ᐅ Fewer operable windows with mechanical ventilation with heat recovery

Hello,

Would you partially forgo openable windows in a new build with controlled residential ventilation? More fixed panes or only casement windows instead of tilt windows?
Manual ventilation is no longer desired then.

The idea never really crossed my mind during the construction. We have all windows operable. I still want to be able to open the window according to my preference. I would consider this completely separate from the mechanical ventilation system. It doesn't really matter to the system if a window is open somewhere.

Once the factors of cleaning/accessibility from the outside and ventilation during summer heat are addressed, you can safely do without a few window handles.

My consideration about whether a window should be operable did not depend on the mechanical ventilation system, but rather on whether I needed a window that can be opened there (for example, simply for cleaning).
Therefore, all windows in our bathroom (upper floor) are operable because otherwise, we wouldn’t be able to clean them – for ventilation or to have fresh air in the bathroom during summer, just two or three would have been sufficient.
Our kitchen window is fixed but can be easily cleaned from the outside, and since I knew I would never open it, we decided to go with fixed glazing.
And so on.

We also made almost all the windows operable because we hadn’t really thought it through, and we didn’t fully trust the mechanical ventilation system.

On the ground floor, we could have definitely done without some of the handles since the windows can be accessed for cleaning from the outside. After more than two years, some of these windows have never even been opened.

LOL, luckily my husband never even considered something like that...
In summer, we probably would have suffocated at night without tilt-and-turn windows. Top open, bottom open, letting air flow through nicely... no ventilation can compare.