With the necessity to meet Level 4 of the Code for Sustainable Homes in the Public Sector looming in April next year, it is envisaged that specifiers and property developers working across both the public and private sectors will apply the public sector standards in their private sector projects at the same time, thus setting the trend for the industry to follow.
However, traditional forms of ventilation will not meet our future needs. Standard extractor fans cannot offer the energy efficiency performance required for the latter stages of the route map, while opening windows causes expensively generated heat to escape and lets pollution and, often, unacceptable noise in.
In private dwellings, MVHR systems, such as the HRU Eco 4, operate at a continuous low speed and provide balanced input and extract via two separate air paths. Each path flows through a heat exchanger, which extracts the heat from the outgoing air and uses this to pre-warm incoming fresh air before delivering it to the habitable rooms in the dwelling. This system enables designers to structure an effective ventilation solution to any home when planned as part of the building design at an early stage.
However, a poorly designed and incorrectly installed ventilation system can negate all that it is designed to do. For example, it can dramatically reduce ventilation and in some cases, render it nonexistent, due to poor planning and installation; it can fail to meet the minimum ventilation requirements in Approved Document F of the Building Regulations; and can necessitate expensive reworking to the ducting.
In apartments and houses, for either new build or large-scale renovations, there is a fully automated Demand Controlled Ventilation system that provides the best possible air quality whilst generating maximum savings in energy without the occupier having to do a single thing for it. This innovative ‘breathing dwelling’ concept – the Itho DemandFlow - is based on CO2 measurements in every room – both wet rooms and habitable rooms. With its sensor driven control, it balances the air requirements within the building, by boosting the extract rate in particular rooms as occupancy levels in those rooms rise, helping to maintain a clean and healthy environment. In particular, the DemandFlow boosts extraction from bedrooms at night automatically, when it measures an increase in CO2 levels in the room. In bedrooms that are not ventilated, it is this build up of CO2 levels which can lead to headaches and ‘muzzy’ heads.
In addition to the CO2 sensors, the system also has humidity sensors for two wet rooms, and utilises the Itho system hood which extracts in excess of 80% of the steam and odours produced when cooking via its innovative air curtain that circulates cooking smells up into the unit.
One of the main features of the DemandFlow system is the substantial contribution this system makes in terms of energy saving. This is achieved by using an Appendix Q Eligible direct current (DC) ventilation unit and by ventilating only when and where ventilation is required. This considerably reduces the loss in heat associated with standard whole house mechanical ventilation systems.
This system can be installed even at late design stages of a project, as the extraction points are easy to relocate. The DemandFlow has been designed using 80mm diameter semi-rigid aluminium or 110mm x 54mm Modular plastic ducting throughout, therefore making the routing of ducts easier to facilitate.
Easy to install, the system is also easy to maintain, and after installation by a qualified installer, is instantly ready to operate.
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