How does it work? Operation principle of ventilation
Clean and fresh indoor air is an important element of wellbeing, contributing to the health of the home and its occupants.
Appropriate ventilation ensures pleasant indoor air in every apartment, promoting wellbeing and health. The ventilation unit ensures a suitable supply air temperature, cleaning the air of impurities inconspicuously, without disturbing noise.
In modern ventilation systems, the ventilation is controlled and largely automated. The ventilation unit works to remove the old, “dirty” indoor air from the apartment, replacing it with new fresh air that is easy to breathe. Cleaner indoor air means better wellbeing for the occupants. In homes with allergic residents, it is particularly important to invest in the design of ventilation, as this can considerably relieve the symptoms.
Energy-efficient Vallox ventilation units use the heat of extract air to heat supply air, helping to maintain a stable indoor temperature in the home. This prevents draughts from developing in the apartment. On hot summer days, the heat recovery bypass and recovery of cool air also help to cool the supply air.
Vallox ventilation systems filter pollen, soot, exhaust gas and other impurities from the outdoor air. Efficient filtering also reduces the need for cleaning the home and the ventilation duct system.
The ventilation system removes dirty air, replacing it with clean air
A well-designed ventilation system supplies filtered fresh air at the correct temperature into the cleanest areas of the home, that is, the bedrooms, living room and dining area. Dirty air, on the other hand, is removed from the apartment from the areas in which humidity and impurities typically develop, such as the sauna, utility room, toilet, walk-in closet and kitchen. Even if the kitchen has a cooker hood or a roof fan-cooker hood combination, an extract air valve must be mounted in the ceiling.
In order for ventilation to work as desired, routes for transmitted air to other rooms must be in place. Air can easily be transmitted by leaving out thresholds under doors, so that air can flow under them. If an air-tight and sound-attenuating door is needed in the room, separate routes for transmitted air must be installed, equipped with sound traps.
Requirements for ventilation systems according to the regulations
In Finland, the planning and construction of ventilation systems is governed by the National Building Code. The regulations apply not only to new buildings but also to renovation projects that require a building permit.
The guideline for the minimum air exchange rate is 0.5 1/h, which means that the air in the home is completely exchanged once every two hours. A ventilation unit that is correctly dimensioned to the size and needs of the apartment can manage this at half speed. This ensures that, for instance, when humidity increases, there is still capacity for boosting the ventilation.
When designing a ventilation solution for the home, the required outdoor air flow, determined by the use of the rooms, must also be considered. For instance, in a bedroom with an area of over 11 square metres, the outdoor air flow must be at least 12 l/s. If the apartment includes a sauna, this increases the required outdoor air flow by 6 l/s. An expert should always be consulted to ensure a correctly dimensioned ventilation solution that complies with the regulations.