Anyone looking at making their buildings Covid-safe should begin with the fundamentals of cleaning the system, says Paurick Gaughan
Since the importance of airborne transmission to Covid infection became clear, the ventilation and air purification industries have gone into overdrive and barely a day seems to go by without the launch of a new device or filter to combat it.
But when all the glamorous new technology has been considered and showcased, the most tried and tested method remains – cleaning the HVAC unit. Whether you have an existing system or a shiny new one, it still has to be manually cleaned, no matter what technology you use.
An HVAC system has to be physically serviced and maintained, if it is to deliver its optimum performance, so that presents the ideal opportunity for a thorough clean.
And if you are going to clean it anyway, it also presents the opportunity to review what you are cleaning it with. The Air-clear HVAC coil cleaner, available either as a concentrate or ready made-up, is a surgical grade cleaner, tested and certified by virology labs as effective against COVID-19.
Gel-clear’s tablets for refrigerated display cases revolutionised the maintenance of condensate drains by coating the drains in an antibacterial shield which prevents the growth of biofilms, rather than a ‘urinal block’ type of disinfectant that sits in the condensate tray.
The same antibacterial coating method has been applied to the Air-clear coil cleaners, but instead the HVAC coil is coated with the antibacterial shield. This has been proven in independent testing to remain effective for eight weeks, meaning that not only is the coil clean, it is kept clean.
The Air-clear range is certified non-hazardous, meaning that the air quality isnt compromised by the introduction of harmful chemicals. It is also NSF registered for use in food preparation areas. A further benefit of the non-hazardous composition is there are no COSHH requirements for its use, transport or handling requiring no PPE.
Whatever ventilation or air purification technology is ultimately chosen by the building operator, the coil is where the rubber meets the road in HVAC, so that’s where the fight for clean air should start. Simply put, by keeping the coil clean, you can keep the air clean.