What You Need To Know About the NADCA Air Duct Cleaning Vacuum Test
Posted by Peter Haugen on Thu, Jul 07, 2011 @ 03:27 PM
The requirement for the NADCA Vacuum Test is appearing more and more frequently in cleaning specifications for commercial air duct cleaning projects. This article will help explain what it is, how you do it, what equipment you need and where to get that equipment.
What is the NADCA Vacuum Test?
The NADCA Vacuum Test is one of three methods to verify your cleaning results.
- Method 1 is a "Visual Inspection" where you and your customer agree that a surface is clean.
- Method 2 is a "Surface Comparison Test" where you contact vacuum a surface that has already been cleaned to see if there is a difference. If you can see a difference then the surface is not clean. If you cannot see a difference then the surface is clean and you have passed the Surface Comparison Test.
- Method 3 is the "Vacuum Test" is a scientific approach where you use a vacuum cassette with filter media that is attached to a calibrated air pump. You then pass the open face of the cassette over the opening in a template. The cassette collects any remaining particulate on the surface. You then send the cassette to an IAQ Lab for analysis. The lab basically weights the cassette to determine how much particulate was picked up. This particulate must not exceed .75mg/100cm². If it does, you have failed the test.
The exact procedures for all three of these cleanliness verification methods and equipment specifications are detailed in NADCA’s cleaning specification call Assessment, Cleaning and Restoration of HVAC Systems - ACR 2006 on pages 24 and 25. Contact NADCA at www.nadca.com or call 202-737-2926.
You Will Need the Following Items:
- A copy of ACR 2006 (from NADCA).
- The plastic template (from NADCA).
- An air sampling air pump that can be calibrated to an accuracy of + and – 5% at 15 liter per minute of air flow (can be found at www.zefon.com: Z-lite – IAQ Pump, costs $169.00).
- Filter media within the vacuum cassette must be 37mm mixed cellulose ester (MCE) matched weight filters (0.8 micrometer pore size preloaded in a three-piece cassette) can be found at www.zefon.com: cassette # 7M93M, costs $200.00 for 50 cassettes).
- You will need to find a Lab to send the cassettes too. If you type in “air testing labs” in any search engine like Google, Bing etc. you will see a list of labs that you can contact to find out the mailing procedures, cost, turnaround time and type of report you get.
If you have any questions please call me at 800-597-3955 or 952-808-1619. Go to this link if you are looking for air duct cleaning equipment and tools to help you pass these cleaning verification tests.