Hospital HVAC Preventative Maintenance

Health & Fitness

  • Author Darren Lowrey
  • Published December 21, 2017
  • Word count 663

Keeping up with HVAC in a hospital environment is crucial. Even an hour of poor HVAC performance or malfunction contributes to hospital-acquired infections and equipment malfunction of CAT Scan and MRI Machines. A study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control concludes 1 out of 25 patients in the United States will come down with at least one airborne infection during their medical stay. That’s approximately 750,000 people a year.

Hospitals cannot afford the health of any patient in the building if anything breaks down, which is why it’s important to hold the HVAC system to the highest of standards. Today, we’d like to highlight key points that makes preventative HVAC maintenance necessary for all hospitals.

Well-Maintained HVAC for Hospitals is Essential

Hospitals need to have a sterile environment to fight the thousands of sicknesses and diseases that comes through its doors every day. Lots of bacteria and viruses travel through the air, and the primary HVAC system is responsible for keeping up with the situation and limiting the risk of sickness. When the HVAC system doesn’t get the care it requires, a hospital is at serious risk of exposing every patient to more illnesses than they’re already dealing with.

There are ways for a hospital to prevent a disaster like this from ever occurring. The first step is to replace all traditional filters with certified HEPA filters. HEPA stands for High-Efficiency Particulate Air. HEPA filters help eliminate contamination coming in from two places, airborne and endogenous sources. It’s design traps small particles as small as .3 microns (including pollen, dust, viruses and tobacco smoke) and is 99.97% efficient. In conclusion, a HEPA filter significantly reduces the amount of airborne infections that pass through the ventilation in a hospital.

The second thing hospitals need to do is contact a professional HVAC team. To make sure that the HVAC system in place is running at peak performance, special HVAC equipment needs to be in place. This includes HEPA filters, special filter fan units, fiber filters, quiet air-mixing systems, built-in wall heating/cooling units, multiplex air jet outlets and more. Investing in the best HVAC equipment for a hospital is big for keeping the air clean and at the right temperature for equipment like MRI machines and CAT scans. Factors like these may be the difference that may help save a person’s life.

Being Able to Control the Temperature is Crucial

It’s important to keep a hospital cold. Low temperatures and low humidity levels make it hard for bacteria to grow and cause problems for sick patients. However not all wards can be cold. For example, burn victims need to be in a warm environment to combat any signs of hypothermia. Through the advancement of HVAC technology and being able to control the temperature of individual rooms, it’s easy to make sure that all patients are in an optimal temperature environment fit for their needs.

Controlling the temperature also comes under pressure when doctors perform MRI, CAT or EEG scans. Each piece of equipment has its own heating, cooling and air quality requirements, and any test results may widely vary if the temperature conditions of the room are not correct.

This means that all temperature regulating systems need taking care of. To make sure that nothing is wrong with them and the hospital always has complete control over the temperature in any room, call out a professional HVAC technician to look at the system.

HVAC Maintenance May Significantly Reduce Costs

Running a hospital can be incredulously expensive, and one way to save money on operations is by upgrading the HVAC. The U.S. Department of Energy knows of one hospital that replaced their entire HVAC equipment and are using 50% less energy that’s going towards more MRI and CAT scans, for a lower price. The bigger the hospital, the bigger the savings. Seeing how much a hospital can save on money and energy every month is only a phone call away.

For more information on what preventative HVAC maintenance can do for a hospital, contact Select ACR today online (http://selectacr.com) or by phone at (951) 784-1070.

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