Arraiján
Arraiján: housing block, are ducts shared between apartments?
In an Arraiján block the question is not only whether the ducts are dirty, but whose each section is. Answering it puts everything else in order.
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In an Arraiján block the ducts are shared only if the building has a common network, which is confirmed by looking at each apartment’s unit and the technical room. Many apartments use individual units without ducts. If there is a common network, the camera inspection marks which section serves whom and cleaning is organized by columns, with the neighbors’ written agreement.
A resident of a housing block in Arraiján smells dampness coming from the grille in the inner hallway of her apartment. She asks in the building’s group chat and someone answers that the ducts belong “to everyone”. Another neighbor says no, that each person has their own unit. Nobody has seen a plan, and the conversation ends with three opinions and no action.
The situation repeats in many blocks in the area. Some buildings were built in stages, with individual units on some floors and a shared network on others, and over the years owners change and the memory of the system is lost. Before talking about cleaning it is necessary to know what is there, and that is found out with a first visit that cleans nothing.
How can anyone tell whether the block’s ducts are shared?
It is known by looking at three things: each apartment’s unit, the technical room and the grilles on each floor. The technician asks which appliance each home has, asks the committee or the board for the building plan if one exists and follows the grilles from top to bottom to draw the columns. From that information one of three scenarios emerges, and each one changes how the work is done.
To coordinate a visit related to Arraiján, Climatiza answers inquiries and confirms availability according to the schedule of the place.
| Scenario | What changes in the work |
|---|---|
| Individual units without ducts, with the unit on the wall | There are no ducts to clean. Each unit’s filter and pan are checked. |
| Own duct per apartment, with air handler in a closet | Each owner authorizes and receives their report. |
| Common network or column serving several apartments | The board authorizes and work is done by columns, with notice to the neighbors on each one. |
When the network is common, each floor’s return usually reaches the same air handler box, so the condition of the coil and the pan affects every apartment in the column. The camera records each section with the name of the apartment it serves, and access panels that will not open are noted with their location so the committee can decide whether to add another.
Why does it matter to know before cleaning?
Because a shared network turns an individual problem into a collective one. If the deposit is in the common section, cleaning only one apartment’s branch solves nothing, and if the third floor apartment has dampness and the sixth does not, the cause may be a pan with a blocked drain that wets those below. Without a map each neighbor fixes their own part and the smell keeps circulating.
It also matters because of shared money. When a job has to be contracted for the column, neighbors argue about how much each should contribute, and that argument is shorter if everyone sees the same images. On the air passing from one apartment to another it is wise not to exaggerate: a peer reviewed study measured with tracer gases how much of an apartment’s air came from other units in six buildings and found a median of 4.1%, with extremes of 2.1% in a new condominium and 35.3% in an old duplex. Each building is different, and the seals between units weigh as much as the duct.
It is worth saying clearly what cleaning does not promise. The EPA names three situations that justify considering it, which are visible mold on hard surfaces of the system, pests and ducts so loaded with dust that they release it through the registers, and it makes clear that cleaning has not been shown to prevent health problems. For that reason the criterion in a block is the same as in a house, only applied section by section.
Splitting the cost is the part that causes the most friction, and it is best settled before the visit and not after. A simple formula is for each owner to pay for what enters their home and for the common sections to be divided according to the block’s bylaws or, if none exist, according to a written agreement signed by the committee. What is not advisable is splitting into equal parts when the deposit is concentrated in one column, because those living in the other will feel they are paying for someone else’s problem.
How is the visit organized among neighbors?
An illustrative case, not a real client: a four floor block with two common columns and a top level of apartments with individual units. The committee provides a single list of apartments with who authorizes each. On the first day the technical room is reviewed and the columns are mapped. On the second, the camera runs through the column with the most complaints, and the report shows a coil with stuck dust and the pan with residue, while the branches are almost clean.
The decision that comes out of the report is to clean the unit and the pan of that column, replace the filters and leave the branches as they are. The neighbors of the other column receive their report without any intervention. It works because there was a single list, one day per column, advance notice to those living under each one and a committee member who receives the overall report.
What is asked of the provider and which mistakes repeat?
The most repeated mistake is offering a general cleaning of the whole block without having looked first, and the second is splitting the cost into equal parts when the sections benefit some more than others. It is wise to ask the provider for a proposal that distinguishes what is done per apartment from what is done per column, images of each section before and after, and a general report for the committee with pending items noted.
On the way to decide together it helps to know how a review is organized in a condominium building, and the district’s context is on the Arraiján page. Other areas with housing blocks appear in the list of areas the service covers. To sort out which section is cleaned first, the criteria that indicate when cleaning is due serve as a common guide for all the neighbors.
Scheduling a review starts with a message to Climatiza, and the service page summarizes the process.
Sources
On this site
- Residential towers and PH buildingsHow the work is organized in this sector
- ArraijánThe area and its building types
- Camera inspectionThe real condition before deciding
Climatiza and Radar Panamá
Why does inspecting and cleaning ducts matter?
These are the technical reasons, with their source, why the condition of the ducts is checked before deciding. Duct cleaning has not been shown to prevent health problems according to the EPA and the CDC, and it is proposed only when the observed condition justifies it.
| Advantage | Data with source | What it means in practice |
|---|---|---|
| Protect equipment performance | In a laboratory test with dust equivalent to one year of use, coil pressure drop rose between 6 and 30 % and efficiency (EER) fell between 1 and 9 % (Yang, Braun and Groll, ARTI, 2004). | It is a laboratory result and not a promise of savings: it points to the components worth checking. |
| Keep humidity under control | The EPA recommends in its guide to mold and moisture keeping indoor relative humidity below 60 % and drain pans clean and draining freely. | A humidity reading and a clean pan limit the conditions in which mold grows. |
| Require method and a report from the provider | NADCA published in 2025 the current edition of its ACR standard on assessment, cleaning and restoration of air systems. | It is an industry reference and not a seal: it helps ask for method, photographs and scope in writing. |
| Keep construction dust out of the system | The EPA and NIOSH Building Air Quality guide asks to block return grilles while construction work takes place in occupied buildings. | Before accepting a new or remodeled system it is worth checking whether construction dust got in. |
Frequently asked questions
How do I know whether my apartment shares a duct with another?
Look at the unit and the path of the grilles. If the unit is on the wall with no duct network, nothing is shared. If a return grille connects to a column rising through several floors, the camera inspection confirms which apartments hang from it.
Who authorizes the work on a common column?
The board or the block committee, with a written agreement saying which columns are worked on, which apartments are notified and who covers the common sections. Each owner authorizes only what enters their home.
Does the whole block need cleaning if one apartment has an odor?
No. The camera locates whether the source is in the apartment’s branch, the column or the unit, and only the affected section is cleaned. Cleaning everything without looking spends everyone’s money without knowing whether the problem was there.
What percentage of an apartment's air comes from other apartments in the same building?
Bohac and colleagues (2011, Indoor Air) measured six multi-unit buildings with tracer gases and found a median of 4.1 percent, with extremes of 2.1 percent in a new condominium and 35.3 percent in an old duplex. Every building is different, and the seals between units matter as much as the duct.
What is the difference between individual units and a shared duct network in a block?
With individual units without ducts there are no ducts to clean, only the filter and drain pan of each unit. With a private duct, each owner authorizes and receives a report. With a shared network or riser, the board authorizes and work goes by riser, so one dirty apartment does not force work on a clean riser.
Keep reading the guide
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