What is Ventilation for? Why bother?

Ventilation is the process of changing or replacing air in any space in order to control the air quality. Ventilation can help to control temperature, remove moisture (responsible for mould and mildew), odors, smoke, heat, dust and airborne bacteria. Ventilation includes both the exchange of air to the outside as well as circulation of air within the building.

Types of Ventilation

Positive pressurisation is where the room is slightly pressuresised which fresh air, causing some of the stale air to find its way outside. This will also stop the ingress of dusty and/or odourous air from outside. An ideal application for this type of ventilation would be a high street shop, to reduce the smell of exhaust fumes.

Negative pressurisation is where an extract fan sucks air out of the room, leaving it slightly negatively pressurised, this would stop smells from escaping into adjacent rooms. An ideal application for this type of ventilation would be a toilet.

Systems can be designed to incorporate positive supply air and negative extraction at the same time. Heat Recovery systems take this a stage further by recovering heat energy from the extracted air and using it to heat/cool the incoming supply air. The kind of system would be ideal in almost any comfort ventilation scenario.

Our Services

We offer complete design and installation services for a range of ventilation projects ranging from domestic toilet extraction to large commercial ventilation systems. All of our installations confirm to CIBSE recommended guidelines and DW144 standards.

For more information about our services, or if you have any questions, contact our ventilation installation team on 01749 670838.

How Do They Work?

The illustration shows a typical Active Solar Heating system layout. An electronic controller constantly compares the temperature of the solar collectors with the temperature of the water in the cylinder.

Whenever the collectors are hotter than the cylinder, the controller switches on the system's circulating pump. A mixture of antifreeze and water is then circulated through the collectors and the cylinder's heat exchanger, heating the cylinder in just the same way as a central heating boiler.

The principle is straight forward. When the sun is shining, water is pumped through the solar panel and is heated by solar energy. This heated water then flows through a heat exchanger, warming the water stored in the hot water cylinder. The hot water in the cylinder can then be used for washing and bathing as required, with your boiler providing backup heating.

In the summer the water in the cylinder can reach a temperature of 60 deg C within half a day, and the insulation on the cylinder will keep the water warm for the next day. Typically the solar hot water system will reduce your domestic hot water bill by around 50%.

Environmentally Friendly

• Solar energy is clean, renewable (unlike gas, oil and coal) and sustainable, helping to protect our environment.
• It does not pollute our air by releasing carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide, sulphur dioxide or mercury into the atmosphere like many traditional forms of electrical generations does.
• Therefore Solar Energy does not contribute to global warming, acid rain or smog.
• It actively contributes to the decrease of harmful green house gas emissions.
• It's generated where it is needed.
• As it does not use any fuel, Solar Energy does not contribute to the cost and problems of the recovery and transportation of fuel or the storage of radioactive waste.

Low Maintenance

• Solar Energy systems are virtually maintenance free and will last for decades.
• Once installed, there are no recurring costs.
• They operate silently, have no moving parts, do not release offensive smells and do not require you to add any fuel.
• More solar panels can easily be added in the future when your family's needs grow.

For more information about our services, or if you have any questions, contact our solar water heating systems team on 01749 670838.