Ventilation consists in renewing the air in a room.

 

How should you ventilate?

There are different ways of renewing the air in your room.

  • Aeration involves occasionally opening windows or doors.

  • Natural ventilation ensures continuous air circulation through permanent openings (window wells, ventilation grilles, etc.).

  • Mechanical ventilation requires the installation of a fan-driven system that draws in indoor air and discharges it outside, and/or brings outdoor air indoors. The power of these mechanical ventilation systems (i.e., the incoming and outgoing air quantity) can be adjusted. Moreover, they are often combined with an air conditioning system that heats, cools or humidifies the air, providing ideal comfort conditions.

Tip: Choose demand-controlled mechanical ventilation systems to save energy. These systems adjust the level of ventilation according to the activity and the number of people present. In practice, sensors measure the concentration of CO2 in the air, indicating  the amount of fresh air required.

Système de ventilation

Why and when should you ventilate?

Ventilation serves several purposes:

  • Ventilation ensures a constant supply of oxygen and evacuates CO2 charged indoor air.
    • We recommend, for example, airing your living areas twice a day for 15 minutes, even in winter. Renewing the air in your room is always a good habit to compensate for our breathing process, which consumes oxygen and releases CO2.

Tip: A CO2 meter can help you monitor CO2 concentration. Concentrations above 900 ppm, and certainly above 1200 ppm, indicate that air renewal is insufficient for the number of people present and their activity. It is then time to aerate or reinforce ventilation. However, these limit values may vary according to the type of activity.  Intense physical activity increases the amount of CO2 exhaled, which may require more ventilation.

> For more information on CO2 meters, click here.

  • Ventilation plays an important role in providing us with a comfortable living environment: it prevents the room from becoming too hot or too damp, or from giving off unpleasant odors.
    • Feeling  any discomfort? Aerate immediately or improve ventilation. This is  especially important as, on average, we spend more than 85% of our time indoors.
 
  • Ventilation helps to protect our health by evacuating pollutants from indoor air, which can be generated by:
    - people, especially if someone is ill,
    - certain materials,
    - activities organised indoors, such as painting or using cleaning products.
    • What are the sources of pollution in your room? Think about the people or specific activities (lit candles, use of air fresheners, building materials, cleaning products, etc.). Identify these sources, reduce their use where possible (or look for alternatives and use ventilation to evacuate these pollutants.

Tip: Combine ventilation with an air purification system, either installed directly in your room or integrated into your ventilation system. Such a combination eliminates pollutants, whether they are generated in the room (by the people or the activities taking place there), or brought in from outside by ventilation (such as pollen and fine particles, for example).

> Find out more about air purification here.