Frequently Asked Questions

Questions from you, Answers from the Green Air Environmental Experts

At Green Air, we care deeply about two things; protecting the environment and making life easier for our clients. We take every question seriously and always provide clear, honest answers. Over the years, many of our clients have asked excellent questions about our process, so we’ve compiled some of the most common ones here to help you quickly find the information you need.

If you don’t see your question answered below, our team is always here to help. Simply reach out through Ask Our Experts, and we’ll respond directly. And if your question can help others, we’ll be sure to add it to our growing list of FAQs.

Regular chemical-free cleaning will help extend the life of your equipment and increase the air quality of your facility. Change your filters on a regular basis. Clean your coils and AHU’s on a regular maintenance schedule. Any resistance inside your AHU’s will force the rest of the equipment to run longer and harder and reduce its life expectancy. Green Air EnvironmentalTM can analyse your equipment and environment and help you set up a custom schedule from realistic data. Every facility is different. Different pollutants and contaminants can be found in facilities’ AHUs and coils, and some cause equipment to need more regular maintenance.

Every facility is different due to the difference in the air circulated through Heating and AC systems. If you’re unsure of the quality of air being circulated in your facility, it’s best to change your filters at least once every quarter. Having your HVAC system filters changed on a regular basis can improve the efficiency of your equipment.

Recommended Commercial Filter Change Intervals:

Clean Environments (General Office Buildings): Typically every 3 to 4 months (quarterly).

High-Traffic/Pollution Areas (Retail, Restaurants, or buildings near busy roads/construction): Often need to be changed every 1 to 2 months.

Harsh or Industrial Environments (Factories, Manufacturing Plants): May require changing monthly or even more frequently due to heavy dust, debris, grease, or chemical byproducts.

Healthcare Facilities (Hospitals, Labs): Usually require very high-efficiency filters and often need changes monthly or as indicated by maintenance sensors to meet strict air quality standards.

The ideal temperature for any office building must adhere to the principle of “thermal comfort”. This means that when occupants wear normal indoor clothing, they shouldn’t feel either too hot or too cold. Achieving this balance is essential for their well-being and productivity.

Optimal Temperature Ranges

While comfort is subjective, regulatory and professional bodies provide specific targets:



  • The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recommends that indoor temperatures be kept in the narrower, optimal range of 68°–76°F (20°–24°C)


  • A broader, generally acceptable range for sedentary workplaces (based on compliance codes like those from the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers—ASHRAE) is between 20°–26°C.

Humidity Control

Temperature is only one factor; humidity significantly affects perceived comfort. OSHA recommends that humidity be controlled in the range of 20% – 60%.

If needed, adjustments can be made to check that air conditioning occurs evenly throughout of office spaces. Some steps you can take in determining this are:



  • Make sure that your HVAC systems are all in perfect working condition


  • Conduct a check for regulating temperature and humidity


  • Make provisions for adequate airflow. It should be 0.1–0.2 meters per second


  • Keep workstations away from the HVAC system outlets


  • Install blinds and shades to prevent direct sunlight from entering the workplace


  • Keep a check on drafts

Pure steam cleaning is an eco-friendly process that will help you reduce your energy costs and improve your indoor air quality. Steam cleaning methods can result in energy savings of up to 30% while restoring your Air Handler Unit’s performance to within 3% of its design specifications. Using a medium-temperature, high pressure steam process, we are able to penetrate between 8-12 inches beneath coil surfaces. Chemical cleaning methods only penetrate 3 inches deep while introducing harmful chemicals into your HVAC system, and ultimately your indoor environment.

Chemicals are the old way to clean coils. Using chemicals has many adverse effects on your overall equipment cleanliness and longevity. When chemicals are used, most equipment will look clean on the outside, but the chemicals build up inside your coils and prevent adequate airflow. Chemicals that are used to clean coils include alkaline and acid-based cleaners. These solvents work by inciting a chemical reaction on the coil surface. Over time, these acidic chemicals corrode coils, damaging them and negatively affecting your HVAC system’s performance. Most chemicals will slowly degrade your equipment, eating away at the metals and permanently creating issues that cannot be rectified. Additionally, runoff from chemical cleaners can enter your building’s groundwater system during rinsing, ultimately contaminating your local water supply. Furthermore, these products may push dirt, dust, and debris deeper into the unit, even though they appear to clean the surface. When chemical foams bring dirt out of the coil, in most cases that same dirt is being pushed further into the coil. This, in turn, reduces airflow, heat transfer, and encourages fungal, bacterial, and mold growth, defeating the whole purpose of cleaning the system.

Every facility has different cleaning schedules that are driven by the environmental conditions and air cleanliness. Here’s an important tip to remember when creating a Preventative Maintenance (PM) schedule: Schedule cooling adjustments during the heating season, and heating adjustments during the cooling season. Not only will technicians have greater availability, but you can avoid HVAC failure during extreme seasonal conditions.

