Friday 1 March 2019

Indoor environmental quality is top of mind in a tight house and me with a background of environment sensitivities.

'Smart' ventilation is a whole new world after living in a legacy home that was freely 'ventilated' with a generous amount of 'leakage'. The CERV2 from Build Equinox is a vast leap forward in terms of healthy, comfortable indoor air quality and amazingly efficient at the same time.
Efficiently maintaining a healthy indoor environment is complicated. Automatic control, or “smart ventilation”, is important for meeting a home’s dynamic fresh air requirements while relieving the
 home occupants’ stress worrying about air quality. Effective distribution of fresh air within a home is essential for ensuring all occupied regions within a home are kept healthy.

Indoor pollutants rapidly change minute-by-minute and from one room to another within a home as occupancy, occupant activity, and wind-driven infiltration vary. For example, one person in a typical bedroom without ventilation increases carbon dioxide from 400ppm (outside air) to the threshold of bad air quality (1000ppm of carbon dioxide) in less than 40 minutes! Light exercise or increased mental stress will cut the time in half. Moderate exercise or physical activity such as cleaning will cut the time in half again. A person’s carbon dioxide and VOC (Volatile Organic Compound) pollutant output varies by a factor of ten from sleeping to vigorous physical activity.
It is a myth that “leaky” homes have good air quality. Air quality in a leaky home blows with the wind. Excess air, outdoor pollutants, and particulates blow into a leaky home during windy days while calm days have insufficient air flow and poor indoor air quality. .. read more at Build Equinox


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