Cleaning an apartment from pathogenic microorganisms is an important component of a successful disinfection procedure. However, in some cases, this measure will not be enough. After all, they can be affected by mold and fungus not only interior spaces in a building or structure. Cleaning may be required for the duct or the entire ventilation system apartment building. Ventilation ducts should also be cleaned regularly in commercial buildings. Here, this moment is mandatory regulated by law and requires the maintenance of relevant sanitary documents.

It is necessary to clean the ventilation and its maintenance in food production, in places where dirt, dust and grease accumulate. Ventilation equipment and air conditioning systems can be used here various ways regulation of gas exchange processes in the room. But the call of specialists, the price of which is set based on the complexity and scope of work, allows you to bring it in line with the requirements of the SES.

Why do you need to control air circulation?

Peculiarities modern architecture and building engineering involve the arrangement of forced or natural air exchange systems in buildings and structures. If normal ventilation is not enough to achieve the desired result, supply or supply and exhaust equipment is used to create the desired effect. However, if ventilation systems are not regularly cleaned, even if designed in accordance with all the rules, it will work with violations. As a result, instead of clean air dampness will accumulate in the room, mold and fungal deposits will appear.

Specialists of the company "site" remind:
Both business representatives and management companies need to regularly carry out procedures related to maintaining normal operation ventilation systems and air ducts. Here, norms and standards are set by the requirements of the SES and allow for the provision of opportunities for safe human life.

What is the danger of clogging the ventilation?

Why is cleaning so important? It is she who allows you to maintain the air exchange system in a safe condition for its operation. It is the serviceability of the ventilation ducts that ensures:

• normal circulation of air flows in the premises;
• withdrawal excess moisture and evaporation;
• elimination of pathogenic microorganisms, infections, as well as bacterial microflora;
• lack of opportunities for their clogging with waste products of rodents or insects.

Regular disinfection of channels and air ducts provides every opportunity to prevent possible appearance rodents, insects and other pests. If these objects have not been sanitized for years, there is no need to talk about a healthy or comfortable atmosphere in the house as a whole and its individual apartments. Here we will already talk about finding a solution that allows you to quickly and safely eliminate the sources of the problems that have arisen.

Existing rules and requirements

The first and most important thing to remember is that the cleaning of ventilation systems by non-professionals is permissible only within the framework of removing contaminants on the outer parts of the equipment. It is worth paying attention to the fact that this rule is also relevant for air conditioners. You just need to remember that for any manipulation, it is more difficult than simple cleaning dust, you should call professionals. As a rule, an integrated approach is used here, which makes it possible to successfully remove not only surface contaminants, but also hazards invisible to the human eye.

The use of chemicals special purpose non-professionals should be excluded due to the high risk of poisoning. Their use requires compliance with increased security measures. The equipment with which the work is carried out must be certified and comply with the established requirements. Mandatory at this stage is controlled by the effectiveness of the system.

Processing methods and steps

Professional cleaning of the ventilation system, performed by the site's specialists, is the basis for the successful and safe operation of air duct systems. We take an integrated approach and produce:

1. Dry mechanized cleaning, which allows you to create all conditions for the removal of dry dust, as well as contaminants accumulated since the previous disinfection treatment.
2. Manual contact action on the surface - in the presence of ingrained or difficult-to-remove contaminants, allows you to achieve the desired result and bring the object to the regulations established by sanitary standards.
3. Submission compressed air into the system, followed by cleaning the damper and automation.
4. Full-scale disinfection treatment using special technical and mechanical means.

It is this approach that will provide all the opportunities for successful sanitization. According to the results of the work, an appropriate act of disinfection will be drawn up.

Which organizations require mandatory work?

Cleaning of ventilation systems involves work related to maintaining the required level of sanitary safety. In office and commercial buildings, at residential infrastructure facilities, as well as in medical and educational institutions regular processing is regulated by established requirements and standards. In case of violation of sanitary standards, regulatory authorities impose penalties - in the form of fines, suspension of activities or complete closure of the business. That is why it is necessary to ensure the conclusion of relevant agreements on behalf of an enterprise, organization or entrepreneur even at the stage of opening own business.

