Ventilation in a bathroom, toilet or combined bathroom inevitably becomes dirty during operation. This leads to a deterioration in draft, to the point that in just a few minutes, with the door closed, it becomes impossible to breathe in the room. Cleaning the ventilation helps solve this problem.
How to check ventilation draft
Open the windows in the apartment and the door in the bathroom.
Place a piece of napkin against the ventilation mesh. Let go. If the napkin remains in place, the traction is fine. The method is suitable for hoods without a check valve. You can also determine the draft by the steam settling on the mirror - after opening the door it should disappear instantly. Ventilation is an air duct in the wall that leads from the apartment to the general building system. Cleaning the ventilation in a bathroom, toilet or combined bathroom can be done independently or with the help of SES specialists, but only in the territory of your own apartment. If a problem occurs in the general building ventilation system, you must report it by calling the unified dispatch service of the housing and communal services of your city/settlement. All necessary work in the house is organized by the management company.
How to know when it's time to clean your ventilation system
Residents of modern houses are rarely interested in the state of ventilation. After some time, condensation forms on the walls in the bathroom, the steam does not disappear, and the air feels musty and stale.
Cleaning the ventilation system will help protect the health of your family, extend the life of your plumbing, and get rid of these troubles.
Cleaning the exhaust fan
The need to clean the exhaust fan is primarily indicated by squeaks during operation, sudden stops, and increased noise levels. You should not immediately throw the fan into a landfill, since it can be revived with simple cleaning and lubrication.
To do this, you first need to remove the fan from the installation site by unscrewing several screws that hold it in the socket. After this, you can start cleaning the exhaust fan.
Disinfection measures
The hood in the bathroom needs to be disinfected. Ventilation is the source of 40% of bacteria entering the home. It would be a mistake to clean the ventilation without disinfection.
Once a year is the minimum frequency of checking the dirtiness of the hood and cleaning it.
It is forbidden to scrub the walls from plaque with solvents or aggressive chemical solutions: this can reduce the level of fire hazard during operation.
Method 7. Lemon or citric acid
- The appearance of allergens and fungi in large quantities.
- Poor air circulation worsens the indoor microclimate. The humidity level rises, and the same thing happens with the normal temperature.
- Subsequently, dirt collects on the surface faster.
- Motors and working units begin to warm up and experience increased load. Therefore, the mechanisms wear out faster.
- The inflow and outflow of air is no longer as efficient as before.
- The fire danger level is increasing.
Upon completion of the cleaning process, it is advisable to apply a disinfectant to all walls, fan blades and other parts and mechanisms. To do this, you can use preparations for disinfecting household air conditioners. 3% hydrogen peroxide will also cope well with this task.
Examination
Before taking active measures, you need to check for blockages in the ventilation and find out the location of the ducts.
Old-timers advise using a flame from a lighter or match. If you bring it under the ventilation grille in the bathroom, it will be attracted towards it if the hood is working properly.
The hood attracts the flame of a lit match.
A safe check can be carried out using a thin strip of paper 30 x 3 centimeters. Make sure all doors and windows are closed, bring the paper closer to the grille. If it attracts, it means that communications do not need cleaning. It doesn’t move, the attraction is weak - you need to take action.
A working hood pulls in a sheet of paper.
CONNECTING THE EXHAUST FAN
Let's start connecting the power wires to the fan. This is done intentionally before the final fixation of the device in order to check the functionality of both the device itself and the connection diagram.
The wires are connected to the fan terminals, hidden by a protective cover, on the right side of the device.
We adjust the supply wires to size, cutting off the excess. Then we remove the protective sheath and insulation from the cable cores by 5-7mm.
To connect, a PHASE (white) and ZERO (white-blue) wire is enough. Grounding is not connected to this model, since the housing and all its external elements are made of dielectric materials and do not pose a danger.
The fan has only two terminals; they are marked L and N.
The procedure for connecting wires to the exhaust fan is as follows:
White phase wire - into the terminal marked L
Blue-white neutral wire - into the terminal marked N
How to determine which of the wires is phase, neutral, and which is grounding yourself, our detailed instructions will help you - HERE.
Place the wires into the terminals and tighten the mounting bolts.
Now you can close the protective cover and check the operation and correct connection of the exhaust fan. To do this, turn on the electric current and turn the switch that controls the fan to the “on” position.
Basic Rules
It is better to check all the ventilation grilles in the apartment to identify the location of the blockage. If the ventilation does not work only in the bathroom, then you can probably remove the blockage on your own.
It is prohibited to clean communal shafts: outside the apartment, the communications of the house are under the jurisdiction of public utilities. You should write a statement to the housing and communal services about the problem that has arisen, specialists will solve it.
You must wear gloves on your hands to protect yourself from bacteria and sharp parts inside the mine. Excess furniture should be moved away. Cover interior items from dust with newspapers or film.
Useful tips and tricks
Let's start by giving the main advice - you cannot clean the ventilation in the apartment yourself. But if there is no other way out, then do not climb into the vertical riser. Your options are limited, so you can only clean the horizontal ventilation duct that connects the shaft to the apartment. Now you know how to do this.
Sometimes apartment owners themselves are to blame for the fact that internal air exchange is reduced or completely absent. During the repair process, they cover the ventilation openings with finishing materials. Firstly, this cannot be done. Secondly, if this does happen, then try to correct the situation and bring it back to normal. Otherwise, you cannot avoid high humidity, unpleasant odors, mold and fungi.
If you nevertheless decide to clean the air ducts yourself, then try to prepare thoroughly for this event. To do this, you will need the tools and accessories described above, as well as a reliable stepladder.
