What You Can’t See Can Hurt You!

According to Michael Tebor, V.P. of Air Duct Aseptics, clean air ducts and air conditioning equipment is an essential first step in Medical Providers providing Clean Healthy Air to both patients and occupants. Over a period of time, particulates and microbials accumulate on internal air conditioning (A/C) duct and equipment surfaces. These particulates and fungi accumulations can cause musty odors, excess dust, compromise equipment performance and harbor infectious biologicals including mold which can adversely affect patients and occupant health.

 

Michael states he routinely sees contaminated ductwork in medical facilities throughout the state. Operating rooms and critical care areas typically have more particulate buildup (debris) than found in other portions of a medical facility. In large part, this is due to the use of disposable uniform linen fibers used by hospital staff.

 

The uniform fibers enter the indoor air and eventually enter the A/C systems and accumulate on the internal A/C duct surfaces … This condition worsens over time and can have a negative impact on hospital infection occurrences by offering harborage and food for microbial growth and altering ventilation rates .

 

Some molds that have been found inside medical facilities can cause serious human health effects. One mold species strain of Aspergillus can cause Aspergillosis and Aspergilloma.

 

Additionally, molds off-gas microbial volatile organic compounds(MVOCs) which can negatively impact human health. Considering most hospital patients are already either immunocompromised, and/or afflicted with the diseases that hospitals treat, clean healthy air is essential. All hospitals operate 24 hours per day with the majority of occupants being ill patients.

 

Therefore, he added, there’s more to our work than just cleaning. The particulates removed must be contained. “Whatever debris is found in an HVAC duct system is very small in size. In fact, it’s so small that it had to be airborne to get in there in the first place. So cleaning is number one, and number two is containing the contamination we’ve removed. HEPA filters are used for containment on all of our duct cleaning equipment. We don’t want to pollute the indoor air during the cleaning process. The objective is to remove particulates and micro-organisms from the building”.

 

One of the largest challenges in Medical Facility air duct cleaning is protecting the patients during the decontamination process. Michael explained, “Engineering controls are put in place that can allow us to clean the air conditioner without causing any ill-effect to the indoor air quality in patient areas. At other times, in critical areas, we will interface with the hospitals to shut down portions of the buildings and relocate those patients for periods of time during the cleaning.”

 

Michael knows all about the dangers of mold and dirty ductwork and unclean air. He has been in the HVAC cleaning business for almost 30 years, and has serviced more than 70,000 businesses and residences throughout Florida.

 

“We see dirty ventilation systems in hospitals, but just like everywhere else … out of sight, out of mind. Hospitals put millions of dollars into cleaning the floors, but when it comes to their air ducts and their air conditioning systems, many facilities don’t have them cleaned for many years. This may be a result of out of sight, out of mind, however A/C systems deliver the air to the breathing zone, and that’s where mold can growth can occur.

 

Michael is a NADCA Certified Air Cleaning System Specialist and Ventilation Systems Mold Remediator and a Certified Indoor Environmentalist; Petrina Tebor is a Florida State Licensed Mold Assessor, which makes us multi-disciplined. “We have the resources that allow us to clean your air conditioning unit; if uncleanable we can replace it. As an HVAC remediation company, we clean the HVAC system to industry standards and can restore to like–new conditions; as a Florida State Licensed Mold Remediator, we can remediate mold both inside and outside the A/C system.”

 

While removing mold is Air Duct Aseptics’ specialty, he emphasizes that not all mold is bad. “We’ve got to have mold. If we didn’t have mold, we would not be alive, as falling leaves would be a thousand miles high because mold is what helps to decompose and break them down. We need it for that. It’s also great for making beer, penicillin, and saving lives. But it’s not good to breathe.”