All representatives of the business sector are controlled by Rospotrebnadzor. It is he who determines the processes associated with the conduct of production and industrial activities, and also monitors compliance with the established regulations by service enterprises.

What does the company "site" offer?

The specialists of the site company offer the conclusion of contracts for disinfection, as well as complex cleaning ventilation ducts and air conditioning systems. Professional approach, modern technical equipment and large practical experience allow us to easily cope with the execution of work in any volume. Even the most complex and neglected cases, our specialists can lead to the established sanitary standards. It is important to understand that when performing work, it is imperative to take into account the type of activity of the company or organization. The frequency of processing also depends on what exactly the company is doing.

For owners of their own business, we offer opportunities for successful and effective implementation sanitary impact on inner space ventilation or air conditioning systems. Based on the results of the cleaning performed by our specialists, control measures are taken to assess the efficiency of air exchange and the degree of its intensity.

Tsugunov Anton Valerievich

Reading time: 4 minutes

Residents of apartments rarely remember about normally working ventilation. But if windows begin to fog up in the rooms, the smell of dishes being prepared in the kitchen spreads freely throughout the apartment, water constantly appears on the walls in the bathroom, the air is stuffy and stuffy, then the ventilation system has stopped working normally. In order not to risk the health of people living in the apartment, the condition of furniture and other interior items, it is better to eliminate the causes of these problems as quickly as possible. This may require cleaning.

Checking the operation of the ventilation system

Before proceeding with active actions, you should check how the ventilation in the house works. Doing it yourself is not at all difficult.

On the forums, it is advised to check with the flame of a burning match or lighter. With a normally operating hood, the flame should deviate towards the ventilation grille. Many people remember similar pictures from Soviet times, calling to check the draft in the gas column and the hood in the kitchen.

Representatives of utilities, especially gas workers, strongly oppose the method of checking the operation of ventilation in an apartment with a lighter. IN residential buildings with main gas pipelines, gas leaks are quite possible, which should just be pulled into a common ventilation pipe. In this case, it is possible to provoke an explosion of a combustible mixture, which will lead to the most unfortunate consequences. Therefore, it is recommended to do the check in a safer way.

Similarly, you need to do with all the ventilation grilles to get the full picture. In most apartments, they must be in the kitchen, bathroom or bathroom.

Causes of clogged ventilation

The most common problem leading to malfunctions in the ventilation system is clogging of the channels that conduct air. Most often this happens due to the long-term accumulation of fat, soot and dust inside them, because most of the residents apartment buildings are limited to wiping the outer part of the gratings.

In old houses brickwork air ducts are destroyed under the influence of time and water getting inside, seeping from above or evaporating from the bathroom, and brick fragments can fill up the ventilation shaft, interfering with air exchange. There are frequent cases when unscrupulous tenants, wanting to improve their apartment and expand their living space, destroy the ledge in which the ventilation shaft passes, blocking the access of air to the apartments of the other inhabitants of the house. Uninvited tenants also contribute to blockages in ventilation: birds or wasps.

Residents of multi-apartment residential buildings should remember that cleaning of the main air duct should be carried out by representatives special services. So if the ventilation does not work due to clogging, you should contact management company that serves the house. The maximum that residents can do on their own is to clean the ventilation ducts leading from the apartment to common pipe duct.

How to clean ventilation

After checking each hood in the kitchen, bathroom and rooms, it will become clear which channels are clogged. If ventilation does not work in all rooms, most likely the problem is in the common channel and nothing can be done on your own, if only in one - there is a local blockage that can be eliminated. For this you need:

• Take off decorative grille and clean it from accumulated deposits. In this case, it is quite possible to use neutral detergents.
• Carefully remove dust, dirt and soot from the walls of the ventilation duct with a scraper, and then pull it out with a vacuum cleaner.

