FANS
Keeping a cool head
Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery (MVHR) has been a well- established method of ventilation for quite some time. However, as Paul Harrington, Head of Residential Sales at Elta Fans explains, it is crucial that systems start to incorporate cooling technology (MVHCR) in response to our more thermally effi cient homes and a changing climate.
T
he ability to heat incoming air by passing it over a heat exchanger has helped to improve the energy efficiency and comfort of our homes. It ensures
that thermal energy remains in the building, without incurring high heating bills. This has been a successful process for several decades
now, especially during the colder months when the outside air is lower than inside. However, advancements in the insulation of our structures, combined with a warmer climate, has presented a significant issue for strategies which incorporate MHVR, particularly during hotter months.
The MVHR problem
Although widely regarded as an energy efficient way of managing air circulation in a building, it is noticeable that the benefits of MVHR are rarely discussed during the summer months. This is because when the outside air is warmer than inside, this type of ventilation actually raises the internal temperature.
Even the summer bypass function, which is almost
universally used across MVHR units, does little to solve this issue. When the incoming air does not need to be heated, the bypass function stops the air from being passed over the heat exchanger. But consider, for example, that the desired temperature within a building is 20oC. If the outside temperature is anything more than this, then the incoming air will be hotter than inside, regardless of whether the summer bypass is in operation. It is difficult to avoid the fact that we are heading towards a climate emergency, with action groups and changes to climate change policy ensuring it remains high on the news agenda. Regardless of political stance, temperatures in the UK are getting irrefutably higher, and as a result, our summers are getting longer. Furthermore, our structures have become increasingly
well insulated, which has meant that they retain heat far better than ever before. Although this has had a positive effect on the amount of energy expended in heating buildings, it has meant that the application of MVHR has
24 January 2020
www.acr-news.com
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