Heat-saving vents - are they the solution to indoor pollution?

Briefly reviews different types of air-to-air heat exchangers, and their relative efficiency. Discusses their effectiveness in removing indoor pollutants such as radon and formaldehyde from tight houses.

Measurement of local airtightness in buildings.

Decribes the "collector chamber" method, where a room or whole building is pressurised and the air leaking through the target areas is collected with apressure compensated chamber to a measurement device.

A field study of natural ventilation in better insulated houses.

Describes air leakage and tracer gas (SF6) measurements made in 42 Scottish houses. Finds that leakage in the "test" (better insulated) houses are on average 10% higher than that in the "control" houses. About 40% of the total leakage rate (at a pressure difference of 50 Pa) flows into houses through thefloor boards and the air-bricks under the crawl spaces. Tracer gas measurements indicate that average leakage rates with closed windows lie between 0.52-1.65 air changes per hour. Opening a window can increase the number of air changes by a factor of 2 to 5.

Testing times.

Describes Schlegel's test chamber for measuring air and water infiltration around doors and windows. This can record infiltration at any point around the frame to high light the exact source of a leak. This is used to test the company's own draughtproofing and weathersealing products and is available to door and window manufacturers for development work.

Beyond the hinge.

Describes the ways heat is lost through doors, including flow characteristics, the effect of wind and the effect of temperature difference. Suggests that automatic doors will pay for themselves in terms of energy saved by cutting heat loss through entrances.

Air Control.

Gives a series of short articles on air quality, air infiltration, and the ventilation needs of low energy buildings. These are -< 1. Sandberg M. Quantifying the pollution. Defines the quality of ventilation< 2. Warren P. Predicting infiltration rates. Explains BRE's method of predicting air infiltration in houses< 3. Getting close to zero. Describes the low energy EKONO office complex< 4. Sherman M. Grimsrud D. Which ventilation system? Shows that the choice of the economically optimum ventilation system depends on the tightness of the building.

Airtight houses and carbon monoxide poisoning.

Reports on the problem of increased carbon monoxide poisoning in houses resulting from new energy conservation construction techniques, which improve the airtightness of houses.

Warm air systems.Part 1 - temperatures and temperature efficiencies. Part 2 - tracer gas measurement and ventilation efficiency.

Reports the results of over 100 tests of 6 different warm air schemes. The temperatures and the removal of a tracer gas were monitored at several points and the data used to determine the temperature efficiency and ventilation efficiency. For ea

Airtightness testing in theory and practice. Tathetsprovning i teori och praktik.

Notes initial airtightness requirements in SBN 1980 and discusses various forms of ventilation. Discusses how tightness testing can reveal location and magnitude of leaks. Gives theoretical method of calculating air leakage flow and relates this to practical measurement. Considers different alternatives such as pressurising the building and combining tightness testing with thermography. Discusses 1980 building regulations and what buildings ought to be tested. Lists critical points of a building and measures which can contribute to good airtightness.

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