New homes are built with heating and cooling efficiency in mind. They’re about as airtight as it gets, which helps people save energy and cash. But there’s a serious downside to our modern obsession with cutting the mount of energy we use.

When we seal up our homes so they’re virtually airtight using clever blocking vents, ‘double glassing’ and even cling film, there’s no way for moisture to escape… which means you get condensation, which leads to ‘sick house syndrome’, which can in turn damage the fabric of the building as well as causing nasty health issues. That’s why we sell so many MVHR solutions to new builds by Housing Associations, which are often eligible for MVHR grants. Here’s why, if you’re a Housing Association, MVHR is such a brilliant idea.

  1. Energy saving MVHR is a highly effective way to achieve better quality housing which is more energy efficient as well as healthier for the people who live there
  2. MVHR system helps housing association residents avoid increases in heating bills by recovering more than 90% of the heat from the stale air it pushes out of the building
  3. This recovered heat gets fed back into the home as warm, fresh, filtered air, and there’s a lot less humidity than any ordinary heating or cooling system
  4. Damp damages the fabric of a building. MVHR keeps things dry, which extends the useful life of the building and saves money on ongoing maintenance
  5. House dust mites thrive where it’s warm and moist but MVHR systems create an environment they don’t like: warm and dry. The airborne dirt that house mites produce can cause asthma amongst other respiratory issues, so MVHR cuts the frequency and severity of mite dust-aggravated bronchial conditions. In fact MVHR is known for cutting relative humidity, eliminating dust mites and removing the health problems they can cause
  6. The constant low level background ventilation the system drives changes ALL the air in a premises once every hour and a half, whereas an ordinary modern trickle vent only exchanges a tiny amount of air per hour, as little as 5%, so things soon get very stale
  7. MVHR is brilliant in cold weather because you still get lots of lovely, fresh, warm air in the home even when all the windows are shut
  8. The constant circulation of clean air makes it difficult for unhealthy hot and cold spots to develop indoors, controlling annoying draughts and preventing nasty, stuffy areas
  9. MVHR systems also include clever filters to remove dust and other airborne particles from the incoming air. These can include allergens like pollen as well as poisonous carbon pollution from car exhausts
  10. The indoor air quality so much better than an ordinary heating system
  11. People who suffer from hay fever can keep the windows shut when pollen counts are high and stay lovely and cool indoors, even when the weather’s really hot
  12. Last but not least, MVHR keeps your home fresh and clean-smelling, removing cooking smells and all the everyday odours that tend to develop when we have the windows shut all day and night. No more spending money on expensive, unnatural air freshening chemicals!

If you’re involved with a Housing Association, why not contact us to talk about putting MVHR at the heart of your next new development?