Lac La e Health Biche Centre

Don’s Power Vac and A-1 Ductworks completed the cleaning of the Lac La Biche Health Centre in 2007. Using NADCA cleaning methods we completed the Duct Cleaning to the standards required for this project.

Healthcare Centre Manager: Gislind Moehrle

Chief of Medical Staff: Dr. Richard Birkill

The William J. Cadzow Healthcare Centre has a 42 bed continuing care wing with 1 respite bed. The continuing care wing has a team of health professionals and support staff in the following departments: Administration, Admitting, Food Services, Health Records, Housekeeping, Laundry, Maintenance, Nursing, Nutrition Services, and Rehabilitation Services.

Nursing services are provided on a twenty-four hour basis under the supervision of a registered nurse. Nursing services is a partnership between the nurses, the personal care aides, the doctor, the resident and the family, in meeting the holistic needs of the residents. Nursing staff work closely with all other departments to maximize the quality of life of each resident.

Furnace Cleaning and Duct Cleaning Clients

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Dryer Vent Cleaning Technique

1. Standard Cleaning Procedure: All dryer vents are cleaned from the outside using high pressure compressed air with a reverse skipper ball that sends the skipper ball rocketing down the venting to the base of the dryer. Once the skipper ball has gone as far as it will go we start to retract the skipper ball back towards us pulling all the debris and and lint back to the outside where it is collected into a large truck mounted vacuum system.

2. Challenge Cleaning: This type of cleaning is preformed when the dryer system is completely plugged up of not accessible from the outside due to height or concealed from sight. We disconnect the dryer from the venting and insert the Viper Cleaning System into the venting using the Air Whip fitting. The Viper System is a high pressure compressed air cleaning system that uses different fittings that are attached to the end. 250 pounds on air pressure is forced through the Viper System that forces the air out forward, using the Air Whip fitting which has many small air tubes that whip around in the ducting loosing the debris and lint from the walls of the venting well pushing and the lint to the outside of the home. This method is used when cleaning commercial dryer vent systems.

I often get asked how often you should have the dryer vent system cleaned. Well the answer is different depending on the type of dryer in the home, the amount of use the dryer receives, the amount of venting attached and how many elbows are in the dryer vent system.

A simple rule is the more air the dryer system can move the less lint that will build up in your dryers venting. With this fact in mind it’s safe to say that a larger dryer with shorter venting will require cleaning less often than a stack able smaller dryer with the same distance in venting. If you have a large family and the dryer is used more often then its safe to say it needs to be cleaned more often. And the last thing to consider when determining whether you need to have your dryer vent cleaned more often or not is the amount of venting you have. If your venting is more than 20 feet long? does it have more than two elbows? if you answered yes to either question then you would need to have the dryer venting cleaned more often.

The average home should be cleaned every other year and homes that have longer venting, lots of elbows or a smaller dryer that does not move as much air should have the system cleaned every year.

Commercial dryer systems such as in a hair salon where many towels with loose fibers should be cleaned at least every six months.

Check out our Dryer vent cleaning calculator here: Dryer Vent Calculator at http://www.furnacecleaning.info

A-1 Ductworks is located in Fort McMurray, Alberta and can be reached at 780-972-7272 or by email at info@furnacecleaning.info

Lifebreath TFP Air Cleaner

Indoor Air Quality is a major concern for many people who suffer from allergies or asthma. Last week I installed one of our best Indoor Air Quality warriors in the Lifebreath TFP air cleaner.

My customer was faced with breathing problems that caused her to cough constantly when in the comfort of her own home. She called our company to have the furnace duct cleaning service performed and ask what other steps she could take to improve the indoor air quality in her home.

This is a fairly new home but has never had the furnace system cleaned in its five year existence. First we preformed our Viper cleaning method to insure that all the debris would be removed from the system. Next we removed the the drum humidifier that was never cleaned and full of mold and calcium buildup and not providing much humidity to the home, we replaced this with our Generalaire SL-16 Flow Thru Humidifier. After removing the sources of the poor indoor air quality we installed the best air cleaning system available today in the Lifebreath TFP air cleaner.

