From large office buildings to private homes, an increasing number of premises have air conditioning and ventilation systems. Britain lags a long way behind the US in this, but numbers are growing all the time, and air conditioning could become more important in the future, if climate predictions prove right.
Of course, you can’t just install air conditioning and forget about it. That should be obvious, but a surprising number of building owners don’t seem to understand this.
Poor Ventilation Maintenance
Historically, air conditioning systems in large buildings have been poorly maintained, a situation the Guardian some years ago attributed in part to the fact that “Day-to-day running of the system is likely to be in the hands of people who have traditionally been unskilled, such as boilermen and porters. No thought is given to upgrading their skills.”
Awareness of the need to clean and maintain systems has increased since that article was written, but the basic problem is still that few businesses, and even fewer homes, have someone qualified to keep the ventilation running at peak capacity. What everyone needs is reliable ventilation system servicing from professionals such as Filtrex.co.uk.
Keeping Up the Maintenance
The Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers stresses how vital it is not only for a ventilation system to receive maintenance, examination and testing, but also to be cleaned regularly. In particular, the filters need to be regularly removed to be cleaned, or periodically replaced. If this isn’t done, not only will the system not work efficiently, but it will eventually start to circulate poor-quality air, instead of fresh air.
With a home ventilation system, basic cleaning of the filters shouldn’t be beyond a competent DIYer, and this can be done regularly through the summer — always remembering to turn the power off completely before opening up any part of the system.
As howstuffworks.com points out, though, “a professional service person should be called for almost any maintenance other than routine cleaning. Central air conditioners should be professionally inspected and adjusted before the beginning of every cooling season.”
Regular Servicing
If you have a ventilation system in your home, let alone in a larger building, it should be serviced on a regular basis, just like you have your boiler serviced. A professional engineer should visit at the beginning of summer and inspect the system, make any repairs necessary, and clean or replace the filters, leaving the system running at full capacity for (hopefully) the hot weather to come.
That just leaves you the basic cleaning through the summer to keep it that way.