Ventilation in a private house made of aerated concrete: norms and rules for arrangement + an overview of the best solutions

Aerated concrete has gained wide popularity in recent years. More and more people are choosing this material for the construction of their homes. It attracts with an affordable price, excellent technical characteristics and technological advantages: work with it is much easier and faster than with a brick.

Often, the owner of a new house first of all considers it necessary to install electricity, heating, water and sewage in the dwelling, forgetting or deliberately pushing the ventilation system into the background. So is ventilation necessary in a private house made of aerated concrete? And if so, which one should you choose? And how to do it?

You will learn all about the importance of the ventilation system in a house made of aerated concrete blocks from our article. We will introduce you to the types and specifics of the organization of communications that ensure a stable standard air exchange. Let's talk about the features of their device.

Why is ventilation needed and what does it affect?

For a comfortable stay of a person in a work / living / utility room, certain parameters must be maintained microclimate: lighting, temperature, humidity, concentration of oxygen, carbon dioxide, permissible percentage of suspended air pollution, etc.

You've probably noticed that sometimes, even at a comfortable temperature, we feel stuffy, damp and uncomfortable. Smells from the kitchen or bathrooms scatter throughout the house and do not disappear for a long time, and in the rays of sunlight you can see countless dust particles. Unfortunately, situations like this are familiar to many home owners.

In most cases, the cause of all these troubles is improper operation or lack of a ventilation system. After all, it is she who is responsible for removing the spent air mass from the room and supplying it with a fresh and clean flow instead.

Since school, we know that in the process of breathing and life, a person consumes oxygen and releases carbon dioxide and moisture into the air around us. Also, a lot of moisture gets into the air when washing and drying clothes, cooking, wet cleaning, and taking a shower.

We constantly, without thinking about it, bring home dust on clothes and things. The atmosphere within the confined spaces is literally teeming with volatile microscopic organic and mineral pollution, animal hair.

If the house is not ventilation systems, then all moisture, dust and CO₂ accumulate in the air. At the same time, the amount of oxygen, on the contrary, decreases, making our stay in the room unbearable. If you ignore this state of affairs for a long time, then problems with health and well-being may arise.

Without a stable air exchange in a house with walls, condensation will not be removed in a timely manner from aerated concrete blocks. As a result, a fungus will settle in building structures, destroying both building materials and the health of the owners with household members.

Sanitary ventilation standards

Unlike private developers, employees of design organizations and sanitary doctors are well aware of the importance of air exchange in residential buildings. Therefore, ventilation, along with heating, water supply, and lighting, is devoted to entire sections of regulatory documents.

Here are some of these rules:

• SP 13330.2016 Heating, ventilation and air conditioning. Updated edition of SNiP 41-01-2003;
• SanPiN 2.1.2.2645-10 “Sanitary and Epidemiological Requirements for Living Conditions in Residential Buildings and Premises” (Section IV. Hygienic requirements for heating, ventilation, microclimate and indoor air);
• “SNiP 2.08.01-89 *. Residential buildings ”(Section 3. Heating, ventilation and air conditioning. Appendix 4 (mandatory). Estimated parameters of air and frequency of air exchange in premises of residential buildings).

Briefly, the requirements of these rules are as follows:

1. All residential buildings must have a ventilation system;
2. The ventilation system at a specified frequency must ensure the replacement of exhaust air with fresh air;
3. The removal of air from the premises of a residential building should be provided through the exhaust ducts of kitchens, toilets and bathrooms (showers).

But such standards for the amount of air removed are established by the rules:

Let's calculate the volume of air exchange for a two-story house with four rooms with a total area of ​​80 m², two combined bathrooms and a kitchen with a 4-burner gas stove:

Standard for rooms = 80 m² * 3m³/ h at 1 m² premises = 240 m³/ч;

Kitchen standard = 90 m³/ч;

Standard for bathrooms = 2 bathrooms * 50 m³/ h = 100 m³/ч.

TOTAL: 430 m³/ч.

Exactly such air exchange it is required to provide in our conditional house for a comfortable well-being and to maintain the furnishings in proper condition.

Concluding the topic of standards, it should be noted that it is important not only to achieve regulatory air exchange, but also not to overdo it. After all, the greater the air exchange, the higher the speed of the air flow through the rooms, and if its values ​​are excessive, negative phenomena can occur - drafts.

Ventilation schemes for aerated concrete houses

In general, ventilation systems can be divided into two main groups - natural and forced (mechanical).

Natural scheme works due to the temperature difference and the density of the air mass inside and outside the building. It is completely autonomous and operates independently of the supply of electricity. However, the closer the outside temperature is to room temperature, the worse the air exchange will be, up to a complete stop.

