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1/312 EcoLibrium December 2004

Cleaning and decontaminating commercial and industrial HVAC systems is a seriousbusiness, with many associated risks and hazards. As Sean McGowan discovered,

its an area largely unregulated in Australia and one which requires high levels of training.

maintaining IAQa serious business

feature IAQ

Jeremy Stamkos

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If the idea of abseiling down a 150 metre cliff isnt

frightening enough, imagine abseiling down a

commercial buildings HVAC duct with a breathing

apparatus while cleaning the hazardous contamination

that has accumulated over the years.

Thats the task facing the staff of companies like Enviro

Air Pty Ltd, which provide specialist air system cleaningsolutions for commercial and industrial environments.

According to Enviro Airs managing director, Jeremy

Stamkos, the lack of Australian regulations has led to the

company acquiring NADCA (National Air Duct Cleaners

Association U.S.A.) accreditation, and seeking a host of

other training options for its staff to ensure it satisfies the

NADCA requirements.

Along with NADCA accreditation, our international

training covers areas such as property mould

remediation, biohazardous recovery, certified air systems

cleaning, ventilation systems mould remediation,

certified ventilation inspection and attendance at regionalworkshops, explains Stamkos.

Due to the difficulties encountered when accessing

HVAC systems, our teams must also be qualified in

general and mechanical plumbing, as well as asbestos

awareness and friable and non-friable asbestos removal.

Along with training specific to mould and other potentiallyhazardous contaminants, remediation technicians must

also have undertaken training in twin-rope industrial

access, safe working at heights and within confined

spaces, as well as the use of specialised personal

protection equipment (PPE) such as breathing apparatus.

If necessary, it can be quite a complicated and time

consuming activity to send technicians into ductwork,

says Stamkos.

Along with all their cleaning equipment when cleaning

vertical riser shafts, they must wear respiratory

protection; as well as carry ascension devices because

they not only have to go down 26 storeys, but they haveto climb all the way back up. Theres a lot of specialised

equipment involved to be able to go down safely and

come back up again.

Due to the obviously high OH&S risks associated with

sending cleaning technicians into HVAC ducts, the

company utilises cleaning robots wherever possible.

These robots (as pictured) are sent into ducts with a

range of tools to dislodge microbial growth and other

contaminants. As contaminants are dislodged, theyare extracted out of the system using HEPA equipped

negative air units.

It can be quite a complicated and time

consuming activity to send technicians

into ductwork

The remote robots work effectively up to

about 50 metres at a time

nset and next page some of the equipement used in HVAC system cleaning

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The remote robots generally only

work effectively up to about 50 metres

at a time. You then need to find or

create another access point to resume

cleaning, says Stamkos.

Unfortunately access pointsare not installed for cleaning

unless specified, so in many

instances, we have to install

them ourselves or use

existing access provisions

such as inspection

openings. We keep them to

a minimum to maintain the

integrity of the system, so

the further you can go with

your cleaning equipment,

the more efficient you are

going to be.

Robots are able to clean

the ductwork effectively by

using a series of brushes

and whips powered by

compressed air and other

gases, while a small camera mounted on

top of the robot allows the controller to

guide it through the ducts and verify the

effectiveness of

the cleaning process.

We try and do the majority of our work

with remote cleaning due to the OH&Sissues, but where we are required to

clean a shaft in a multi-storey building,

robots become obsolete and sending a

technician down is required to get the

job done.

Not only are there risks in what teams

find within ducts, but there are also

risks in the processes of cleaning,

especially when considering the use of

antimicrobials and other chemicals.

Such is the experience of Enviro Air

and their use of personal protection

equipment and engineering controls

(to contain airborne contaminants,

dust and fumes), that the company is

now providing other areas of hazardous

material removal, such as microbial and

asbestos removal.

Stamkos says that until the industry

is regulated in Australia, however,

some service providers will continue to

only clean what building owners and

operators can see, leaving the moredifficult to access areas to continue

to build up with mould and other

contaminants.

The only regulations and standards

existing refer to the installation or

servicing of mechanical ventilation

systems, hence the need for our

technicians to be trained in mechanical

plumbing. As far as how clean a HVAC

system should be, how you clean it and

how you control it there is nothing

existing in Australia, says Stamkos.

In the US, you must validate your

cleaning process by three different

methods by visual assessment; surface

comparison testing; or byhaving a swab analysed

independently.

Their standard also

regulates the use of anti-

microbial products. Here,

there is no regulation as

to what can be used to

disinfect HVAC systems.

As such, we only use

products that have been

authorized by the US EPA

(Environment Protection

Agency) or by the

Therapeutic Goods Authority

here in Australia and

designed for use in HVAC

systems.

Stamkos believes the

Australian industry should adopt the

American model and the American

Standard ACR-2005, which is called

up as regulation by ASHRAE and other

US state authorities. He says it is an

extremely comprehensive guideline that

only needs minor alterations for the localindustry.

Aside from cutting holes in ductwork,

working at heights and so on, its the

associated endemic health and safety

risks to building occupants, and also the

involved contractors, that should be the

biggest catalyst for Australian regulations

to get up and running relatively quickly.

14 EcoLibrium December 2004/January 2005

feature IAQ