more information on Pure Air Control Services, Inc. please contact Cy Garner at (800) 422-7873 xt 804, or visit www.pureaircontrols.com.