Five Good Reasons to Have Your Ductwork Cleaning Done Regularly

Ductwork cleaning is an essential element of your cleaning schedule.  And while it doesn’t need doing daily, weekly, monthly or perhaps even yearly, your ductwork cleaning should not be overlooked or drawn out past its due date.

In fact, for businesses, ductwork cleaning carried out at least every two years by a professional ductwork cleaning company is a requirement by law, ensuring that risks of harmful airborne bacteria, as well as the more visible danger of fire, are kept to a minimum.

Ductwork Cleaning – For Life

All that said, ductwork cleaning can be a very easy thing to overlook. While the dust and dirt that accumulates around your business premises is mostly in clear view, the grime that builds up within your air ducts is not immediately visible. Choosing a reputable and professional ductwork cleaning company can help here too, as you will receive a reminder every time your ductwork cleaning is due – again helping you to protect the health and safety of your workforce and your business, as well as your reputation.

Five Good Reasons to Keep on Track with Ductwork Cleaning

While there are many reasons to keep your ductwork cleaning up to date, these are our top five:

1. Risk of harmful germs

As well as the minor viruses and common colds that may be passed around by air conditioning or heating systems, other types of bacteria that may be hosted within your ducts include pneumonia, legionella and kiebsiella, causing fever, weakness and flu like symptoms. In more sensitive environments, such as hospitals and care homes these, and even more serious superbugs like MRSA, can be a particularly dangerous hazard.

And spores from fungi, which outdoors are no cause for concern, can settle and grow within your ductwork, and when blown out could cause asthma attacks, wheeziness, itchy or watery eyes, breathlessness and a blocked nose, as well as the possibility of ear and lung infections.

All of these can easily be kept at bay with a regular ductwork cleaning plan.

2. Risk of fire

Fire is another huge risk when dust and dirt, grease and grime build up within your air ducts. A single spark can quickly ignite a whole building. There are many kitchen restaurant fires every year originating in ductwork and quickly spreading through the ductwork system – with devastating results not only for the restaurant itself, but for occupants of adjoining buildings, or even higher floors in a hotel or apartment block. All completely avoidable with regular ductwork cleaning.

3. Risk of invalid insurance

Going hand in hand with your legal obligation to have your ductwork cleaning carried out regularly, many insurance companies will stipulate that, without proof of this requirement having been fulfilled, your business insurance policy will be invalidated, especially in the event of fire.

This could leave you with a pile of bills for all of the damage, while not being compensated for loss of earnings during the time that your business is out of action.

When having your ductwork cleaning carried out by the professionals, you can be assured that all of your supporting ductwork cleaning paperwork will be in order should the worst happen.

4. Increased productivity

It is now recognised that keeping your ductwork cleaning up to date can help to minimise the effects of sick building syndrome. In their ongoing work into the effects of air quality on performance within the workplace, the International Centre for Indoor Environment & Energy at the Technical University of Denmark have reported that poor indoor air quality in buildings can decrease productivity, and cause visitors to express dissatisfaction. They report that the size of the effect on most aspects of office work performance appears to be as high as between 6 and 9%. They also state that it is usually more energy efficient to eliminate sources of pollution than to increase outdoor air supply rates.

And a healthier and happier workforce will be better engaged and more productive, potentially increasing your bottom line.

5. Cheaper bills

With energy costs on the rise almost constantly, it’s also important to your bottom line to make sure that appliances such as your heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) units are working as efficiently as possible. As dust builds up within your ducts, the system has to work harder to force the air through them.

With regular ductwork cleaning, you can be sure that the dust is kept to a minimum and that your HVAC system is giving its optimal performance.

Ductwork Cleaning from Ingot Services

At Ingot Services we are a fully qualified and trained ductwork cleaning company. Using specialist equipment, we will clean through your whole HVAC system, eliminating the dust and dirt that can play host to germs, cause fires, and limit the efficiency of your system. Issuing a certificate on completion, with us you can be sure that your ductwork cleaning has been done to the highest of standards, satisfying your legal obligations and keeping your insurance company happy.

Find out more about ductwork cleaning from Ingot Services or call to book a no obligation consultation today on 0800 731 7892.

Primary Risks of Kitchen Fires

There are number of causes of commercial kitchen fires, here are ten causes that you should take steps to avoid or minimise.

1. Flames, sparks or hot gases from cooking can ignite combustible deposits inside extract ducts.
2. Superheated oils leading to spontaneous ignition.
3. Individual equipment not switched off, especially on cessation of business.
4. Solid fuel cooking equipment such as barbecues.
5. Cooking equipment, which is left unattended during operation.
6. Thermostats not working properly, and the absence of a second high-level safety thermostat.
7. Metal extract ducts are good conductors of heat and can ignite nearby building materials or litter.
8. Gas torches used to brown some dishes.
9. Cooking equipment, which is left unattended during operation.
10. Combustible food debris trapped in the grease filter.

How to Avoid a Fire in Your Kitchen Extract Fan

The number of commercial kitchen fires started due to dirty extract systems has increased. So what can you do to reduce the likelihood of a fire starting on you premises. Here are somethings you should do to prevent a fire:

1. Make sure all your ducted systems are as safe as possible.
2. Instigate daily on site maintenance - cooker hoods and grease filters should be cleaned daily, the former by wiping and the later by washing. To prevent the build up of grease and other hazardous waste.
3. Have your systems cleaned regularly by a specialised duct cleaning company. The frequency will depend on the level of usage for cooking equipment;
   Usage           Hours per day          Cleaning frequency
   Heavy            12-16                        3 monthly
   Moderate        6-12                         6 monthly
   Light               2-6                           Annually

A reputable duct cleaning company will issue a completion certificate which your insurance company will need to see to ensure that you are insured for fire damage.

Abseiling and Duct Work Cleaning

Recently, the only way two of our operatives could get to clean a particular duct work system was by abseiling. Both guys has been a proper training course in order to do this.

Take a look - rather them than me!