Hello everyone,
We are planning our house build (timber prefabricated house) and are currently considering whether to include a central ventilation system or not. We would appreciate hearing about your experiences with this.
Did you build with or without one, and how satisfied are you with it in everyday life? Is the air inside the house comfortable, or perhaps too dry due to low humidity?
We expect or hope that such a system will provide constantly fresh, unused air inside the house and help prevent mold growth in a tightly built new home. In practice, we won’t be ventilating the house by opening windows 2–3 times a day. To be honest, we already find ventilating by opening windows on cross-ventilation once a day to be a hassle. More realistically, we would occasionally open windows when we feel like it. (We currently live in an older building, where air exchange is not an issue.)
On the other hand, there is the question of how often you actually need to ventilate in a diffusion-open timber construction. Excess moisture should be sufficiently removed anyway. Also, on 160 m² (1,722 sq ft) of living space, any produced moisture and CO2 should distribute well enough.
Such a system is not exactly inexpensive, and we do not know anyone in our family or circle of friends who has had mold in their home, even though they only occasionally open windows and do not ventilate continuously.
It is hard to judge whether this is a great feature to be very glad about later or an expensive investment with little added value. Therefore, we would really appreciate your experiences and advice on this 🙂
Best regards,
Sebastian
We are planning our house build (timber prefabricated house) and are currently considering whether to include a central ventilation system or not. We would appreciate hearing about your experiences with this.
Did you build with or without one, and how satisfied are you with it in everyday life? Is the air inside the house comfortable, or perhaps too dry due to low humidity?
We expect or hope that such a system will provide constantly fresh, unused air inside the house and help prevent mold growth in a tightly built new home. In practice, we won’t be ventilating the house by opening windows 2–3 times a day. To be honest, we already find ventilating by opening windows on cross-ventilation once a day to be a hassle. More realistically, we would occasionally open windows when we feel like it. (We currently live in an older building, where air exchange is not an issue.)
On the other hand, there is the question of how often you actually need to ventilate in a diffusion-open timber construction. Excess moisture should be sufficiently removed anyway. Also, on 160 m² (1,722 sq ft) of living space, any produced moisture and CO2 should distribute well enough.
Such a system is not exactly inexpensive, and we do not know anyone in our family or circle of friends who has had mold in their home, even though they only occasionally open windows and do not ventilate continuously.
It is hard to judge whether this is a great feature to be very glad about later or an expensive investment with little added value. Therefore, we would really appreciate your experiences and advice on this 🙂
Best regards,
Sebastian
M
motorradsilke5 Mar 2022 19:08rick2018 schrieb:
Never again without!
The air is always fresh. Less dust inside the house, and it’s also very good for allergy sufferers because you can install a pollen filter…
With heat recovery, a controlled ventilation system is a zero-sum game in terms of energy, while providing a great increase in comfort.
Anyone who doesn’t have a ventilation system and thinks their air quality is good should put a measuring device with readings in place.
Then you’ll see that it’s not really the case.
Aside from the effort involved. Seriously, walking around the house every morning to open all the blinds?
By that time, I’ve already had my coffee. The same thing in the evening, just reversed. New builds without electric blinds/shutters. Can you believe that still exists? They are electric but have switches to operate them.
In the morning, I’m not in a hurry; I walk calmly through the house, open everything, take a look outside, enjoy the garden, listen to the birds singing... then I have my coffee, completely relaxed.
I would like to answer your question like this:
We lived for almost 9 years as a couple (then as three) in a KfW40 apartment built in 2007 without a ventilation system, meaning manual ventilation through windows and balcony doors was essential and frequently necessary. Even though we have never spent an extended period in a home or apartment with a ventilation system (central or decentralized), we know exactly what we do not want. This can also be followed in the thread below your post.
We lived for almost 9 years as a couple (then as three) in a KfW40 apartment built in 2007 without a ventilation system, meaning manual ventilation through windows and balcony doors was essential and frequently necessary. Even though we have never spent an extended period in a home or apartment with a ventilation system (central or decentralized), we know exactly what we do not want. This can also be followed in the thread below your post.
KingJulien5 Mar 2022 19:42motorradsilke schrieb:
I’m not in a hurry early in the morning, I walk through the house at a relaxed pace, open everything up, take a look outside, enjoy the garden, listen to the birds chirping... Coffee comes afterward, all in peace. Enviable! Time and calmness can’t be replaced by anything 🙂
Except maybe by “no appointments and just a bit tipsy.”
In 2017, we built a KfW basic standard house, roughly KfW 70, without a mechanical ventilation system. The house has triple-glazed plastic windows with adjustable air vents and a Helios exhaust fan in the bathroom that continuously extracts air from the house. This air is replaced through trickle vents in each window. The result: consistently fresh air, no odors, no feeling of drafts, cost-effective and functional. The heating costs are apparently not very high, as we currently spend around 60 euros per month on gas. However, this could increase, but that would not be related to the ventilation system; it’s due to air quality issues in the southeast.
Controlled residential ventilation is purely a comfort feature. It never pays off financially... not even close.
Not having to open the windows is very convenient. We have many plants in front of the windows. Moving them away and back all the time is annoying. Many plants also cannot tolerate cold drafts.
It is also very practical for drying laundry.
In summer, you can bring cool air into the house overnight, which is also very pleasant.
My conclusion:
In new builds, ventilation is essential. Whether it’s window frame ventilation, decentralized, or centralized systems depends on your budget.
Not having to open the windows is very convenient. We have many plants in front of the windows. Moving them away and back all the time is annoying. Many plants also cannot tolerate cold drafts.
It is also very practical for drying laundry.
In summer, you can bring cool air into the house overnight, which is also very pleasant.
My conclusion:
In new builds, ventilation is essential. Whether it’s window frame ventilation, decentralized, or centralized systems depends on your budget.
P
Pinkiponk6 Mar 2022 08:12Seppl90 schrieb:
Mechanical ventilation with heat recovery is purely a comfort feature. Financially, it never pays off... not even close.Unless you count the time spent manually opening and closing the windows as working hours. ;-) Some people here would probably come up with quite a nice "salary." 🙂 For Motorradsilke and me, it's more like "wellness," so we would actually have to pay for it. 🙂@motorradsilke: I hope it's okay for me to say this.
Dear Hampshire, YPG, and Pagoni2020, please come back. You are truly needed and missed here.
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