MVHR and building physics knowledge for healthy, comfortable and energy efficient homes
14 June 2017: Today we finished the final stage of what was a complete design, supply, install and commissioning of a Zehnder ComfoAir Q600 Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery (MVHR) system – that also features cooling air-conditioning. Although we’ve commissioned many Zehnder and PAUL MVHR units in the past, this was the first time we … Read more
Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery systems (MVHR) are actually very straightforward to install yourself, as long as you’re reasonably handy with a drill and you aren’t afraid of heights. Here’s a step-by-step process for how to install your own MVHR or HRV system, safely, without leaks and saving a lot of money. If you’d like … Read more
One of my friends remarked today that their colleague was asking about that “German eco home, the one where you can’t open the windows…” The idea that you can’t open the windows in a Passive House comes from a misconception regarding the clever way that Passive Houses regulate the heating and cooling of a home. … Read more
We spend a huge part of our lives indoors – I’ve spent 96 per cent of my last 24 hours indoors, and it’s not an unusual day for me in winter. Consider your day. How long were you actually outside in the sunshine (or rain) altogether today? During mid-winter in England here was my typical day: … Read more
See if any of this sounds true to you. You live in a typical English home. It’s made of brick, it has timber-frame and single-glazed or double-glazed windows and woolly yellow insulation stuffed into the rafters in the loft. It was built after the first or second world war in post-boom Britain. You spend £800 … Read more