This is especially felt in the summer. Achieving high performance in natural ventilation is problematic. Especially if it is arranged according to the channel principle with numerous turns and bends: the more complex the circuit, the weaker the thrust will be;

Mechanical diagram much more powerful than the natural system. It is often equipped with additional functions for heating or cooling air, a function for saving heat (recuperation), and the ability to integrate into the “Smart Home” system. Such ventilation works regardless of temperature changes.

Both types of systems are united by the fact that it is advisable to think over both natural and mechanical ventilation at the design stage of the house and install it immediately, during its construction.

Why is it important? Because the ventilation system, in most cases, is a network of metal or plastic ducts, which must be laid out of the premises and taken out to the roof.

If you do not immediately take into account all the nuances of installation, then the ventilation device in the future can be fraught with many difficulties (punching or drilling holes in solid walls and ceilings, the need to lay pipes from the premises of the first floor through the living rooms of the second, ugly appearance and etc.).

Despite the seeming complexity, to understand the organization issues in order to mount ventilation in aerated concrete house with your own hands or competently order its installation without overpaying for equipment and work, it is quite simple.

So, let's move on to the types of ventilation.

The subtleties of the natural ventilation device

We have already figured out that the force that makes natural ventilation work is the tendency of warm air to rise up. In order for such a movement to begin, an air duct is needed, allowing warm air from the room to go out into the colder street.

Air ducts are made of plastic, metal galvanized or stainless steel round pipes or profiles of square or rectangular cross-section. Also ventilation ducts can be made in the form of voids in the walls during their construction.

If the above pipes are laid in such voids, then this is called casing, this method is widely used, as it levels the looseness of the masonry and facilitates maintenance.

With natural ventilation, the air ducts are made vertical and as straight as possible, and the number of turns and horizontal (inclined) sections is minimized, as this reduces draft. Also, for better traction, you cannot narrow down pipe diameter.

Exhaust openings are equipped with ventilation grilles. They are installed in the upper quarter of the walls or directly under the ceiling, since it is there that the air rises, requiring removal.

Air inflow in natural ventilation schemes occurs through leaks in building structures, windows and doors, as well as through special air inlets located at the bottom of the house.

Plastic windows and safe doors practically do not allow air to pass through. Therefore, when installing natural ventilation in modern housing, the presence of inlets or valves is a prerequisite for the operation of the ventilation system.

The simplest solution is to install windows with ventilation valves. They will allow, without making additional holes, to ensure the flow of fresh air into the room.

But do not despair if the windows in the house are delivered without such valves. For these cases, wall-recessed devices are available on the market. They have a much higher throughput than window ones, and can also be equipped with filters, which allows you to clean the air before supplying it to the house.

It is worth remembering that on your own wall valves they cannot ventilate the room. For them to work, the built-in exhaust or supply fan must work. The valves simply let air from the street pass through themselves and allow you to regulate its flow by opening or closing the damper.

Natural ventilation is good for its simplicity, low cost and non-volatility. It is easy to install it with your own hands. It can be a great solution for small houses.

The nuances of the organization of mechanical ventilation

The difference between a mechanical ventilation system and a natural one is that the air is driven by electric fans. Thanks to this, mechanical ventilation can have a complex and long system of ventilation ducts with both vertical and horizontal sections.

Pressure losses in duct versions of mechanical ventilation are compensated by an increase in the fan power. This allows you to conduct air ducts to all the necessary rooms without worrying about the lack of traction.

Another distinguishing feature of a mechanical ventilation system is the ability to automate it. Thanks to the installation of fans with multi-stage speed control, as well as other speed control devices, the direction of the air flow and its temperature, mechanical ventilation allows you to achieve optimal air exchange in each the room.

It is more profitable to equip a private house with a mixed ventilation system, which includes components of both gravitational and forced type. In these schemes, air movement is stimulated by a fan mounted either in the supply side or in the exhaust.

Mechanical and mixed ventilation can be local and centralized.

With a local ventilation system each room, from which air is removed, has its own fan. A typical example is a cooker hood and an exhaust fan in the bathroom.

This solution is often used if, for some reason, the draft of natural ventilation was not enough and it is necessary to increase it. Installation of local exhaust fans low-cost a way that you can do it yourself.

Both for the natural scheme and for mechanical exhaust ventilation, it is necessary to have air flow paths through leaks, or through special inlets or valves.

With a centralized ventilation system in the house, usually in the attic, an exhaust or supply and exhaust ventilation. Further from this block, ventilation ducts are laid to the necessary rooms to remove the exhaust air, and if the unit is supply and exhaust, then supply fresh air.

Supply and exhaust ventilation units are equipped with two fans and ensure equal amounts of incoming and outgoing air. Also, such installations can be equipped with heating and filtration systems for incoming air and automation, which allows maintaining the set temperature and air exchange parameters.

Ventilation units with recuperation are supplied with a device that increases the economic effect of the use of equipment. This is a recuperator that provides an opportunity to rationally manage the energy of heating systems and save on utility bills.

