Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery (MVHR) provides the best possible air quality without wasting energy. It filters dust, pollen, and airborne pollution from the air you breathe, and then warms it to almost room-temperature using recovered energy you’d normally waste. Lingering odours, damp and mould are a thing of the past. Smart MVHR systems can even link to reversible heat pumps to add energy efficient climate control to future-proof your home.
When you understand the benefits you’ll understand why MVHR is the only way to ventilate a modern, low-energy building. Put it in a sealed building and collectively you can reduce your heating demand by up to 90%, but the health and comfort benefits that really count.
The question is not whether you need MVHR, it’s what kind of MVHR you need. The best available or something mediocre to tick a box. The answer is – how long do you plan to live in the property?
To correctly ventilate a modest two or three bedroom home around 100m2, your MVHR will need to supply and extract around one million cubic metres of air – every year for the life of the building. That’s two million cubic metres of contaminated air moving through a metal or plastic box in your plant room, utility or other dedicated cupboard. Enough air to fill 750 Olympic swimming pools. It’s a big task, especially in larger properties.
In terms of equipment, a quality system designed, installed, set-up, and maintained correctly should perform well for decades with minimal user intervention. It’ll automatically adjust the ventilation rate to suit occupant behaviour, it’ll filter out the most harmful microparticle pollution, and it’ll help to prevent overheating during the increasingly hot summers. A mediocre system won’t provide the same automation, air filtration, or cooling effect, and you’ll be lucky it lasts much longer than their warranty.
But it’s not just about equipment. To hide a quiet, efficient, fire-protected, easy to maintain system inside the walls and floors, one that complies with the new over-heating, fire safety, and energy regulations as well as Part-F, it’s all about design. To some extent the property should be designed to accommodate the MVHR, not the other way around. That means planning the MVHR much earlier than you might think.
Manufacturers recommend Solarcrest because they know their systems will be specified, installed, and then set-up correctly. We’ve successfully installed MVHR into R&D projects funded and scrutinised by DECC, the NEA, ERDF, Technology Strategy Board, Local Authorities and Registered Social Landlords, as well as hundreds prestigious custom/self-builds. Solarcrest were the first MVHR provider to attain government Trustmark status.
Architects choose Solarcrest because we help them create MVHR-compatible buildings from the outset, with the layout, structure, plant location and specification all planned correctly at RIBA Stages 2, 3 and 4 ideally. We provide holistic advice about airtightness, overheating and renewable energy strategies to get the right mix in line with Passivhaus principles, and can introduce trusted partners on the same wavelength. Where appropriate, projects are designed in native 3D (BIM/Revit) to check the system fits before timber or ICF frames, joists, steels, or glazing are ordered. MVHR needs more space than all other plant combined, and how it goes in is critical for performance, so it pays to be prepared.
Clients choose Solarcrest because following our tried & tested process means we can guarantee everything. The design, all materials, workmanship, compliance, and as-built performance. We offer total peace of mind backed up by our 5-star reputation.
