BSEE INDOOR AIR QUALITY
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TACKLING INADEQUATE VENTILATION Show poor indoor air quality the door
With regular reports of the government’s increased commitment to reducing air pollution in the UK, recent research has also revealed that indoor air quality (IAQ) can be just as detrimental to an individual’s health. Lee Stones, Category Manager for Xpelair, explains what measures can be taken by specifiers to reduce the impact of increased pollutants.
he government has announced that petrol and diesel cars will be banned by 2040. However, there has been some criticism around the plan claiming it does not go far enough to reduce pollution. This, coupled with the timeframes taking 23 years, means the UK will still be exposed to harmful air pollutants for many years to come.
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With an estimated 40,000 deaths each year from air pollution there are calls for the government to do more and for measures to go further to eliminate these dangers.
It is not just outdoor air that is harmful to people as indoor air pollution is also beginning to cause damaging effects on an individual’s wellbeing, from areas such as gas cookers and mould developing. Combined with volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which are emitted from everyday items such as furniture, carpets, paints, varnishes, cleaning products and even the building’s components and materials, it all contributes to poor air quality. Further risk factors include warmth and moisture that can spread within a property, especially when there isn’t the correct ventilation.
With the increase of new-build homes, air tightness is increasing and while this is good news for energy bills it is bad news for ventilation. Even though there are positive steps being made by builders and developers to achieve the Passivhaus standard, ventilation should not be overlooked when ensuring the health of those residing in properties as well as protecting the fabric of the building. Natural ventilation in homes that have greater air tightness is becoming increasingly difficult as the leakage of stale air and deliverance of fresh air is less likely to occur. There are ways to boost natural ventilation but these come with their own privacy and security risks. This is why mechanical ventilation is becoming crucial to ensuring a greater level of IAQ. Manufacturers are now offering sophisticated and tailored solutions to achieve this, and extraction systems
such as wall, roof, glass and panel fans offer properties a solution to remove the bad air that builds up inside. For the commercial market, box fans are available to create higher levels of air circulation, and Xpelair’s XSD EC range of single box fans delivers automatic, demand- controlled ventilation for commercial buildings such as offices, combining energy efficiency with an impressively quiet operation.
Although these products go a long way to ensuring stale air is extracted, improving IAQ, airtight properties are still not benefitting from natural air returning into the building. By combining mechanical ventilation and heat recovery (MVHR) it offers both the opportunity to extract air through a central heat exchanger and recover heat back into the air supply. The concept of MVHR is gaining traction as an effective way to recover energy while address health concerns through a cost-effective, mechanical, balanced ventilation.
MVHR is fast becoming the only ventilation method that meets building requirements. The system offers the benefit of providing whole house ventilation that both supplies and extracts air through a property, while constantly supplying fresh filtered air. Ideal for new-builds, MVHR is suited to smaller homes, flats or apartments where insulation levels are high. Available as a centralised, whole- house system or single room units, the proven technology extracts moist, stale air from inside the property and replaces it with fresh, incoming air. Crucially, it uses heat from the outgoing air to warm the incoming air, with high efficiency systems able to warm air up to more than 90% of the extracted air temperature. An innovative solution to the MVHR sector is Xpelair’s Natural Air 180, which raises the bar in modern domestic ventilation. Providing an efficient and flexible approach to whole house ventilation the unit has been purpose designed for consistent performance and provides an unrivalled level of flexibility. From NOX filtration for optimised safety through to PIR sensor
activity for enhanced efficiency and cold-climate pre-heating, each unit can be customised with an extensive range of Xpelair add-ons and integrations in line with each unique user requirement.
Although there is a long way to go to improve overall air quality in the UK and with a topic that is expected to continue to be high on the news agenda for years to come, manufacturers of ventilation systems are playing a crucial role. Through innovation and improved performance they can continue to support the industry and provide access to a range of highly efficient ventilation solutions to advance airflow through properties.
www.xpelair.co.uk
uThe Xpelair Natural Air 180 Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery (MVHR) unit provides whole‐house ventilation – fresh air is supplied from outside the premises, while warm, stale, damp air is continuously extracted out.
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www.nortekhvac.com/europe 14 BUILDING SERVICES & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER SEPTEMBER 2017 VISIT OUR WEBSITE:
www.bsee.co.uk
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