MVHR and building physics knowledge for healthy, comfortable and energy efficient homes
Heat, Space and Light Ltd has completed the design, supply and commissioning of a Passivhaus-specification MVHR ventilation system for a luxury new build in the northwest of England. The home was also tested by our building airtightness team and achieved an incredibly airtight result of 0.76 m3hr/m2 @50Pa. It’s only slightly shy of a fully-certified … Read more
The Heat, Space and Light Ltd team has completed the design, supply and commissioning of an MVHR system into a whole house deep energy retrofit project in Cambridge. The detached mid-20th Century home has been externally insulated with EPS insulation to make it much more energy efficient at retaining heat. The insulation applied externally also … Read more
As much as 25% of the heat loss of a building is via air leakages in the building fabric (ie, draughts). The airtightness of the building fabric is therefore an important metric to measure and improve as much as possible when building or renovating a home. Equally, a more airtight building also improves comfort, acoustics … Read more
We have completed the design and first fix installation of a Zehnder Q350 MVHR system with ComfoTube ducting into a 100-year-old cottage that’s undergoing a low energy retrofit upgrade. The MVHR system will improve the indoor air quality, comfort and energy efficiency, but also protect the century-old building fabric by ensuring indoor humidity is dealt … Read more
It is subtle and understated in its impact on UK housing, but this new build bungalow home is one of the most energy efficient buildings in the world – and represents the future of housebuilding in the UK and Europe. We pressure tested the home this December using a calibrated airtightness testing fan and it … Read more
When we consider examples of good hygiene in our home, we may think of easy-to-clean materials, strong disinfectants and mops and buckets. But as Covid-19 is proving, hygiene in the home also relates significantly to the air we breathe indoors, and the bacterial and viral particles suspended within the air around us. There are many … Read more
30 years ago house-builders in the UK would have never considered how airtight they were building new homes. “Aren’t all homes fairly airtight, once you put the windows and doors in and pump the gaps with insulating foam?” Well, not necessarily. Fireplaces used to be for both heating and ventilation Traditionally, homes built before our … Read more
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
We’ve been chatting with people at the 2016 Homebuilding & Renovating Show in London all this weekend, and one of the cool toys we’ve had on offer has been one of the newest, top-of-the-range MVHR units from German-manufacturer Zehnder. The HRV unit had its panels removed and mounted in plexiglass, and the unit’s internal heat exchanger was … 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