Make it a point to get your Air Handler Unit coils cleaned annually, as part of a preventative maintenance schedule. However, you can increase or decrease the frequency depending upon – the age and the condition of your system, how much you use it, where the unit is located and so on and so forth.

There are many ways to tell if your coils need cleaning, but the question is: When were your coils last cleaned? What is the differential pressure across your coils? Are your supply air temperatures creeping upward? Is there a stagnant, dirty sock, musty odor in your area? Are your VFDs running at 100% continuously? Does your AHU make a static set point? Are your cooling valves always 100% open? Are there microbial and bacterial growth inside your AHU?

In the sweltering heat, would you rather choose to sit in a hot and humid environment instead of a cool and pleasant one? Probably not. That’s why it’s imperative you have a Preventative Maintenance schedule in place for your HVAC system.

A PM schedule is important to avoid HVAC failure during extreme seasonal conditions. Damaged equipment, impediment of daily operations, and a decreased comfort level for building occupants can result from HVAC failure during peak seasonal conditions. A PM schedule will not only keep your equipment performing optimally, but ensure technicians have the availability to conduct routine maintenance. As a rule of thumb, your HVAC system requires 70-percent preventative maintenance and 30-percent corrective maintenance. In developing a PM schedule, you can opt for either a full-fledged maintenance coverage plan or a system-performance enhancement. It is dependent upon the age and the complexity of the equipment installed, its location, and use.

With a fully functional system, you can be assured of getting enhanced productivity at the workplace. And while maintenance comes at a cost, it will never amount to the price of purchasing new equipment in the event of complete HVAC failure.

The Green Air steam cleaning process uses absolutely no chemicals in any part of the process. Our process is so refined that we can clean your equipment better than any other method available while still being environmentally friendly and requiring no waste disposal.

Traditional cleaning methods use toxic chemicals that are not only harmful to the environment, but also reduce the life expectancy of your equipment. Replacing your aging HVAC equipment is a costly process and Green Air can substantially increase the life of your units. Our steam cleaning process will increase the delta T [Temperature Difference] of your equipment by an average of 18% and increase the cfm [Cubic Feet Per Minute] on the air handler unit by an average of 20%. Other steam cleaning benefits include:

  • Improved air flow
  • Energy savings of up to 22 cents per sq ft approx
  • Improved indoor air quality
  • Extended life of the HVAC system
  • Better cooling capacity

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has always focused on improving indoor air quality in the nation’s schools stating that, “Poor indoor air quality can cause illness requiring absence from school, and can cause acute health symptoms that decrease performance while at school.” Meanwhile, the National Survey of Student Engagement estimates that K-12 children spend near 11,316 hours — 1.3 years — indoors during the K-12 educational period. During this time they are exposed to a number of air pollutants which can trigger asthma, inhibit respiratory functions, and result in poor cognitive function. Increasing indoor Air Quality (IAQ) eliminates allergens and air pollutants, increases lifespan, and fosters an active lifestyle.

Condensate pans in your HVAC equipment need to be free of any dirt and grime, as more often than not, microbial growth occurring in condensate pans leads to foul odors in your supply air. In the long run, this can lead to major overflows and damage to the property. Green Air’s Sustainable process cleans the entire inside of the AHU. The blower section, the blower wheel, the interior cabinets and the condensate drain pan.

No, our sustainable, green steam cleaning process uses a medium-pressure, high-temperature steam to deep clean coils that does not damage coils. This method allows us to penetrate up to 22 inches inside the coil, improving airflow, eliminating up to 97% of mold spores, and improving your building’s IAQ. The medium-pressure, high-temperature steam is completely safe for HVAC equipment.

When you HVAC system is not running in an efficient manner, it will cost you more in energy to operate that equipment. Our Green service will more than pay for itself in less than 8 months by greatly reducing costs associated with running your facility. This is done by reducing HVAC operational costs by increasing equipment operating efficiency. Additionally, our steam cleaning process reduces the energy consumption of your HVAC system and can even help you earn LEED [Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design] Certification points.

Local seasonal weather conditions are a big determinant in creating a PM [Preventative Maintenance] schedule. As a rule of thumb, it’s best to schedule cooling adjustments during the heating season (December, January, February) and heating adjustments during the cooling season (June, July, August). Due to such mild seasonal conditions in the spring and fall, HVAC units aren’t typically ran for peak performance. However, when extreme seasonal conditions arrive the need to run AHUs optimally failure is more likely to occur due to neglecting maintenance. Therein, technicians have limited availability due to the influx of HVAC maintenance/repairs.

Developing a PM [Preventative Maintenance] schedule wherein you schedule cooling adjustments during the heating season, and heating adjustments during the cooling season. A PM schedule will not only keep your equipment performing optimally, but ensure technicians have the availability to conduct routine maintenance.