VENTILATION/HEAT RECOVERY Home truths on IAQ
ir pollution is becoming a key talking point in the media with the Government exploring measures to tackle the detrimental impact of poor air quality on an individual’s health and wellbeing. Lee Stones, category manager for Xpelair, explains what steps can be taken to improve the standard of the air we breathe. With bold statements likening air pollution to ‘the
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tobacco of the 21st Century’ and growing health fears arising, there is much emphasis placed on the quality of our outside environment. However, the condition of the air in our homes is often an overlooked topic but one that should not be ignored. The air that flows through properties does not only affect an individual’s health but can also cause harm to the fabric of a building.
It may be surprising to learn that poor air quality
can come from everyday objects in the home including gas cookers, and items such as furniture, carpets, paints, varnishes and cleaning products, which can emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs). 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 to achieve the Passivhaus standard, ventilation should not be overlooked. 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. Whole house ventilation is key when factoring
efficiency and it is common now for homeowners to seek systems such as Mechanical Extract Ventilation (MEV), or even more compelling, Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery (MVHR), rather than less efficient intermittent fan options. MVHR is suitable for smaller homes, flats or apartments where insulation levels are high. Available as a centralised, whole-house system or
single room units, this 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 and high-efficiency systems can warm air up to more than 90% of the internal air temperature.
One 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. 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 a range of add-ons and integrations in line with each unique user requirement. Box fans are available to create higher levels of
air circulation in the commercial market in buildings such as offices, combining energy efficiency with quiet operation.
Xpelair’s
Natural Air 180 in situ
www.heatingandventilating.net
October 2017
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