Investigation of air treatment installations (former page)
General/ Contamination/ Investigation methods

General (top of page)
Air treatment installations are designed to optimise the indoor environment as much as possible: constant temperature and relative humidity. Good working conditions are important to both employees and employer. They improve productivity and working joy and help to minimize sick leave.

Air treatment installations (top of page)
To investigate the pollution degree of air treatment installation Monit’air has developed an own measurement system. This means that several control units are integrated into the air treatment installation.
This so-called PIP-system (Permanent Inspection Point) has proven to be very useful and effective during the last years. Our PIP-system plays an important role as to maintenance, improvement and eventual cleaning of air treatment installations. Over the years the air treatment systems grow filthy: dust, micro-organisms, mould and yeast are passing through the filters and deposit in the installation and air ducts. Dust particles accumulate and contain bacteria, which are carried along with the ventilation air and penetrate into spaces which are connected to the air treatment system by means of air supply grilles.

Contamination by means of micro-organisms (top of page)
The chances that micro-organisms are able to survive, to grow or to proliferate depend among other things on the presence of water, nutrients and light, the quantity of air, temperature and acid value. The stability of the environment is also important as it is jointly responsible for the velocity of micro-organisms to proliferate. In some cases it is a succession of various micro-organisms, by which the predecessors leave metabolic excrements in the environment, which are at the same time new nutrients for their successors.

The purity of the air is extremely important for the health of employees and other building occupants. The contact with micro-organisms and other dust particles which are present in the air, are in many cases the cause of complaints and/or health hazards. Many micro-organisms, which are normally in the outside atmosphere can also be found inside of buildings.

Micro-organisms such as viruses, bacteria, yeast and mould are among other things carried into the buildings by means of men and animals, but in particular also by air currents. These air currents are caused by the to and fro moving of people and also by air treatment systems.

Causes of contamination  (top of page)
The increase of micro-organisms depends on various facts such as poor air filtering, internal pollution of air treatment systems and air ducts, insufficient air supply or air draw out, insufficient regular maintenance, savings on cleaning cost, excessive use of return air, exceeding building occupation, exceeding relative humidity, exceeding presence of special plants and/or domestic animals and bad hygienic conditions. The presence of organic dirt and vegetative materials may cause that micro-organisms congregate and proliferate. For this reason it is extremely important to avoid dirt accumulation.

Investigation method (top of page)
To gain insight into the nature, type and extent of pollution there will be first a very secure inspection including sampling of the air treatment installation and air ducts. Such an investigation consists of various steps, which can be carried out separately or combined with each other.


Phase 1: Inspection by means of PIP-system
Phase 2: Sampling
Phase 3: Analysis
Phase 4: Cleaning
Phase 5: Disinfection
Phase 6: Report
Phase 7: Quality control by means of PIP-system


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For more details please feel free to contact Monit'air. We will be pleased
to inform you without further obligation about our investigation methods and costs.

Phase 1: Inspection by means of PIP-system (top of page)
Each air treatment system is different as a result of individual design criteria and different building locations. The positioning of the fresh air suction grilles, the construction of the housing, the air speed in the system, the location of the building (city, seaside or mountains), as well as the material and the design of the air ducts are all aspects which have a great influence on the internal extent of pollution of air treatment systems.

In order to follow and analyse the pollution problems, which occur in existing or newly installed air treatment systems, Monit’air developed the so-called PIP-system, standing for Preventive Inspection Point. This unique system specialized in dust sampling and supervising can be used in addition to local cleaning and disinfection of air treatment installations. Our PIP system can be mounted in a couple of minutes in air ducts within easy reach.

Air ducts, which are provided with our PIP system, can be surveyed with the help of industrial endoscopes. The nature, extent and location of the pollution is registered and – if necessary – photographed. For extensive air treatment systems a moving camera linked to a video system is used, enabling to monitor an air duct while recording the result on video within a short period of time.

Visual inspections of air treatment systems and air ducts are carried out according to check lists, which have been especially developed to this purpose. Pictures are added in order to prove, clarify and underline the comments of the inspection report.

Phase 2: Sampling (top of page)
The visual inspection can be followed or completed by an extended environmental technical research. Depending on the result of the various steps of the preliminary examination, the following samples can be collected:



  •  Micro-biological investigation of dust, water and/or air in air treatment systems and air ducts and/or the air present in the system.
  • Investigation of dust quantities and/or composition of present dust in air ducts and air treatment installations.
  • Continuous air dust measurements complete with dust composition analyses in air treatment systems.
  • Dust pollution and dust deposit measurements.
  • Evaluation of the level of technical maintenance with the help of sample analyses and visual inspection.

