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Over the years we have been amazed at what we have found in duct systems. From the biggest mansion on down to the small unit that is hung off a window, it's all the same. All the air in the building moves through the ducts and equipment, this is the air YOU breath. If the glass was dirty would you drink from it? If the air was dirty would you want to get away from it? The choice with the glass is easy and cheap. The air in your home or office is a different story but, the solutions are the same. Clean it. Then to keep it clean the air needs to be properly filtered and changed. This is why:

Air Ducts
Our ducts are havens for mold, mildew, dust, dirt, bacteria, viruses, bugs and many other contaminants. Every time your system runs, this debris is sent into the air throughout your home or office. If not properly cleaned, sealed and filtered, it will only accumulate.

Equipment
If you wanted to build a machine to grow mold, allergens or mildew, heating and air conditioning machines are more then halfway there. It's a dark, controlled temperature environment. There's moisture and food. It's hard to get to the areas that cause the problems. Even service professionals are only there to make sure bearings are lubed and the refrigerant is still inside.

Fresh Air
It's real simple, clean, fresh air is necessary. It is unfortunate that over the past 30 plus years we have built our homes and offices tighter to save a little money in heating and cooling. It's like living in a jar. Commercial systems are required to have fresh air introduced to the building based on occupancy and a few other factors. Some building operators close these intakes to save heating and cooling costs or they were not done properly in the first place. Homes have no such codes or options. This should be and can be changed.

How we do it

There are three main parts necessary to properly clean a duct system.

The first, as with all organizations is the people. All of the people on the ACA team have had many years in the air conditioning and heating trade. This means they know ductwork and installation methods. They are also aware of the short cuts that are often employed in manufacturing and installing systems and equipment. What this really means to you is they know what to look for. Some of these items you can check for yourself.

WARNING
Set the thermostat OFF
Disconnect power to the unit
If you don't know how to do BOTH of the above items,
do NOT open the unit.

Is dirt and dust inside the unit?
Is building insulation visible in the return air chase or platform?
Is there a dirt and dust around the supply air registers?
Is the air filter sealed properly?
Did your last air filter cost less then $3.00?
Do you feel better outside than in?

The second is the equipment we use. Our truck was specially designed and custom built for duct cleaning and ONLY duct cleaning. We don't clean carpet and drapes. Quite frankly, if our 10" intake hose got close to the drapes, it would pull them off the wall and shred them in fan before you could take 2 steps. With the power turned up to the maximum, residential and most commercial systems would be sucked flat. This is not the sort of power a "carpet cleaner" or a portable system has. On most systems we use no more than 25% of the available capabilities. But, that is only part of the story. We also use specially designed tools to get to EVERY part of the system. It doesn't matter how the ducts turn, split, climb or fall, our skippers, brushes and wands will get to every location. And with almost 200 PSI of air pressure the drive these devices, the dirt and debris doesn't have a chance of remaining in the system.

The third part is the actual process of cleaning. The part that most people notice is we remove all of the registers and wash them. The parts that nobody sees are the most important. As stated above all of the ducts are cleaned. This means both the supply air and the return air ducts. The cleaners used are ALL nontoxic. This is very important in a closed loop like an air conditioning system. The evaporator coil is cleaned and inspected for mold growth. Does a carpet cleaner know where the coil is? The blower wheel is also cleaned. This is a very important step. The blowers are engineered to a specific shape to move a certain amount of air. As dust builds up on the the wheel it changes the shape. It is no longer capable of the designed air flow. You'll see your power bill slowly rise and home or business will not heat and cool like it use too. This is the air conditioning experience talking.
The point of having the ducts cleaned is to get to dirt out. But, getting it out of the house and then blowing all over the neighbors could cause problems. Our 12 multi-layer bag filter system is mounted over a large low velocity chamber allowing all of these materials to drop out of the air stream before being exhausted. This allows us to take the dirt with us and not leave it on your car or the neighborhood cat.

The Buzz Words

Sick Building Syndrome
Poor installation, inadequate maintenance and ventilation are the primary causes of poor Indoor Air Quality (IAQ). Installation inadequacies can be leaks in the return air ducts allowing garage fumes to enter the building or condensation drains that allow sewer gases to be drawn into the system. Maintenance problems are usually a growth on the indoor coil or poor filtration. Building ventilation is probably the most common cause. For instance, in new buildings carpet, paint, furniture, etc. are "airing out" off gassing. As an example, some foam fill used in furniture and carpet padding will off gas formaldehyde used in the manufacturing processes and trace amounts are not bonded. This combined with tight construction and insufficient fresh air will allow a dangerous build up of these byproducts.

Indoor Air Quality Crisis
Sick Building Syndrome is becoming more common as buildings become tighter and power costs rise. A tight building is great for keeping 106o outside but the spray cleaner used two days ago is still floating around. To fight this condition fresh air is introduced to the system. However, it is expensive to heat or cool this raw air, so to save money fresh air intakes are cut down or closed and in the average home they never existed. That is how the building got sick and it is nearing a crisis. This is what it is sick of;

* Dust, pollen, mold spores and other airborne particles.
* Vapor from household cleaners and other toxic materials stored in attics, basements and garages.
* Humid air that can cause condensation, mold & mildew growth.
* Soil gases such as radon and methane.
* Herbicides and pesticides.