With any other type of mechanical ventilation, heat is simply thrown out along with the exhaust air from the room to the street! Savings from ventilation with recuperation it is especially relevant in winter, when a lot of heat energy flies into the ventilation pipe. At the same time, the cold air coming to him from the street instead must also be heated to room temperature.

The recuperator is a heat exchanger through which warm air from the house and cold air from the street pass simultaneously. In a number of recuperator models, additional plate air heaters with freon or water are used.

Thus, fresh air is not heated by heating or electricity, but by previously heated air, which is removed from the room. Heat losses when using a recuperator are minimal.

In warm weather, when it's hot outside, the recuperator is also useful: in this case, it cools hot air coming from the street with cooler air from the room, reducing the cost of conditioning.

Unfortunately, with obvious advantages, recuperation has two disadvantages:

• Firstly, ventilation units with recuperation are several times more expensive than similar units without a recuperator;
• Secondly, recuperators can operate stably only at a street air temperature of at least - 10 ^OWITH. At colder temperatures, the plates become covered with an ice crust.

However, even with its disadvantages, the recuperator is the best solution for systems that treat all the rooms in the house. Among the local variants, the breather is in the lead.

Breezer Is a device for ventilation in a separate room. It consists of a ventilation duct and a housing, in which are installed: an electric heater, a fan, filters, blinds and control automation.

For the convenience of setting breathers maybe a remote control. Some breathers equipped with a ceramic heat exchanger, which allows them to work in recuperation mode.

Breathers fresh air is forcibly pumped into the room by pre-filtering and, if necessary, heating it. Models with a heat exchanger, they are able not only to pump air into the room, but also to remove old air from it.

Self-installation in aerated concrete house breathers and valves is not difficult: you just need to drill a hole of a suitable diameter in the wall for the ventilation pipe and fix the device on the wall.

Air purification in ventilation

At the beginning of the article, it was mentioned about dust flying in the air with inadequate or lack of ventilation. To solve this problem, modern supply ventilation systems can be equipped with special filters to clean the air entering the room from the street.

At the same time, depending on your needs, the set of filters can be different: from coarse cleaning, which retains only large particles; to fine cleaning, which does not even allow odors and pollen to pass through.

The filters have only one drawback: they need to be changed periodically.

Chimneys of stoves and fireplaces in residential premises

If you are planning or already owning a stove or fireplace in your home, then when calculating ventilation, you need to keep in mind that the chimneys of stoves and fireplaces are actually also exhaust ventilation.

In a cold state, the chimneys work like a normal natural exhaust, and when wood is burning, this effect is amplified several times, since a large amount of air is consumed for combustion.

And although chimneys cannot fully fulfill the function of exhaust ventilation, their presence must be taken into account when determining the dimensions of the supply openings so that they can provide the required fresh air flow both for the operation of the main ventilation and for the operation of the heating devices.

Hand-made installation of the ventilation system

Now on the Internet there is any information about the choice and installation of ventilation systems, which you can easily build with your own hands in a house made of aerated concrete. In a hardware store, you can freely buy ventilation ducts, fans or serious ventilation units.

The only thing that is better to entrust to the designers is the calculation of ventilation, because it is hardly possible to do it yourself without having knowledge.

Correct calculation is especially relevant if it is planned to use natural ventilation, because in this case it is important to choose the right quantity and cross-section ventilation ductsso that they provide the necessary traction and air exchange.

If you plan to install mechanical ventilation, then an approximate calculation of its performance can be made based on the standards, as in the example indicated at the beginning of this article. To do this, you need to calculate the standard ventilation value for your home and increase this value by 10-20% to compensate for losses when air moves along ventilation ducts.

As for the installation of ventilation itself, then for people building a house with their own hands, this, as a rule, is not difficult.

Ventilation ducts are assembled as a constructor, when one part is freely inserted into another. A large number of lengths, shapes and cross-sections of ducts, as well as various branches, tees, transitions, valves, gate valves and other products allow you to assemble a ventilation duct of any configuration.

Also, due to the standardization of dimensions, ventilation ducts can be easily connected to a variety of supply, exhaust and supply and exhaust mechanical ventilation systems.

The choice of such installations and their manufacturers, by the way, is also great: from budget ones with simple functionality to premium ones with full automation.

Conclusions and useful video on the topic

The following video will acquaint you with the features of the device for ensuring air exchange in a house made of aerated concrete:

Correctly selected and installed ventilation in the house from gas block - this is the key to the well-being and health of the household. Natural ventilation is suitable for small houses, while a mechanical system is the best solution for large buildings with many rooms.

You can choose and install ventilation both independently and by entrusting it to the builders, but in both cases it is recommended to do this even at the stage of design (planning) and construction of the house.

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