Key Points
- Poor ventilation will impact on staff wellbeing, business performance, and profitability.
- Poor ventilation in residential properties has the potential to increase mortality rates among residents.
- Inadequate ventilation and related ductwork maintenance regimes can significantly increase fire risk and adversely impact on insurance premiums.
Why is correct Ventilation important?
The major role of ventilation is to secure optimum air quality for occupant health and comfort. A correct ventilation regime and rate of air change is critical for minimising the concentration of harmful pollutants, and if correctly addressed will mitigate sanction from a wide range of existing Regulatory, Health and Safety, and related compliance requirements.
Overheating and lack of ventilation in residential dwellings increases in importance as buildings become better insulated with lower rates of air infiltration, and therefore air exfiltration.
An adequately designed and implemented ventilation strategy linked to good operations control can mitigate the need for additional air conditioning and its resulting increased energy consumption liability.
Ventilation System Maintenance
Maintenance of ventilation systems is a regulatory requirement the scheme and the plan for which is required to be articulated and recorded. This applies equally to residential as it does to non-domestic properties and premises.
An inadequate maintenance regime and equipment replacement strategy has the potential to increase energy use, and being largely ‘out of sight’ has the tendency to be side-lined and ignored – until the system or equipment fails.
Impact of poor maintenance. The Carbon Trust estimate that poor maintenance of heating and ventilation systems can increase energy costs by up to 30% more than a well maintained system.
Don’t forget the motors, fans, and pumps. Motors, fans, and pumps are used extensively throughout many ventilation systems so it pays to replace standard equipment with new high efficiency ones when they fail.
West London Energy Assessors can undertake surveys of installed ventilation equipment and provide guidance on system effectiveness, energy efficiency, and estimated lifespan