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Summary: Advice on how to create a healthier environment and reduce energy bills using a heat recovery ventilation system in the home.
HEAT RECOVERY VENTILATION
It is generally recognised that although the movement towards full insulation of homes is a ‘good thing’, it does bring with it some unwelcome side effects. Internal air in homes is now calculated to be eight to ten times more likely to be polluted than external air! Building Regulations require extractor fans in bathrooms, kitchens and WCs but their effect is to replace polluted warm air with clean air that is cold! So the need for heat recovery ventilation systems is becoming widely recognised.
It is estimated the average UK resident spends more than 75% of the time indoors so it is not surprising that ill health, in the form of headaches and tiredness, is on the increase due to poor air quality. Superficial attempts to cure this can cause other problems. Open windows allow insect and pollution intrusion whilst extractor fans create noise and extra heating expense. Combined heat recovery and ventilation (HRV) units claim to recover up to 90% from the heat of the warm polluted air being extracted.
Specialist films in this field claim that their products can be installed by any competent DIYer but most of them offer a supply and fix option.
Here are some approximate costs of the material kits.
Two bedroom house (floor area 130m2) £1,750
Three bedroom house (floor area 210m2) £3,000
Four bedroom house floor area 400 m2) £3,500
Five bedroom house (floor area 480 m2) £4,000
(These figures include VAT and delivery charges.)
The installation costs vary considerably depending upon the size and layout of the property so between £1,500 and £2,500 should be added to the above kit costs.
There are two main types of ventilation – single room and whole house. Single rooms consist, as the name suggests, ventilating each room separately. This method usually applies in kitchens and bathrooms, and can be quite noisy and is really only a short term solution to a ventilation problem. The new fresh air enters by trickle vents so undoes some of the benefits of insulating the rest of the house!
The whole house system works by taking the internal polluted air, mainly from the kitchen and bathroom and other wet areas, to a heat exchanger via ducting. The exchanger could be sited in the roof space or somewhere out of sight. The heat from this air is extracted and used to warm the cold air travelling in the opposite direction from outside. This new clean warm air is then distributed throughout the house via ducting. Not only will the quality of the air in the house be improved but it will be created with only a small loss of heat.
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