The ventilation of a residential building or apartment is often compared to such a vital organ as the lungs. And rightly so. The condition of the air exchange system directly affects the well-being of residents and the condition of the housing stock. And if its effectiveness has decreased, you need to look for the reason. Often, work stoppage is due to the fact that the ventilation in the kitchen or bathroom or toilet is clogged.
Removing contaminants from the inside
A wall fan is often installed to replace natural ventilation in bathrooms. Its condition also needs to be monitored, periodically cleaned or replaced with a new one as it breaks down.
How to remove the hood in the house, when to do it? The reason for disassembly may be a critical amount of contamination, wear of the blades, or drying out of the grease on the bearings. In such cases, excess noise and the appearance of extraneous sounds are added to the general signs of poor hood.
How to remove a bathroom fan:
- Remove the outer fan grille by removing the screws from it, or peel it off from the glue.
- After making sure that the device is de-energized, remove it and separate it from the power supply.
- Remove the motor by removing the wire terminals and clean the fan blades. Lubricate the bearings with special oil.
If this does not help, you can clear the blockage inside the channel itself.
How to clean bathroom vents:
- Remove the closing ventilation grill in the bathroom, clean it of accumulated dust, including from the back side. Light stains can be washed, cleaned, and large pieces can be scraped off with a knife. Gentle detergents are useful for washing.
- If the hood is additionally equipped with a fan, it must be removed from its mounts and cleaned, observing the rules for working with electrical appliances.
- Inspect the ventilation duct, remove large contaminants that interfere with the flow of air: brick fragments, mortar residues, nails, sand, dead insects. To be safe, you should put gloves on your hands, cover the floor with newspaper, and remove the trash.
- The inner walls of the ventilation duct can be cleaned with a scraper or brush; a home vacuum cleaner will help remove all blockages. You cannot use chemical cleaners, maximum dry ice, which will dissolve the fat and will not leave behind a smell after evaporation.
- Use a damp cloth to wipe the ventilation duct, moving along the bottom and walls.
- Dry the channel, install the grille back, check the operation of the hood.
Cleaning of hoods and ventilation in the bathroom: SES services
One of the main advantages of professional cleaning is that the ductwork can be cleaned not only within arm's reach, but along the entire length of your ventilation shaft. Various types of manual and automatic equipment are used in cleaning. Which one depends on the cleaning method. There are 4 of them in total.
- Mechanical cleaning
is carried out using a long cable with a brush at the end to fit the diameter of the pipe. It can rotate manually or automatically. Contaminants, as in the manual method, are removed by friction and then with a special vacuum cleaner from the pipe. - Cleaning with foam.
It involves the use of special chemical reagents and is mainly used for cleaning ventilation systems heavily contaminated with fats and resins. The foam method is also used to disinfect ventilation systems. - Wet mechanical cleaning
combines the “dry” processing method and detergent components. - Cryogenic blasting or dry ice blasting
is a vent cleaning method that uses dry ice in contact with surfaces at close to the speed of sound to remove contaminants. This provokes a series of micro-explosions that separate contaminants from the pipe walls. The method is absolutely safe for ventilation equipment, non-toxic and copes with any contaminants.
The optimal methods for cleaning ventilation in bathrooms, toilets and restrooms of apartments, private houses, hotels and other places of temporary residence of people are the mechanical method or cryogenic blasting.
When ordering services from SES, specialists will select the optimal treatment method for you, based on information about the problem, inspection of the ventilation system and on-site diagnosis of its condition.
Sanitary service "Des Group" has been providing quality sanitary services for individuals, companies and organizations since 2014 and is an active member of the National Organization of Disinfectionists.
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- Processing is carried out under an official contract, one copy of which remains in your hands.
- The cleaning result can be checked immediately after the service is provided; if necessary, a repeat video diagnosis can be made.
- If chemical reagents are required for cleaning, they will be selected individually, from among the products approved for use in residential premises.
- Treatment can be carried out urgently or scheduled for the next day and time convenient for you.
- The work is performed for you by experts with 7 or more years of experience in sanitary maintenance of utility networks and communications.
Cleaning can be preventive or carried out in emergency situations, when the ventilation is so clogged that the draft has almost completely disappeared. The cost of the service depends on the processing method, pipe diameter and length of the system. You can find out the price by calling the SES contact numbers, telling the consultant in more detail about the problem.
How to remove the ventilation grille
On some models, the grille is attached to plastic latches. To remove it, you need to bend them with a slotted screwdriver and pull them towards you. You need to bend two at the same time so as not to break the structure. Then bend the grille by pulling it towards you or up (depending on the model). After cleaning procedures, you need to repeat these steps in reverse order.
Often there are screws, but they are hidden behind protrusions and plugs. The instructions for the fan model should indicate the mounting locations.
It happens that there is one small screw for the entire ventilation grill in the bathroom. The main thing is to find it and carefully remove the grille.
Self-cleaning ventilation
Cleaning ventilation ducts with your own hands comes down to two simple procedures.
Mechanical removal of debris - remove the grille from the ventilation hole and clean it of dirt, dust and grease film. Any detergent will do. The area around the hole is treated with a scraper - plastic or iron, and washed with water and detergent. Then the hose from the vacuum cleaner is lowered into the channel and the accumulated debris is collected. The wall is wiped with a sponge and the grille is put in place.
Blowers in rooms , if there are any, are cleaned more thoroughly. Here they use not only a vacuum cleaner, but also a detergent with a thick consistency. It’s a good idea to treat accessible areas with a disinfectant.