The Lifebreath TFP  “Turbulent Flow Precipitator” Air Cleaner removes close to 99.97% of particles such as pollen, fungus spores, dust, animal dander and dirt; removes some bacteria; and even removes a large proportion of particles as small as one tenth of a micron.

The features of the Lifebreath TFP are:

• Revolutionizing home air cleaning, combining two particle capture technologies to ensure clean, healthy air throughout your home
• It allows air to circulate freely without putting any extra load on your air distribution system.
• The TFP removes 99.97% of health-threatening particles from the air in your home.
• And has the lowest maintenance requirements of any air cleaner available. Check-up required only once a year.
• The Hepa filter replacement only required every 3 years. Operating continuously at maximum efficiency with minimum maintenance.
• Unlike electronic air cleaners the Lifebreath TFP does not generate any poisonous ozone which can damage your lungs.

I waited a few weeks before writing this article so that the customer would have time to adjust to the new indoor air quality in her home and report back to me how she was feeling, the news was fantastic, she is no longer coughing all day well in her home and is extremely pleased with the results of our service.

For more information about Furnace cleaning or other indoor air quality questions contact us in Fort McMurray at 780-598-5966

Main Furnace Duct Cleaning Site

Generalaire SL-16 Humidifier

Fort McMurray Alberta is a very dry place, it can be at times as dry as a desert. This can be devastating on hard wood floors, furniture and peoples sinus’s.

Most homes are only equipped with a plate humidifier which is a tray of water that refills with a float valve and sits above the furnace heat exchanger. When the warm air of the furnace is blown into the home it passes over the tray of water and provides humidity into the home. Unfortunately this is not a very effective form of humidifying and usually results in not enough humidity in the home and sometimes water over flows onto the furnace heat exchanger that can causes rusting and shorten the life span of the furnace.

Some homes are equipped with a “upgraded drum humidifier” I use the term loosely.  Drum humidifier’s are slightly better at providing humidity but with water sitting constantly in a tray filled by a float valve this type of humidifier is faced with the same problems as the tray humidifier with flooding and mold build ups.

At A-1 Ductworks we don’t offer these types of humidifiers at all to our clients. The only humidifier type that we offer are flow through style such as the Generalaire SL-16. This humidifier is very efficient at providing the home with proper humidity levels and is very low maintenance. The Flow through design works by pumping water by solenoid valve to the top of the humidifier and allowing it to “Flow Thorough” a evaporative pad that is exposed to hot air blowing over it provided by the furnace system, this give the humidity to the home. When the furnace shuts off or there is enough humidity the water stops flowing and what is left in the evaporative pad is drained out through a tube in the bottom of the humidifier down to the homes flow drain. This means that no water ever sits in the humidifier building up molds or calcium eliminating the chance of flooding or poor indoor air quality.

For more information on the General SL-16 Humidifier you can go to this page: General SL-16

To book an appointment for a estimate on a Humidifier Install please contact us at 780-598-5966 or find more information on our home page here: Furnacecleaning.info

Main Furnace Duct Cleaning Site

I had advised the customer to contact a sump pump company to first draw all the liquid out of the duct system before I start the cleaning process. Duct cleaning a system with in-floor ducting provides challenges that you do not face when cleaning a suspended ducting system, such as access is only available where ever the heat register is located. In a suspended furnace duct system you can make more access holes as required.

The good side of having a in-floor ducting system is there are fewer air leaks in the system which means stronger suction from the vacuum system. Because we have limited access holes we will use a combination of the Duct Brush system and  the Air Viper system to completely clean the duct system.

The cleaning went as expected and was a success with the system completely cleaned out. To finish the cleaning process when there was a septic backup we have to fog the furnace duct system with Benefect which will kill 99.9% of all germs and bacteria.

The furnace’s were two down flow Engineered Air Systems, I pulled the fans of both furnaces and cleaned the blowers, heat exchangers and the burner assembly. I also sprayed the blowers and blower compartments with Benefect. The customer supplied the filters to be replaced in the system.

With the system completey cleaned and Benefect spray applied the system is ready to be inspected by Health Canada so the customer can continue with the planned renovations.

Main Furnace Duct Cleaning Site