Ventilation Systems

It’s a mild start to October and we are still able to freshen up the house by opening the windows without concern about any heating costs as the heating is not on yet. However, in a months time I know I will be pulling beds and chairs away from cold walls in an effort to stop damp forming in corners of my solid walled house.

Would a ventilation system help reduce the damp problems, and if yes, which type of ventilation system? In tightly sealed houses with insulation some sort of ventilation system is essential, but how well have I sealed my 1923 house? The only way to find out is through an air tightness test using a blower door.

At this month’s home energy improvers meeting we will consider the ventilation building regulations require in new houses. We will then start to think about our older houses and look at the ways we could estimate / measure the air changes that occur in these so we can compare these values to those required for new houses.

We will think about the existing background and extract ventilation in our homes and how we should manage them to optimise ventilation whilst minimising heat loss. We will share learning on some of the different systems to ventilate homes, positive input ventilation, passive stack heat recovery ventilation and mechanical heat recovery ventilation.

We shall also be bringing along some information on blower doors (in the picture) so we can think about the possibility of hiring or buying equipment to test our homes. The new Spacehive for Letchworth, might provide a source local crowd-funding for this project.

So come along and share your thoughts and experience at our meeting, which takes place in the New Life Church, Mrs Howard Hall, Letchworth, from 7:30pm (7:40pm start) to 9:30pm on Monday 6th October.

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