Ventilation Assessment
Modern living, with central heating, open plan rooms, internal bathrooms, frequent showers, more clothes washing, changes in occupancy, cooking styles, double glazing etc. has dramatically increased the need for ventilation.
The best form of ventilation is extracting humidity at its source.
Very few properties can survive without mechanical ventilation, that is electrically operated extractor fan. Alternatives exist such as Positive Input Ventilation ("PIV"), Heat recovery and continuous flow, but they all have short comings.
Building Regs. sets out a benchmark. But note there is a big difference between manufacturer claims and in-situ performance. Extractor fans are often set-up inefficiently, or lose efficiency over time.
See if you have a ventilation issue. Most can be easily rectified, or you can take a nuance approach, increasing ventilation only when it is cold outside.Each day everyone contributes:
- ½kg from each shower or bath,
- ½kg from washing clothes,
- ¼kg from cooking,
- ¾kg from respiration (¼Kg at night),
At 20°C (68 degrees F), a cubic meter of air can hold a maximum of 18 grams of water. Or at 100%RH 1kg occupies 56M
3. Typical property sizes per person are 150M
3. Without sufficient ventilation, a shower, or drying clothes will quickly result in condensation.