Understanding HVAC Hazards

5/11/2020 (Permalink)

Are you in the know?

As the warm summer season approaches, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems, better known as HVAC systems, will be working overtime to keep businesses cool. When HVAC systems are used frequently, they can become serious fire hazards. When we think of causes of commercial fires, complications with cooking equipment and electrical circuits or careless mistakes are usually the first to come to mind. Even though fires due to HVAC complications are not overly common, the damage that they impose can be disastrous. Therefore, in order to best protect your commercial business from experiencing devastating fire damage due to a malfunctioning HVAC system, business owners must gain an understanding of the most common fire hazards associated with HVAC systems.

Three Common Hazards
A leaking fuel line is one common HVAC fire hazard. Flammable fuels, such as gas, petroleum, and oil, which reside inside of HVAC units, can leak out of the unit if the fuel line experiences damage. These fuels can ignite easily after leaking from the unit, which can result in a fire. In order to protect your commercial business from this type of fire, make sure that your HVAC system experiences regular maintenance. Oftentimes, it can be difficult to notice a leaking fuel line, so it is crucial that your HVAC system’s condition is assessed on a regular basis in order to avoid a fire due to a leaking fuel line.
Another common hazard of HVAC systems is poor electrical connections in an HVAC unit. Electrical connections within HVAC systems tend to loosen over time, which can result in exposed or burnt wires. These wires can facilitate the ignition of a fire. Fires of this nature usually smell like burning plastic because the faulty electrical connection causes plastic coatings on wiring to melt. If a smell similar to that of burning plastic is emanating from your business’ HVAC system, this is most likely a sign that your HVAC unit has experienced damage to electrical connections.
Lastly, when your commercial business’ HVAC unit is surrounded by clutter, whether it be storage boxes and crates, cleaning supplies, or other types of equipment, your HVAC system can be at risk for damage and the ignition of a fire that can easily spread to other areas of the building. Because HVAC units often find their home in storage areas or closets, they can become surrounded by clutter. If an HVAC unit becomes damaged and a fire ignites, the unit’s proximity to other objects, especially those that are flammable such as cardboard boxes and paper products, increase the likelihood of those objects catching fire as well, making for a much larger fire that can spread to other areas of your business’ building and result in significant, widespread fire damage.

Experienced a Fire?
If your commercial business has experienced a fire loss and water damage from fire cleanup efforts, be sure to call SERVPRO. SERVPRO’s trained fire and water damage restoration specialists will work hard to quickly get your commercial business back up and running.