Apartment-specific ventilation for new apartment block

Apartment-specific ventilation makes living more comfortable

According to an old saying, good ventilation is something you do not notice. For ventilation to operate comfortably, it must adapt to a wide range of needs. The number of occupants in similar apartments can vary significantly. A single-person household requires considerably less ventilation than a large family. Occupancy levels may also fluctuate throughout the day. In addition, elderly residents can be particularly sensitive to draughts. On the other hand, overheating can be an issue in modern, well-insulated apartment buildings. Excessively warm indoor conditions are often perceived as poor indoor air quality, and ventilation may be blamed even though the real cause is the high indoor temperature. In such situations, it is important that residents can adjust both the ventilation rate and the supply air temperature themselves.

The most important function of ventilation is moisture removal. Wet rooms must dry quickly after use to preserve building structures and maintain a fresh indoor environment. However, maintaining maximum ventilation continuously is neither sensible nor always comfortable. Apartment-specific ventilation can be boosted precisely when needed and only in the dwelling where the need exists. A humidity sensor connected to the ventilation unit can do this automatically, ensuring that boost ventilation is activated when required and never left on unnecessarily.

Indoor air can feel too dry in winter but, on the other hand, the drying of large loads of laundry requires the efficient removal of humidity. When there is no one at home, it is possible and recommendable to reduce the ventilation to save energy. When residents can adjust the ventilation according to their needs, their satisfaction increases. Moreover, the housing company can achieve considerable savings in heating energy and electricity consumption by using apartment-specific and needs-based ventilation adjustments.

Decentralised ventilation makes sure that sounds, smells or possible combustion gases cannot migrate between apartments through ventilation.

Apartment-Specific Ventilation Requires No Plant Room or vertical Duct Shafts

The investment cost of a ventilation system is affected not only by the ventilation unit and ductwork itself, but also by the associated construction work. These ancillary works can account for a significant share of the total installation cost. Apartment-specific ventilation is a cost-effective solution because it eliminates the need for a separate plant room and large vertical duct shafts.

In apartment buildings, the cooker hood is most often connected to the ventilation unit, eliminating the need for a separate extract duct from the cooker to the roof. When the cooker hood extract is connected to the ventilation unit, the extract air from cooking must also pass through the heat recovery cell. This ensures that the heat recovery cell remains free of frost even during severe winter conditions and that the ventilation system operates reliably. A cooker hood integrated with the ventilation unit can also be used to control the ventilation unit.

Within the apartment, the amount of ventilation ductwork is typically quite limited. Most ducts are usually installed in the ceiling structures of the bathroom and entrance hall. In other rooms, only a wall-mounted ventilation valve may be required.

An apartment-specific ventilation system is simple and reliable

Apartment-specific ventilation units are factory-built, ready-to-operate systems that include the required level of automation and interfaces with other building services systems.

In buildings equipped with apartment-specific ventilation units, ventilation performance remains stable regardless of changes in outdoor temperature. This contrasts with centralized ventilation systems serving an entire building or stairwell, where airflow conditions may vary with weather conditions. Because there are no ventilation duct connections between apartments, another common issue in apartment buildings is also eliminated: the so-called chimney effect. During cold winter conditions, this phenomenon can cause overpressure in apartments on the upper floors via the ventilation ducts, while increasing extract airflow rates in lower-floor apartments, resulting in greater negative pressure, air leakage through structures, and draughts.

Decentralized ventilation also offers several other benefits that enhance living comfort. Noise, odours, and even potential smoke gases cannot travel from one apartment to another through the ventilation system. A decentralized ventilation system is inherently fire-safe, as all ducts and components are located within a single apartment. There is no need for control dampers or fire dampers in the ductwork, which require maintenance and inspection and whose malfunction may otherwise go unnoticed.

Ventilation units equipped with a plate heat exchanger do not mix clean and extract air streams and do not return odours or moisture from the extract air back into the apartment with the supply air. A plate heat exchanger contains no moving, wearing, or breakable parts and requires no maintenance other than cleaning.

An apartment-specific ventilation system is fundamentally simple, easy to balance, and quick to commission. Commissioning can be carried out apartment by apartment as installation work progresses, even if all apartments are not yet completed. In addition, thanks to the intelligent SmartDefrost by Vallox® defrosting automation, heat recovery cell defrosting is carried out in the most energy-efficient way possible by utilizing the heating energy contained in the extract air.

Apartment-specific ventilation can be implemented in a way that allows maintenance operations to be performed from the building corridor without the need to enter the apartment.

The constant flow feature keeps the air pressure at a constant level

A ventilation unit equipped with Constant Flow fans ensures that the pressure balance within the apartment remains stable at all times. MyVallox CFi ventilation units automatically compensate for changes in pressure conditions caused by factors such as dirty filters and air valves, fluctuations in outdoor temperature, condensation and frosting of the heat recovery cell, and heat recovery bypass operation.

The Constant Flow feature is particularly beneficial in apartment buildings, where it helps compensate for the effects of wind. It prevents problems caused by pressure fluctuations, such as condensation on windows due to positive pressure and the accumulation of heat in the uppermost floors. Equipped with Constant Flow technology, the Vallox 99 CFi ventilation unit is an excellent choice for implementing apartment-specific ventilation in multi-storey residential buildings.