When cleaning, do not use aggressive chemicals that can corrode and damage the walls of the shaft. It is unacceptable for debris from the ventilation duct leading from the apartment to enter the common duct. When cleaning, care must be taken: sometimes nests of wasps or hornets are found in the ventilation.

Ways to improve ventilation in the apartment

What to do if cleaning the ventilation did not help? It is possible that the air circulation inside the apartment itself is disturbed. Having dealt with the causes of this violation, it is possible to improve the ventilation of the air in the living room.

Violation of air circulation between separate rooms

The first step is to repeat the test with a strip of paper, but at the same time open all interior doors. If the paper is attracted under such conditions, then the air circulation between the individual rooms of the apartment is disturbed. To improve it, it is recommended that when installing doors, make a gap between their lower edge and the floor of several centimeters.

If the doors are already installed or you don’t want to make such a gap, for example, in a bathroom or a bathroom, then you can drill a series of holes in the door, tilting inward. Subsequently, they should be decorated with a fine mesh. This design will provide ventilation with tight closed doors and will not violate the privacy of people in the bathroom or bathroom.

Airtight double-glazed windows

Another cause of ventilation problems can be the installation plastic windows with glass panes. In Soviet-built houses, the influx of fresh air from the outside was implied through small cracks and gaps in wooden window frames. Qualitatively installed plastic windows in a fully closed state exclude such replenishment. As a result, the ventilation in the apartment is also disturbed. Therefore, if you are thinking about installing double-glazed windows, then preference should be given to models with a micro-ventilation system.

Already installed double-glazed windows, devoid of such functional features, easy to modify yourself. There are inexpensive ventilation valves installed on the window frame and sash.

HELPFUL INFORMATION: Features of installing drywall boxes in the bathroom

If ventilation works well, we forget about its existence. We begin to be interested in how to clean the ventilation in the apartment when mold appears on the walls and the smell of dampness appears in the bathroom, the laundry dries for a long time, the windows fog up and you can determine by the smell what the neighbors are preparing for dinner. After all, an indispensable condition for a person's well-being is a constant supply of fresh clean air, and a violation of ventilation in an apartment leads to a decrease in efficiency, fatigue, the development of allergies, asthma and other chronic diseases.

Unfortunately, effective complex installations forced ventilation still remain the prerogative of modern residential complexes recent years the buildings. The vast majority of apartment buildings, both old "Khrushchev" and later nine-sixteen-story buildings, are equipped with ventilation systems with a natural impulse. This is the cheapest, well-known scheme to everyone, when ventilation ducts from each apartment are connected to a common vertical riser duct. There can be several reasons why the ventilation in the apartment, designed for natural air exchange due to "leaks" and cracks in windows and doors, does not work:

1. Replacing old windows modern double-glazed windows. For the "hood" to work with a natural impulse, a constant flow of air from the street is required, which was provided by the cracks of the old window. Hermetic heat-saving double-glazed window blocks the natural inflow of air, the humidity of the air rises, the windows constantly fog up, mold and the smell of dampness appear in the apartment. The room has to be constantly ventilated, as a result, the energy-saving function of plastic windows is not ensured and measures are required to improve ventilation.
2. The ventilation duct was clogged, blocked during the redevelopment of another apartment in the entrance, or air was removed from it from a very powerful kitchen hood. Natural ventilation of apartment buildings is calculated for air consumption of no more than 90 cubic meters. m / h and when connected to it only one kitchen hood that creates an air flow with a capacity of more than 1000 cubic meters. m/hour, ventilation systems neighboring apartments will inevitably suffer. If the ventilation riser is clogged, it will require professional cleaning, and in the second case, a complete repair of the ventilation in the apartment at the expense of the neighbor who created the problem.
3. In winter, the hood works well, and poor ventilation in the apartment is observed only in the summer heat. Basic condition effective work ventilation with a natural impulse is the temperature difference between indoors and outdoors.

   

   In summer, this difference is insignificant and the old norms of SNiP assumed that in summer the residents would ventilate the premises by opening the windows. Regular cleaning of the ventilation in the apartment can normalize the situation a little, but only the installation of a forced system will completely solve the problem.

