Do you remember as teenagers when we’d complain about people telling us what to do? And now, as adults, we’d kill for a guide that would lead us all to happy, successful lives? Times change.
In a similar vein, we’re going to make an educated guess and say you’ve got no clue how often your air ducts need to be cleaned or when the last time they were actually cleaned.
That’s okay because air duct cleaning falls into that category of maintenance that’s easy to forget about, because it’s all hidden behind walls and ceilings. Nothing’s obviously broken, and everything seems fine.
Here’s exactly how often you need to schedule a commercial air duct cleaning in DMV.
3-5 Years Is the Baseline
The National Air Duct Cleaners Association recommends inspecting commercial HVAC systems annually and cleaning them every 3-5 years as a baseline.
But that’s a baseline for standard office buildings with normal occupancy doing normal office things. Your building might need more frequent cleaning. Or in rare cases, you might be able to stretch it slightly longer.
It all depends on what your building does and how it’s used.
Also Read: NADCA Standards for Air Duct Cleaning in DMV
What Your Building Does Changes Everything
1. Restaurants and Commercial Kitchens
If you run a restaurant, your HVAC system is constantly exposed to grease, smoke, cooking oils, and food particulates.
Commercial kitchens need aggressive cleaning schedules. High-volume kitchens should be looking at quarterly cleaning. Lower-volume operations can sometimes stretch to annual, but even that’s pushing it.
2. Manufacturing Facilities
Now this depends entirely on what you’re manufacturing. Facilities producing dust, chemicals, or particulates contaminate ductwork quickly, so an annual cleaning makes sense. Other manufacturing operations create combustible dust hazards that make duct cleaning a safety issue, not just a maintenance one.
3. Healthcare Facilities
Hospitals, clinics, and medical offices have strict air quality requirements because contaminated air in healthcare settings creates health risks for vulnerable patients, such as those on chemo.
Healthcare facilities also deal with higher humidity from sterilization equipment and higher occupancy than typical offices. Anywhere between 2 and 3 years would be a good baseline.
4. Schools and Educational Facilities: Every 2-3 Years
High occupancy, kids bringing in dirt and germs, and often aging HVAC systems in older school buildings. Schools are also liable for student and staff health, making air quality a priority.
Ideally, schedule cleaning every 2 to 3 years and before each school year starts, so students return to clean air, not accumulated summer dust.
5. Shopping Centers: Every 3-4 Years
Shopping centers are swarming with people day in and day out. High foot traffic brings in outdoor contaminants, but operations are generally clean otherwise. The constant door opening brings in more outdoor air than sealed office buildings, so air duct cleaning every 3 to 4 years is a good estimate.
The Cost of Not Cleaning Your Commercial Air Ducts
You might be enticed to think you could save a bunch of hundreds of dollars by skipping commercial air duct cleaning in DMV altogether. But that’s not a great idea. Here’s why:
Higher Energy Bills
Dirty ducts make your system work harder to move the same amount of air, consuming more electricity for the same heating or cooling output. That’s costing you a lot more than an air duct cleaning service would.
Shortened Lifespan
Contamination causes premature wear on expensive components such as blower motors, heat exchangers, compressors. Replacing these costs thousands to tens of thousands more than regular duct cleaning.
Proper maintenance extends HVAC lifespan by years. Skipping it means replacing expensive equipment sooner.
Reduced Indoor Air Quality
Your employees, customers, or tenants are breathing whatever’s in your ducts. Poor indoor air quality leads to increased sick days, reduced productivity, and potential liability if someone can prove your building made them ill.
Insurance Issues
Some jurisdictions and insurance policies require documented HVAC maintenance, including duct cleaning. Failure to maintain systems properly can result in insurance issues.
Fire Hazards
Dust accumulation in ductwork creates fire risks, especially in manufacturing or commercial kitchen environments. Duct fires can happen to the best of us, and the aftereffects are devastating to say the least.
Read More:
Cleaner Air Ducts, Better Business!
When your commercial building needs duct cleaning or inspection, Delta Clean Air DMV provides commercial air duct cleaning in DMV for all building types with NADCA-certified technicians and complete ACR standard compliance.
We assess your building, come up with maintenance schedules, provide documentation for insurance, and clean the entire HVAC system. Your building’s HVAC system is a major investment. Scheduling maintenance sessions to protect it costs a fraction of what you’d pay to replace them.
Reach out to us today!
