To have a healthy home, effective ventilation is key. It can help prevent problems such as condensation, mould and thanks to clever additional functions like pollen or fine dust filters, high level of heat recovery and intelligent humidity control.
What is ventilation and why do we need it?
Ventilation involves the removal of stale and/or moist air from the interior of a home, and its replacement with fresh air from the exterior. To maintain a healthy environment, adequate ventilation is essential because it can:
- Prevent the build-up of excess levels of humidity, which can lead to condensation, mould and consequently result in health issues.
- For fuel burning appliances, such as wood burners, it can provide air.
- Help to eliminate cooking smells.
- Help to remove allergens and other irritants, such as pollen and dust.
Without ventilation in your property, the air would become stale, damp and generally unpleasant. Adequate ventilation ensures that the air inside your home changes frequently enough to avoid it getting stale. This enhances our well-being and protects the building structure at the same time.
Years ago ventilation was never much of an issue because homes tended to be quite draughty due to the way they were built. Gaps in the fabric of the home where services came through walls without being sealed, and windows and doors tended not to fit very well. Due to this our homes were draughty and all the pollutants in our homes never got the chance to build up. The downside to this, houses were harder to heat.
Moving onto the late 80’s we began to insulate our homes to a higher standard (solid walls, cavities, lofts and floors, windows and doors) to help retain the heat. However these measures reduced the amount of draughts (uncontrolled ventilation). It was great for a while as our homes retained heat and our boilers were using less fuel. But the major downside to this was the increase in stale air, condensation and black mould.
Modern properties are becoming sealed units (Passive) with almost no natural ventilation. An air handling devices must be installed to ensure that air is fully circulated throughout the property and fresh is brought in.
The Government and the importance of ventilation
In 2013, London, a 9 year old girl who suffered a fatal asthma attack, became the first person in Britain to officially have air pollution listed as a cause of death. Did you know millions of people deaths are hastened by air pollution across the world every year? According to the , World Health Organisation, the effects of air pollution kill an estimated seven million people across the world every year.
Why can’t I just open my window?
Opening windows does ventilate part of your home however, you have no control over the quality of the air you’re letting in. Having controlled ventilation is a must to keep all the unwanted pollutants out of your home.
What are your options?
Here at Jigsaw we have efficient and flexible solutions for modern ventilation concepts. Both of our solutions are wall-mounted systems.
- AEROPAC sound insulated ventilators direct fresh air into your home.
- Simple through the wall plug and play installation.
- Optimum sound absorption of 50dB for peace and quiet and a healthy sleep.
- Onboard control and LCD display with airflow settings and programmable timer.
- Supplies up to 180m3/h of fresh air.
- Whisper quiet in operation 20dB @ 60m3/h.
- Energy efficient – 5 watts @ 60m3/h.
- 3 optional filters: (pollen, coarse dust, activated carbon/NOx)
Do you live in an area where noise or air pollution affect your sleep, working or general wellbeing? Most of the housing stock in the UK is affected in some way or other and consequently, homeowners often choose to keep windows shut to keep the noise or air pollution out. This has an adverse effect on the air quality in our homes, particularly in new homes, particularly in new homes which are highly insulated and sealed. AEROPAC is intended to be used in the rooms where you spend most of your time, i.e. in the bedrooms to help sleep and in the home office or living room. It provides a constant supply of fresh air at volumes up to 180m3/h with perfect sound insulation. Optional filters include pollen and active carbon/NOx to filter out unwanted pollutants.
Installing AEROPAC in your home provides the ventilation and air movement of an open window but without the by-products of noise and air.
- Create a needs based single room or whole house decentralised ventilation system with heat recovery.
- Quick installation in the outside wall with a core drill.
- Air supply and air extraction operation with heat recovery.
- Single operation or operation in pairs.
- Comprehensive control via smartphone or tablet with the comfort app.
- Display of temperature, air humidity and filer change.
- Built in humidity stat and timer for bathrooms.
- Supplies up to 45m3/h of fresh air.
- 90% heat exchanger efficiency.
- A+ rating – Continuous operation costs as little as £2.50 per annum.
AEROTUBE is known as a single room heat recovery unit. These supply fresh air and extract moist air continuously from rooms in the home, which is especially important in bathrooms, utility rooms and kitchens. One of the disadvantages of conventional fans is that they extract heat from rooms. AEROTUBE overcomes this by having an integrated heat exchanger to capture the heat, this is then transferred to the incoming air supply which is pre-warmed to within 90% of the room temperature.
Using AEROTUBE not only ensures rooms are adequately ventilated, but also that a healthy indoor air quality is maintained.
Here at Jigsaw we offer our clients the full service ensuring that the products we offer are highly efficient and that help reduce their carbon footprint. We not only advise and recommended different solutions but we also offer the complete package from specifying the property to installation of the products. Our products range from infrared heating, hot water tanks, smart thermostats and controls, solar, battery and ventilation.