Checking the operation of the ventilation duct

Knowing how to check the ventilation in an apartment with the help of improvised means, you can quickly determine the degree of its performance and take measures to improve its efficiency.

So, to check the draft in the ventilation duct, you need to open a window in any room and bring the flame of a lighter or candle to the vent in the kitchen or bathroom. If the ventilation works well, it will pull the flame towards the channel. True, representatives of gas services do not recommend using this method in houses with main gas supply because of its fire hazard in the event of a gas leak in any entrance apartment.

There is also a second safe way. At open window To ventilation grille you can bring a sheet of writing paper, but cigarette paper or thin toilet paper is better. A good draft should pull the paper towards the grate, meaning the ventilation works great.

In hot weather, the air is too "heavy" and efficiency natural ventilation cannot be verified by these methods. If, when checking in cool weather, the flame of the lighter remained motionless, and the paper sheet did not stick to the grate, the ventilation must be cleaned.

How to clean the ventilation yourself with improvised means

One of the most common reasons why ventilation in an apartment does not work well can be a common blockage: body fat, dust, dirt, small debris that have been accumulating in the ventilation ducts for years.

According to the rules for the operation of multi-apartment residential buildings, access for residents to the main engineering systems common use prohibited. Therefore, cleaning the ventilation in an apartment, as part of an apartment building, is a function of professional services that are licensed to perform such work and are well acquainted with the ventilation system in a particular house.

On the other hand, each owner of an apartment must maintain in order all the engineering systems and know how to clean the ventilation in the apartment, or rather, perform preventive cleaning of the ventilation duct that goes from the apartment to the common riser.

To do this, carefully remove the ventilation grill and wash off grease, dust and dirt from it. You can use neutral detergents. Dirt and grease from the walls of the channel adjacent to the hole must be scraped off with a scraper, and then, inserting into air vent vacuum cleaner hose, vacuum it well for 4-5 minutes, moving up and down the channel. After completing dry cleaning, wipe the accessible area of ​​​​the ventilation duct with a slightly damp cloth and close the hole with a grate.

Important! When cleaning the ventilation duct yourself, it is strictly forbidden to lower bulky objects into it on a rope or use aggressive products to dissolve stubborn dirt. chemical reagents and solvents. Only the use of dry ice is permissible, which perfectly dissolves fatty deposits and evaporates without leaving a smell.

An overview of ways to improve ventilation

Simple mechanical cleaning ventilation ducts, apartment and trunk, especially in houses old building not always able to improve the efficiency of the ventilation system. A few recommendations on how to improve ventilation in the apartment will help you choose the best budget option, thanks to which your home will be filled with clean fresh air and life in it will become pleasant and comfortable.

When replacing old windows with double-glazed windows, choose models with a micro-ventilation function. If problems with ventilation have arisen after the installation of plastic windows, special devices can be installed on them that will restore the natural flow of air from the street: ventilating valves or fittings that close the window without wringing and imitate the functions of cracks and leaks of old wooden windows. This inexpensive upgrade will save you from high humidity and the smell of dampness, but will not solve the problem of cleaning polluted street air.

To improve the ventilation of individual rooms, kitchens, toilets, bathrooms, you can install supply and exhaust fan. These devices are quite efficient, designed to work in conditions of high humidity and are available in window, ceiling or wall-mounted.

An integrated supply and exhaust ventilation system is capable of providing a high-quality atmosphere in a room for any purpose, but this expensive project requiring a complete renovation of an apartment in an old building. Apartments in modern new houses are already equipped with such a ventilation system.

Even in an apartment with efficient supply and exhaust ventilation you should not give up the advantages of natural ventilation, proven over the centuries, especially if the house is located in a green area. For example, a fireplace that ventilates the room well and dehumidifies the air is a great example natural structure ventilation and air conditioning, especially in winter.

In order for the air in the room to always be clean and updated in a timely manner, it is periodically necessary to clean the ventilation ducts.

