Ventilation systems: natural, forced, combined

The air ventilation system in a private house is no less important than water supply or heating. Owners who underestimate its importance, during the operation of the building, are faced with "crying" windows and mold in the corners.

Considered at the construction stage, the ventilation scheme will be much cheaper.

Ventilation calculation

The calculation of the ventilation of a private house is the first and very important stage. Assembling boxes is much easier than calculating their diameter and length correctly. The main factors affecting ventilation calculations:

• cubic capacity of premises,
• number of residents,
• the amount of equipment.

Consideration should be given to the need for cooling or heating the air supplied to the rooms. Initial calculations are much more complicated than installing ventilation with your own hands. Therefore, most homeowners resort to the help of specialists who can develop a unique ventilation scheme for any home.

Types of ventilation for private houses

Before you make ventilation in the house, you should decide on its type. There are three types of ventilation:

• natural,
• forced,
• combined.

When choosing a ventilation scheme suitable for your home, you should consider:

• state of ecology,
• wall material,
• financial opportunities.

Despite the extra costs, sometimes it is better to find the amount required by ventilation calculations than to suffer from a suffocating atmosphere in the house for many years in a row.

Natural ventilation

It is quite possible to equip such a ventilation system with your own hands. It is good if the cottage is located in an ecologically clean place, built from any natural material, foam or cinder block, aerated concrete, brick, expanded clay block or monolithic expanded clay concrete.

The air inflow is carried out through the vents or special valves on the windows, and the exhaust air is blown out through the air ducts leading under the ridge of the roof.

Combined ventilation

The natural ventilation system is complemented by a reinforced hood. It is installed when the air is not extracted efficiently enough in a natural way, although there is a draft in the system. Forced draft is installed in kitchens, closets, boiler rooms, bathrooms and toilets.

Forced ventilation

The forced ventilation system necessarily contains powerful filters for supply air. It is installed in places with poor ecology, as well as in houses from modern multicomponent panels: vacuum, expanded polystyrene concrete, SOTA, MDM, sandwich, in frame and thermal houses.

The scheme is quite expensive: an air supply unit with an air heater is mounted on the technical floor, a roof fan is installed at the ridge of the roof. The exhaust air is drawn outside through the duct system, and heated (if necessary) and filtered air from the street is supplied through the other pipes. For details on how to make forced ventilation, see the special material.