Air Handling Unit Cleaning · Nationwide

Commercial Air Handling Unit (AHU) Cleaning

Coils, blower, condensate pan, dampers & casing — restored to the NADCA ACR Standard.

The AHU conditions every cubic foot of air your building breathes. We restore the whole unit under HEPA containment, with the documentation demanding facilities require — in occupied buildings, nationwide.

NADCA ACR StandardOccupied-Building ExecutionAudit-Ready Documentation
Why the AHU decides your air quality

Every problem downstream starts here

The air handling unit is the mechanical heart of a commercial HVAC system. It draws in outside and return air, filters it, moves it across heating and cooling coils, and drives it through the ductwork to every occupied zone. Because 100% of the air your people breathe passes through this one enclosure, its internal condition sets the ceiling for the entire facility's indoor air quality.

When filters bypass, a cooling coil grows biofilm, or a condensate pan holds standing water, the contamination doesn't stay in the mechanical room — it is distributed building-wide within minutes of start-up. In a hospital wing, a lab, or a food-processing line, that isn't a housekeeping issue; it's an air-quality liability and a measurable drain on energy and capacity.

IAQ Restoration cleans commercial and industrial AHUs the way the standard intends — documented source removal under containment, not a wipe-down of whatever is reachable through the access door.

One enclosure doing five jobs

Mixing outside & return air · filtering it · heating and cooling it across the coils · moving it with the blower · draining the moisture it creates. Neglect any one and the other four suffer — which is why we clean and verify the whole unit, not just the coil face.

Scope of Work

What we clean inside the unit

An AHU cleaning that skips the pan or the blower isn't a cleaning — it's a delay. Every internal component is inspected, cleaned and documented.

Heating & Cooling Coils

Fouled fins are the number-one cause of lost airflow and rising energy use. We wet-wash coil faces and depth to restore heat transfer and design static pressure.

Blower & Fan Assembly

Dust loads the blower wheel and throws it out of balance, quietly cutting delivered CFM. We clean the wheel, housing, shaft and motor compartment.

Condensate Pan & Drain

The wettest place in the system — and the most common microbial reservoir. We clean and flush the pan and drain line and confirm it actually drains.

Filter Racks & Bypass

Air takes the path of least resistance. We clean filter banks and seal the gaps that let unfiltered air skip the media entirely.

Mixing Box, Dampers & Actuators

Outside-air and return dampers, linkages and economizers are cleaned so the unit ventilates and controls air the way it was engineered to.

Casing, Liner & Access Doors

Internal insulation and acoustic liner are inspected and HEPA-cleaned; degraded liner and failed door gaskets are photographed and flagged for repair.

The Numbers

Why a clean AHU pays for itself

0 mgNADCA ACR clean benchmark — surface debris per 100 cm², verified
0%of commercial buildings suffer below-standard indoor air quality (OSHA estimate)
0+facilities cleaned nationwide by our NADCA-certified crews
Commercial & Industrial Scale

From packaged units to built-up air handlers

We're built for the systems residential crews walk away from — the large, high-static, mission-critical units that run a facility.

1
Built-Up & Penthouse AHUsWalk-in mechanical-room and roof-penthouse units with multi-row coil banks and high static — cleaned section by section, in place.
2
Packaged Indoor AHUsFloor-mounted and ceiling-hung units across offices, retail and schools — cleaned after hours with zero disruption to the space.
3
100% Outside-Air / Makeup-Air UnitsUnits pulling nothing but outdoor air foul the fastest. We restore coils and dampers and keep ventilation rates compliant.
4
Hospital & Critical-Space AHUsUnits serving ORs, isolation and pharmacy under ASHRAE 170 — cleaned with the pressure and containment discipline those spaces demand.
5
Industrial & Process AHUsPlant and warehouse units loaded with process dust — cleaned with lockout/tagout coordination and combustible-dust awareness.
6
Multi-Site PortfoliosOne certified crew standard, one scope and one report format across every building in your portfolio, in every region.
Our Method

The NADCA ACR process, start to closeout

ACR stands for Assessment, Cleaning & Restoration — the measurable standard we work and verify against on every unit.

1

Assess & Document

We inspect coils, pan, blower and liner and capture baseline photos and coil pressure-drop before we touch anything.

2

Isolate & Lock Out

We coordinate with your facilities team, place the unit under lockout/tagout, and stage containment safely.

3

Contain Under Negative Air

The unit is placed under continuous HEPA-filtered negative pressure so nothing we loosen can migrate into the building.

4

Agitate & Capture

Brushes and compressed air release debris from coils, blower and casing while it is vacuumed out at the source.

5

Wet-Wash & Treat

Coils, pan and drain are wet-cleaned with EPA-registered products; antimicrobial applied where mold or biofilm is found.

6

Verify & Report

We confirm the result against the ACR Standard and hand you a photo-documented, audit-ready closeout package.

NADCA ACR StandardASHRAE 62.1 / 180EPA-Registered ProductsOccupied-Building ProtocolsFully Insured Nationwide
The Payoff

Three reasons facility managers schedule it

Air Quality

Stop seeding the building

A wet, biologically fouled coil and pan send spores and odor into every zone the unit serves. Cleaning the source is what resolves tenant complaints and sick-building symptoms — fragrance in the vents only masks them.

Energy & Capacity

Give back the tonnage you paid for

A dirt film on a coil behaves like insulation, forcing longer run times and nuisance freeze-ups. EPA and DOE guidance tie fouled coils and restricted airflow to measurably higher HVAC energy use — clean coils routinely pay for themselves.

Compliance

Documentation your auditors accept

Every project closes with scope, before/after photos, methods and ACR verification — ready for EHS, Joint Commission, CMS and QA files. One report format across every site you run.

Know the Signals

Signs your AHU is overdue

Two or more of these, and the unit is already affecting the space it serves.

Musty odor at start-up Visible growth near the coil Weak or uneven airflow Energy creep on flat rates Water pooling around the unit Repeat coil freeze-ups Tenant air-quality complaints After construction or a water event
FAQ

AHU cleaning questions, answered

NADCA and ASHRAE guidance is inspection-based: assess the unit at least annually, then clean when the coil, pan or casing exceed cleanliness benchmarks or whenever moisture and microbial growth are present. In practice most commercial units are cleaned every 2–3 years, and sooner for healthcare, food service, high-humidity spaces, or after any water or mold event. We give you a condition-based schedule after the first inspection — not a guess.

We don't eyeball it. We clean to the NADCA ACR Standard, which defines "clean" as a measurable result — surface debris at or below 0.75 mg per 100 cm², confirmed by a vacuum test and documented with matched before/after photos for your records.

Yes — it's most of what we do. We work nights, weekends and phased zones under HEPA negative-pressure containment, coordinating pressure relationships so occupied areas, operating rooms and isolation rooms stay protected. The building is cleaner at 8 a.m. than we found it at 8 p.m.

Yes. We standardize scope, pricing and reporting across your entire portfolio under one program, with NADCA-certified crews mobilizing to every region of the country. Call 800-883-6040 to scope it.

Put clean air back through your building

NADCA-certified AHU cleaning, verified to the ACR Standard, documented for your files. Send us your mechanical plans or book a site walk — we'll scope it free.

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From Routine Maintenance to Emergency Response — Nationwide