For 15 years, Kelvin has been responsible for maintaining the air conditioning systems in a hospital in the Hungarian county of Heves.
In addition to the usual coolant-related operations, the company also regularly cleans and disinfects the system’s constituent elements using Frionett Activ’, a product recommended by the Climalife team. This maintenance does not include the disinfection of the operating theatres’ air duct networks, a task handled by a specialist company in accordance with the hospital’s health and safety rules. However, given the cost of carrying out an operation of this kind, the hospital contacted Mr István TÓTH – Director of Kelvin – to see if they could find an alternative solution together.
Interested by this task, Mr Tóth decided to take Climalife sales representative László JUHÁSZ up on his offer and try another product from the Frionett range, the Frionett Activ’ One Shot aerosol (disinfecting, deodorising formula more specifically intended for treating ventilation ducts and for cleansing the air in enclosed spaces).
First of all, Climalife sent all of the documentation concerning the Frionett range (material safety data sheet, technical data sheet specifying bactericidal and fungicidal actions) to the ÁNTSZ (the health authority) and the hospital’s medical management team. After an in-depth study, the hospital and the ÁNTSZ decided to adopt the products. Mr Tóth calculated the volumes of the operating theatres and the corresponding air ducts and recommended that 2 units of Frionett Activ’ One Shot be used for each system.
The HEPA filters were removed from the 7 systems, and Frionett Activ’, diluted to the recommended concentrations, was applied to the filter frames, the cooling and heating batteries and the air blowers. After leaving Frionett Activ’ to act for 30 minutes, the different surfaces were rinsed with water using a Karcher high-pressure hose. The ventilators were set to maximum speed and the systems were set to 100% recirculation (with no addition of new air). For each system, 2 Frionett Activ’ One Shot aerosols were prepared to be put into action in front of the air exchangers. Once staff had left and sealed the rooms, the systems were started up for 30 minutes. The ventilators were set to a slow speed with 10% new air ingress from outside. The systems were left to run for 60 minutes. This was to ensure that the rooms were properly ventilated after treatment, as required, without letting in too much air from outside, which could be a source of contamination. Finally, new HEPA filters were installed and, after an hour of commissioning, the cleaning and disinfection operation was complete.
One week later, representatives of the ÁNTSZ (the health authority) conducted mandatory analyses to determine the microbiological contamination of the air in each operating theatre and observed with surprise that the number of germs found was well below the limit values. The results were recorded in an official report.
The hospital is very satisfied with the convincing results of this new solution, as it is of better quality and much cheaper than the previous solution. The hospital has therefore now entrusted Kelvin with all tasks of this nature.
Mr Tóth is proud to have met this new challenge. This new reference will allow him to extend his business to new markets, having successfully addressed a general maintenance and servicing problem with a hospital air conditioning system using solutions offered by Climalife.
Company: Kelvin Kft.
Business: Industrial and commercial refrigeration, Air conditioning
Location: Gyöngyös – Hungary
Date established: 1993
Employees: 17