Ventilation is essential to the creation of a healthy indoor environment for occupants therefore ignoring the need for a well deigned quality ventilation system in a building leaves the structure and the people occupying it, exposed to a number of dangers, inclusive of that indicated below.
FILTERING and PURIFYING THE AIR
The cleanliness and purity of the everyday air that we breathe has always been important, however in today’s world it has taken on an even more crucial importance to combat the rise of COVID-19.
This potentially deadly virus can be spread through water droplets in the air which makes an efficient effective ventilation system of paramount importance and one of the most essential components of any building services infrastructure in assisting to promote a defence against the virus.
One of the most important roles of a ventilation system is to introduce “fresh” filtered ambient external air into the building and remove the contaminated impure air inside a building, which is full of germs, dust, flakes of human skin, excess moisture and allergens then discharge it safely from the building, using heat recovery ventilation equipment to recover enthalpy/energy within the discharged airstream and reclaim it for the newly introduced fresh air.
Without a quality ventilation system installation, all of these contaminates and pollutants are free to propagate, increasing the opportunity for the occupants within the building to breathe them in. This is exacerbated in buildings that have no windows, small windows or windows that only provide limited opening ventilation, which can then of course allow the introduction of external contaminates such as exhaust fumes, pollen etc.
UV lamp and tape systems can also be added to the ventilation to promote the sterilisation of up to 99.99% of bacteria.
CONDENSATION and MOULD
When warm air inside a building meets one or more cold surfaces, it condenses to form moisture droplets, otherwise referred to as condensation. With the passage of time, condensation can build up to a level where it leads to the deterioration of fabric surfaces, excessive ponding and the growth of
black mould.
Black mould is stimulated and thrives in moisture rich buildings encouraging growth on walls, windows, window surrounds, furniture, clothing etc aided by a lack of air movement. Being undesirable because of its effect on these items, it can also release toxic spores and allergens which are known to be associated with various health issues, such as respiratory conditions, rashes etc. An efficient ventilation system assists in the removal of excess moisture from the building environment to reduce the amount of water vapour (humidity) in the air and prevent excessive condensation.
