Ventilation is essential to remove unwanted airborne substances such as water vapor, pollutants, fine dust and odors.
Why do I need to ventilate?
Ventilation for good indoor air quality
The demands on the buildings we live in are changing. Ever-improving standards of insulation materials and windows ensure that today’s buildings are tighter than ever before.
This development means that less energy needs to be used to keep the room temperature comfortable. However, there are also considerable disadvantages if adequate ventilation is not provided: The amount of water produced daily in an average household in the form of water vapor contained in the indoor air is greater than 10 liters.
In modern buildings, this amount of water can only be removed by ventilation measures in order to avoid structural damage, mold infestation and hygiene problems. Added to this are the airborne substances resulting from the use of modern building and operating materials in a building, which pollute the air we breathe and must also be removed.
A corresponding fresh air volume flow must be provided to compensate for this exhaust air. This is made up of an air volume flow due to unavoidable leaks and a volume flow due to ventilation measures: Window opening or mechanical ventilation.
The most important tool for planning a ventilation system in residential buildings is the creation of a ventilation concept in accordance with DIN 1946-6 “Ventilation of dwellings”. This is where the air volume flow required for moisture protection in a building is determined.
If this air volume flow is guaranteed permanently and constantly even when the occupants are absent, it is sufficient to ventilate with the windows. It is simpler, more convenient and safer to use a mechanical ventilation system.
It is shown how this volume flow can be produced. Anyone who, as an expert, does not provide sufficiently clear information on how to ensure this moisture protection during new construction or modernization is liable for damages.
In which buildings does a domestic ventilation system make sense?
In our view, it is necessary to install a ventilation system as a supplement to the passive thermal insulation of buildings in new builds and modernization projects. The intelligent combination of insulation and ventilation is an economically viable alternative to all individual technology variants, particularly when it comes to modernization.
Only a building with a ventilation system is equipped for the future in the long term, as the increase in energy efficiency goes hand in hand with a minimization of pollutants in the indoor air.