Phase 3: Analysis  (top of page)
As Monit’air has all the necessary detailed know-how gathered during many years of investigation and consultancy, all dust samples can be analysed by our internal professional team. Dust samples refer principally to following materials:


Carbon / Crystalline /Insects
Rust / Textile / Aluminium
Mineral wool / Wood / Animal excrements/Muck
Paint / Copper / SteelBrass /Bronze /Plastic / Rubber
Glass wool / Foamed plastic / Skin scales
Glue / Paper /Synthetic fibres /Polyester / Organic material /
Grease / Hair / Ferromagnetic particles /Soot


Micro-biological analysesof air samples are carried out by an independent approved laboratory, able to research all kinds of micro-organisms.

A standard analysis renders the following information:

I. Bacteria
The total number of bacteria (aerobes germination number)
Specifications as to the Gram’s stain:
- Gram’s positive coccus and bacillus (rod-shaped)
Specific determination:
Gram’s positive coccus:
-Microcossus
-Staphylococcus spp.

Gram’s positive rod-shaped bacillus
-Streptococcus spp.
-Bacillus spp.

Gram’s negative coccen:
-cannot be determinated

Gram’s negative rod-shaped bacillus:
-Enterobacteriaceae spp.
-Pseudomonas spp.
-Termophiee actinomyceten

II. Mould and yeast
The total number of mould/yeast

Specific determination:
-Aspergillus spp.
-Penicillium spp.
-Mucor spp.

III. Endotoxin
If necessary or specifically requested, the standard investigation can be completed with an endotoxin analysis in order to establish the total number (?g)of endotoxin per m³ air.

An independent approved laboratory, able to research all kinds of micro-organisms, carries out micro-biological analyses of water samples. All water samples are tested at the aerobes germination number of 22 °C and 37 °C, establishing as well if, and to what extent, Enterobacteriaceae and/or Colibacterai are found in the samples. Water can also be sampled in order to establish an eventual appearance of Legionelle pneumophila bacteria.

The composition of the present air dust is established by means of vacuum pumps. equipped with special filter membranes. A determined air quantity will be conducted through the special filter membranes of the calibrated vacuum pump. Dust type and size are established in our own laboratory.

Thermal climate, short and long-term measurements of indoor climate are carried out by means of a thermal comfort meter according to the NEN-ISO norm.

All other physical measurements are carried out with special measurement equipment according to the relevant international guidelines.

Report
The final investigation and laboratory results will be submit as a report to the customer. The analysis results are compared with the valid norms and current directives. Apart from the facts, the report will contain extended management information and recommendations enabling the customer to realise improvements if necessary.
If renovation, cleaning and/or disinfection are necessary, these works can be carried out by third parties in accordance with the customer. If requested, Monit’air is able to monitor the works and approve the final result on the customer’s behalf.

Phase 4: Cleaning  (top of page)
If the inner pollution degree of an air treatment system or air ducts exceed the valid norms, or dust-free production procedures are having an above-average failure rate, Monit’air has the professional knowledge to take care of the necessary cleaning procedure on behalf of the customer. The first step will be to establish if, and to what extent, cleaning is necessary or desirable. At this stage it is a major advantage if the system has already been equipped with PIP’s. With the help of an endoscope it can be easily established which part of the air treatment has been affected. This enables a functional approach which is considerably more effective and less expensive than cleaning the whole system.

Phase 5: Disinfection  (top of page)
After the cleaning work the air ducts can also be disinfected – if required – by means of the PIP adaptor. For instance in case mould or bacteria have been established by the laboratory analyses, or in case the production procedure or duct construction requires this kind of precautionary measure.

Phase 6: Report (top of page)
After the final control and implementation of all project details and laboratory results, the final report regarding the cleaning procedure can be completed. The analysis results will be compared to the valid norms and current directives. The report contains extended management information and recommendations in order to realize improvement if necessary.

Phase 7: Quality control by means of the PIP-system (top of page)
After integration of the PIP system, the air treatment installation starts a second live. The PIP system can be used for continuous control of the dust concentration in the system. By mounting an additional ‘Pollution Detection Capsule’ the system is able to sample conditioned air 24 hours a day. It is possible to place this capsule in different kind of filters.
Once per investigation period the special filter membrane will be replaced by a fresh filter and analysed in our laboratory. Nature and size of dust are established and compared to the results of previous periods. This dust analysis establishes the qualitative and quantative dust increase or decrease. A report is presented which contains graphics, comments and advise. All analyses of Monit’air are automatically recorded, therefore a very useful data base has been created with many up-to-date comparative values.