Cleanrooms
Cleanroom ventilation systems require well-monitored maintenance. The project managers at Hamster Cleaning participated in cleanroom training in the Netherlands and now hold a diploma recognised and certified at European level.
Hamster Cleaning has machines with HEPA filters in order to be able to guarantee safe and hygienic cleaning. Those machines are only used in high-tech environments and not for industrial purposes.
During maintenance, the cleanrooms must logically be taken out of service.
Industry
Hamster Cleaning has experience with air duct cleaning in industrial environments and with the associated safety procedures. Hamster Cleaning is VCA* (Safety Checklist for Contractors - SCC) certified, fulfils the requisite ISO standards and always holds up-to-date work permits and risk analyses.
Duct cleaning always takes place in close cooperation with the technical department and/or persons responsible for general and technical services. The approach is discussed prior to the work commencing. Once the work has been completed, Hamster Cleaning provides a comprehensive report, containing images and figures.
Offices
From the Ardennes to the coast, from Belgium to Australia: in every region and in every country in the world there are countless ventilated office buildings. Because of the daily activities that take place in those buildings, over time dirt will accumulate in the air ducts – partially dependent on environmental factors.
Through professional cleaning services, Hamster Cleaning improves the hygiene and air quality in offices. This has a direct correlation with Sick Building Syndrome. After air duct cleaning was carried out at their companies, several customers informed us that they had seen a positive trend in terms of employee absenteeism. Through systematic maintenance, there is a reduction in complaints relating to irritations of the eyes, nose or airways.
The post-inspection report shows the difference between the before and after photographs, with a guaranteed cleanliness percentage of 95 percent.
New ventilation
Hamster Cleaning is increasingly being asked to clean the air ducts in brand new buildings prior to delivery. Why is that required? The answer is simple: because a lot of dust is released during construction work, for example, from grinding and drilling work. The ducts often aren’t covered and are sometimes even lying on the floor.
The consequence of this is that dirt will immediately enter the ducts, dirt is deposited and from that day onwards, one of the European standards is exceeded.
Both contractors and end customers are increasingly becoming aware of the importance of clean ducts and ask for the ventilation system to be cleaned prior to delivery of the building. For reasons of accessibility, work would ideally take place before the ceiling is installed.
Utility buildings
The list of ventilated utility buildings is quite lengthy: sports centres, swimming pools, schools, municipal buildings, libraries, crèches, cultural centres, youth clubs, the list could go on. Generally we build in high-traffic areas, because of which dirt soon enters the air ducts.
Air duct cleaning is essential in the context of improved hygiene, energy consumption, air quality and fire safety.
Working at height isn’t a problem, neither are ducts with a very small or very large diameter.
Process extraction
In order to maintain process extraction, Hamster Cleaning often works in manufacturing environments, where production processes take place and large quantities of dust are released. Within the scope of fire safety, it is crucial that extraction ducting is cleaned at regular intervals.
That is because the extraction section of welding fume systems become partially or even totally silted up, which in combination with an ignition source, paves the way for a considerable fire risk.
That is why, in contrast to comfort ventilation – where the dirt often doesn’t exceed the European standard until a few years down the line – process ventilation will have to be cleaned once, twice or even three times a year.
Retail & hospitality
A whole range of buildings fall under the heading ‘retail & hospitality’, such as hotels, shops and shopping centres. As is the case in other public buildings, air duct maintenance is essential to ensure correct functioning of the ventilation system and the hygiene of staff members, visitors and customers.
Hamster Cleaning cleans the ducting in full, without affecting the experiences of customers in the shop or hotel. For example, in hotels, an exact plan is drawn up to ensure that this in no way affects the stay of customers and tourists. Hamster Cleaning undertakes to complete all work during the daytime, but is flexible if customers explicitly request that the cleaning is performed overnight.
Medical and labs
Within the framework of good hygiene and disinfection practices, Hamster Cleaning works in conjunction with some thirty Flemish hospitals. At these hospitals, ducting is systematically inspected, assessed and cleaned.
Hamster Cleaning undertakes to ensure that, during maintenance of the air ducts, all services can remain operational. An exception to this rule are critical areas in respect of which, of course, separate arrangements are made. By reaching clear agreements, the hospital’s functioning is not affected.
Reliable cleaning of air ducts in professional environments
For reasons of hygiene, energy savings, fire safety, air quality and the service life of the installation, cleaning of dirty air ducts is mandatory. That is laid down in the European law for healthy workplaces, establishing minimum requirements for workplaces, which are more in detail desribed in the European standard EN 15780.
During the cleaning of air ducts, an extraction blower is used to evacuate the loosened dirt. The dirt is captured in a filter bag. Hamster Cleaning guarantees that, after every clean, at least 95 percent of the ducts will be clean. This is achieved through the use of the latest technology, including advanced inspection and cleaning robots, which are unique in Belgium.
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Frequently Asked Questions
The response to this question can be found through this link https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/moeten-luchtkanalen-verplicht-gereinigd-worden-seppe-thys/.
As there is a lot of ambiguity concerning the compulsory maintenance of air ducts, Seppe Thys, managing director at Hamster Cleaning, wrote a blog post about the legal framework.
A simple question with an equally simple answer: air ducts must be cleaned when the acceptable dust accumulation level (g/m²) is exceeded. That is clarified in European standard EN 15780, which specifies which figures must be complied with. There are three levels of cleanliness under which a building can fall, and an acceptable dust accumulation level applies to each one.
To a degree. A crucial element of a correctly functioning ventilation system is the maintenance of filters in the air handling unit. Filters must be replaced promptly and rigorously. If they are not replaced, the filters will become full, sometimes congested and, in extreme cases, will even rupture. It goes without saying that the ventilation system will then no longer be able to operate optimally and that the ducts will also become dirty.
Good filtering can prevent a lot of misery, but the avoidance of dirty ducts is almost wishful thinking. That is because dust will go everywhere and, over time, the air ducts will become dirty. In particular, ductwork in extraction systems quickly becomes polluted as the air is not filtered before entering the ventilation system.
It is therefore important to inspect the ducts annually, to avoid escalations.
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