Now we are not talking about chimneys that are polluted with soot - the usual ventilation system (both supply and exhaust) also needs to be cleaned.

Why and how is the air duct polluted?

There are always small particles of debris in the air around us that can enter the ventilation duct. For the exhaust duct, this is:

fat (which is removed through kitchen hood when cooking);

chemical compounds formed during the use household chemicals (detergents, washing powder) and when smoking;

to a lesser extent - other small particles that can get into the ventilation.

Since the air in the apartment is usually clean, the exhaust ventilation duct becomes polluted relatively more slowly than the supply air.

If we are talking about supply ventilation (coming from the street to the room) - then the rate of pollution will be significantly higher. The reason is that outdoor air is much dirtier than indoor air (if we are talking about the city).

In addition to dust, it contains:

• pollen;

harmful compounds from exhaust automobiles, industrial emissions.

In addition, channels supply ventilation can be clogged with larger debris: leaves, poplar fluff, small insects. Of course, if there is a ventilation grill at the entrance to the duct, then this can be avoided, but air with a lot of impurities will still pass through and pollute the system.

Separately, it should be said about natural ventilation and forced ventilation. In the first case (when air passes through the duct without the use of fans), pollution will occur more slowly. In the second case, when more air passes through the system, it will also get dirty faster.

What gets dirty the fastest?

WITH The cross section of air ducts - even in small private buildings - is quite large, therefore, on straight sections, pollution, although it goes on, is very slow.

Much faster polluted places where small particles have something to "catch" on:

• branching of ventilation ducts;

  diameter differences;

  filters (meaning not the filter element itself, but the areas near it, where the filter housing integrated into the ventilation system);

• fans;

  heat exchangers, heaters, coolers, humidifiers, dehumidifiers;

  gratings, anemostats, diffusers.

Around these places, dirt accumulates the fastest. Later, when a decent layer of pollution has already formed in the “problem” areas, it begins to expand further along the duct.

Why is air pollution dangerous?

Pollution of ventilation is dangerous for several reasons:

The internal section of the ventilation duct is reduced. As a result, less air passes through the duct.

Further overgrowth of the air duct with dust is accelerated. If small particles could catch on somewhere, deposits will grow faster and faster in this place.

The load on the fans increases, which means that their wear is accelerated.

The microclimate in the room worsens: the level of humidity rises, harmful compounds may be present in the air that cannot be quickly removed, the room becomes hotter and stuffier. As a result, it harms both the human body and the room itself (the risk of mold and mildew increases).

The risk of reproduction of pathogens, for which a dirty environment is favorable, increases. The most common consequence in humans is an exacerbation of allergies.

If we are talking about ventilation not in an apartment or house, but at some industrial facility, then the deposition of dust in the air duct is also a fire hazard. After all, dust flares up easily, which means that in the event of a fire, the air duct can easily become one of the ways the fire spreads through the building.

Such a fire can become especially dangerous at facilities where working area there are some combustible substances (which means that they will also be deposited in the ventilation system). At the same time, keep in mind that dust can flare up not only from open fire: A spark due to a static charge that has accumulated in the air duct can also be the cause.

How do you know if a cleaning is needed?

H To understand that the time has come to clean the air duct - it is not necessary to look into it regularly.

There are several signs by which you can determine that the system needs cleaning:

The room became stuffy and hot, if other conditions (weather, ventilation and climatic devices) did not change.

Dust on the floor and furniture accumulates very quickly.

Cobwebs accumulate on the ventilation grill and around it (both exhaust and supply).

Drafts that used to occur when opening windows or doors have now become weaker, or have disappeared altogether.

In addition to the "signs" listed above, there is also practical way Checking the performance of the ventilation shaft:

Remove the ventilation grill from the vent.

Rinse the grate.

Put the grill back in place. If the grate is not too dirty, the first 2 points can be skipped.

Open a vent or window.

Attach a sheet of paper to the ventilation grill. If it is “pulled” to the grate, it means that there is traction, and the traction is good. Please note: thick paper is not suitable, because even good traction will not always be able to “pull” a heavy sheet. It is better to use half a notebook sheet, a piece toilet paper or a piece of newspaper.

