Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery (MVHR) provides the best possible air quality without wasting energy. It filters dust, pollen & airborne pollution from the air you breathe and it warms it up to near-room temperature by recovering energy that’s normally wasted. Smart MVHR systems can do a whole lot more besides.
The more you look into the benefits, the more you realise MVHR is the only way to ventilate a modern, low-energy building. The health and comfort benefits even outweigh the energy savings. The question is not whether you need MVHR, it’s whether you need the best MVHR or just something mediocre. And the answer to that question is – how long do you plan to live in the property?
To correctly ventilate a 200sqm family home an MVHR needs to needs to supply and extract almost 2 million cubic metres of air every year, for the life of the building. That’s 4 million cubic metres of contaminated air moving through a box in your plant room. Enough air to fill 1500 Olympic swimming pools. It’s a lot to ask from something mediocre.
The more you invest in the design, specification, quality control, and ongoing maintenance, the longer it’ll last, the quieter it’ll run, the less it’ll cost to own, and the easier it’ll be to look after.
A complete MVHR system needs more physical space than all the other M&E plant combined. Hot water cylinder, heating system, plumbing and electrics. The exterior terminals dictate where the machine can go, and the machine is only 10% of the whole system. It’s the rest you need to plan for, ideally before you finalise the structure of the building. You don’t just leave a gap in the plant room, specify pozi joists, and then hope for the best. Not if you want a quiet, efficient system that fits like a glove without becoming an expensive headache when you get on site.
MVHR is only part of your ventilation strategy too, at least if you want Part-F and Part-L compliance. You need windows that meet the purge requirements, or a mechanical system that achieves the same result. Fire protection, Radon levels, NOx pollution, and vaulted ceilings all need considering, assuming the MVHR doesn’t need to mitigate over-heating problems too. Proper MVHR cooling needs even more space, so if you don’t plan it in advance it could be out of the question later.
At Solarcrest we don’t wait for you to start on site and then work out how to retrofit MVHR, we help you design the building to accommodate MVHR from the outset. When your technical design look good we’ll then create a 3D model of the building before we even start MVHR design. That way we know it’ll fit before a spade hits the ground, so we know it’ll work as designed too. Proper prior planning is how we can offer you a proper guarantee.
Solarcrest are Airflow’s sole ‘preferred partner’ for design, installation, commissioning & servicing. Established in 2009 our early work included R&D projects funded (and scrutinised) by DECC, the NEA, ERDF, Technology Strategy Board, Local Authorities and Registered Social Landlords. Since then we’ve delivered hundreds of successful MVHR projects for the UK’s most prestigious custom/self-builds, we’ve almost 200 five-star reviews from architects, contractors, and clients alike, and we were the first ventilation provider to attain government Trustmark status.
If yours is a new build, refurb/remodel, or deep retrofit project, and you want the best possible ventilation in terms of air quality, reliability, automation, and acoustics, an installable design that’ll actually fit, guaranteed ‘as-constructed’ performance, compliance, materials and workmanship, as someone to look after it when project dust has settled, you’ve come to the right place. Just be sure to contact us at the right time.
But if you’re thinking of taking a punt with a cheap kit for your plumber to install, read the next few pages before you part with your cash. It might cost less up front, but that doesn’t mean it’ll make your whole project less expensive or cost you any less to own. And if it’s not right you’re stuck with it forever. Once it’s in, it’s in for good.
