Table of Contents
Ventilation
The health and comfort of the inhabitants are the most important objectives of a Passive House design. Excellent indoor air quality is indispensable. But this can only be achieved if stale air is exchanged with fresh outdoor air at regular intervals. This can definitely not be done by just opening windows twice a day. Ventilation will work accurately only if stale air is removed constantly from the kitchen, bathrooms, and all other rooms with air pollution. Fresh air has to be supplied to the living room, children’s room, sleeping rooms, and workrooms to substitute the removed air. The system will supply exactly as much fresh air as is needed for comfort and for good indoor air quality; only outdoor air will be supplied – no recirculated air. This will lead to a high level of indoor air quality. Read more about:
- Webinar: Ventilation Systems and Technologies
- Ventilation instruction in refurbished building: How should I ventilate at home?
- Window ventilation: Passive House - 6 reasons why you still need opening windows
- Ventilation in Summer: Importance of summer ventilation in Passive House buildings
- Ventilation heat loss: Determining ventilation heat loss: infiltration, mechanical ventilation
Ventilation Units
The ventilation units provide clean, pollen-free and dust-free air while eliminating excess moisture and odours. In the winter, heat from the warm, stale air(extract air) isn't transferred to the cold, incoming, outdoor air, thus reducing heat losses considerably. In the summer, the system can work to a certain extent in reverse, pre-cooling the fresh air that is supplied to the building. Depending on the efficiency of the heat exchanger, over 90 percent of the heat can be transferred, allowing the supply air to come in at nearly room temperature. The basic principle of Passive House ventilation: moist, stale air is extracted from the kitchen and the bathrooms (extract air) while fresh air (supply air) flows into the liviing area. As a resut, the hallways are automatically ventilated. As a general rule, the ventilation system should be designed to provide 30m3 of fresh air per person per hour. For a living space of 30m2 per person, this equates to a supply air volume of 1 m3 /(m2 h). The maximum temperature to which this supply air can be heated is limited to 50°so as to avoid odour problems resulting from burnt dust particles. The resulting maxi, um heating load amounts to 10W/m2, which can easily be met via the supply air.
The high-quality ventilation unit ensures that the supply and exhaust air ducts in the heat exchanger are leak proof, so that fresh and used air is never mixed. The high-quality ventilation unti saves much more energy through the prevention of heat losses than they use to run. Check Component certificate criteria and certified ventilation units to see all the high-efficient components.
Additional articles on Passipedia:
Air flow rate
The appropriate air flow rate in the ventilation system is to ensure the proper functioning of the system and to achieve comfortable indoor conditions. It is essential that not only the planned volume flow rates are achieved in individual parts or rooms of the building, but also that a balanced mass flow between the exhaust and extract air is ensured. Read her to know how you can control Air volume in the ventilation system.
Additional articles:
Design aspects
Planning a ventilation system by yourself is workable, here you learn how you can build ventilation system step by step.
Tool
Ventilation guidance for different building typologies
Ventilation for residential building
Ventilation in non-residential buildings
Ventilation in for retrofit projects
Ventilation for commercial kitchen, large hall, hospital and retail stores
See also
Read more about Building Service