How to check the condition of the air duct and determine the degree of contamination?

If you notice the "symptoms" listed above - it's time to check the condition of the duct.

This is done visually: inner surface ventilation ducts are inspected and the amount of deposits is determined.

Inspection can be done in the following ways:

Through a special hole - a hatch. The inspection hatch in ventilation systems must be designed when laying air ducts. However, the hatches are usually far apart, so they only allow you to inspect most systems.

1. After removing the ventilation grill (especially important if manhole absent). This inspection option allows you to see a small part of the duct, but does not require special equipment. Relevant if you want to check the status, but there is no hatch in the system (or it is, but in another part of the system).

Remotely, with the help of special video equipment. This option allows you to evaluate any, even the most narrow or geometrically complex section of the duct.

If the inspection is carried out by specialists, they may have equipment for video inspection at their disposal. It can be an endoscope with a camera and a backlight that transmits video to the screen, allowing you to evaluate all parts of the ventilation system.

Ventilation shaft inspection method using video equipment (video)

How often should the ventilation system be cleaned?

In practice, it happens that in many buildings the ventilation systems are not cleaned for years (and in ordinary apartment buildings even for decades).

In fact, strict deadlines for inspections and cleanings exist only on some industrial enterprises. This is especially true for buildings where the production process leads to rapid contamination of the system. For example, this is relevant in Food Industry- extracts at such enterprises draw in fat and flour particles. For such systems, inspections and cleanings can be carried out frequently - and several times a year.

In residential complexes with management companies, as well as in commercial real estate, in which there are no factors that accelerate ventilation pollution, periods of regular inspections can be set, usually once every six months or a year. Such work is carried out by employees of the management company (or specialists who act on the order of the management company - if there are no “own” employees of this profile in its staff).

Self-inspection of ventilation ducts in your houses and apartments is recommended to be carried out periodically, also about once a year. Cleaning is done as needed.

Cleaning methods and technologies

WITH Air duct cleaning methods according to the principle of influence on deposits can be divided into:

Chemical.

Mechanical.

Cryogenic.

Chemical cleaning designed to remove fatty deposits (which mechanically almost impossible to remove completely).

The principle is to spray over the entire surface of the ventilation ducts special composition, which corrodes plaque. After that, the exfoliated deposits are carried out along with the air,or sucked out with a vacuum cleaner. This kind of cleaning It is usually used in the kitchens of restaurants, bars, cafes, canteens, and other catering establishments.

mechanical cleaning (simply scraping plaque from the walls of the channel)can be performed with various equipment:

Metal brushon a cable (in fact, it operates on the same principle as a cable for cleaning sewers). To increase efficiency, the cable can be electrically driven. Suitable for not too serious pollution, if there is no a large number fat.

At plant consisting of a device mechanical cleaning And vacuum cleaner . In this case, the brushes of the cleaning device scrape off the plaque, and vacuum cleaner - immediately sucks it. This method allowsclean up more serious contamination.

A robot equipped with a video camera and brushes. Allows you to work not "blindly", but to control the process on the monitor.

Scheme mechanical cleaning using a vacuum machine (vacuum cleaner)

WITH cleaned deposits can be removed either naturally(it is carried away with the air flow), or using a vacuum unit (essentially a powerful vacuum cleaner). It connects to the air duct and sucks all the dirt.

cryogenic blasting - the method is relatively new, being the most sparing and "clean". cleansing in this case, it is carried out with the help of “dry ice”, which is fed into the ventilation duct from a special installation.

In contact with the walls of the air duct, the "dry ice" granules instantly evaporate, creating microexplosions. It is they who clean off the entire plaque from the surface, while not damaging the walls themselves. With a microexplosion, only carbon dioxide, which is removed through the ventilation duct.

After such a procedure, the cleaned deposits are either removed from the duct naturally (carried away with the sweat of the air), or removed with a vacuum cleaner.

Mechanical ventilation cleaning (video)

Residents of apartment buildings: how to clean and what can you clean yourself?

WITH once about the main rule: residents of apartment buildings can clean their ownonly the section of the ventilation duct, which runs from the apartment to the "common" shaft. Mine - refers to common house property, and only employees of the management company or the housing office can clean it.

If you notice that the ventilation in the apartment has deteriorated, you can first try to clean "your" section of the ventilation duct.For work, it is recommended to use personal protective equipment - gloves, goggles, a "petal" respirator.

The stages are:

Remove the ventilation grill.It needs to be cleaned and washed..

Clear the space around the vent.

It is better to cover the floor around the hole with something - since dust and other deposits can fall out of it.

Use a flashlight to visually inspect the area as far as possible. If you have a monopod and an action camera at home, these gadgets can seriously help with the examination. Start video recording And put the camera on the monopod inside the ventilation duct.

Firstly, the kitchen (the first vent is located there) will not leave the smells and combustion products of domestic gas if you gas stove. Bad extract from gas boiler or columns can lead to an almost complete absence of traction, which in some cases causes poisoning of residents carbon monoxide, but it is generally not advisable to clean it yourself.

Secondly, not working ventilation in the bathroom will increase the time required for the room to dry out (reduce the amount of water vapor in the air), which will subsequently become the main cause of black spots of mold and fungus on the walls and ceiling of the room.

Thirdly, clogged ventilation in the toilet (if the channel is shared by several apartments) may start to work “in reverse side” and you can fully feel all the smells from the neighboring bathroom.

Examination

How to check the performance of ventilation in the apartment? First, remove the grates mounted on the walls and rinse thoroughly from dirt and dust. Then put them in place and open the window in the kitchen. Attach a sheet of paper to the ventilation grille. If he is “drawn” to it, then the ventilation works fine. Then repeat this procedure in the bathroom and toilet, leaving the doors to these rooms open.

In the case when a piece of paper is not attracted to the grate, this most often means only one thing - the ventilation is clogged and it will have to be cleaned. The second reason for the lack of traction is the unauthorized redevelopment of apartments on the upper floors, as a result of which the ventilation box. To eliminate such interference, you will have to file a complaint with the local architecture, since you simply will not be able to clean the ventilation in the apartment.

Another reason for poor ventilation is the replacement of old wooden windows with new plastic ones, which you keep tightly closed most of the time, blocking the natural flow of air into the apartment (and if the air does not come in, then there is nothing to go into the ventilation). In this case, either always leave one window slightly ajar, or cut a ventilation valve into the window.

This video will tell you how to check the operation of ventilation and advise where to go in case of blockage.

Basic Rules

It is impossible for private individuals to clean the main ventilation shaft of the building on their own, since it belongs to common house property (it is better to file a complaint about poor ventilation with the management company and entrust all the work to their craftsmen). When the experts arrive, notify all the neighbors whose apartments are located above you so that they are not surprised by the suddenly “activated” ventilation, pouring black dust out of itself.

But the ventilation duct leading from your apartment to the common house shaft can (and even needs to) be cleaned on your own:

• Push aside kitchen furniture(if you are cleaning a channel in the kitchen) and move a stepladder against the wall. It is better to put a layer of newspapers on the floor, as something may fall out of the ventilation.
• Attach a newspaper sheet to the bottom of the ventilation duct on masking tape (so that you do not have to wash the wallpaper or ceramic tiles later).
• Remove the grate covering the ventilation. Rinse it and wipe it (if you wish, you can replace it with a new one).
• Wear gloves for construction works and carefully rake out everything that you find in the ventilation duct, since you will not be able to clean the ventilation in the apartment in any other way. Be careful, glass or nails can get in, so it's best to arm yourself with a small spatula. If the ventilation duct is made in a panel or brick wall, it can contain a lot of "interesting", ranging from pieces of a frozen solution to the corpses of mice and birds.

• Remaining dirt can be removed from the channel with a vacuum cleaner.
• Reinstall the grate and check the draft again when open window. If the situation has not improved, contact the management company for help.