Leading ventilation manufacturer Vent-Axia welcomes the second World Ventilation Day, #WorldVentil8Day, a day dedicated to recognising and promoting the importance of ventilation and indoor air quality (IAQ). Taking place on Wednesday 8th November 2023, this year’s theme is Breathe Better, Live Better. The day aims to raise awareness of the importance of ventilation as a crucial part of enabling health and wellbeing, with a particular focus on mould mitigation and the vital importance of good IAQ vital for a healthy living environment.
World Ventilation Day was initiated by a group of researchers and professional bodies who are passionate about the importance of ventilation. The pandemic brought new clarity to the importance of good IAQ, but since the tragic death of 2-year-old Awaab Ishak, due to a mouldy home, the air we breathe has come into even greater focus. We spend more than 90% of our time indoors, breathing up to 50 times more polluted air than outdoors. Add to that the fact that indoor air can contain over 900 chemicals, particulates, biological materials, viruses and bacteria and the essential role ventilation plays in our health is clear.
On World Ventil8Day, Vent-Axia is therefore continuing to recommend three key actions to take to improve IAQ: Reduce the number of pollutants introduced into the air; Dilute the pollutants in the air by ensuring there is adequate ventilation introducing fresh clean air into the home and buildings; and Purify by adding an air purifier to remove the remaining pollutants from the air.
“Each of us breathes 9,000 litres a day with poor IAQ affecting the health of everyone in our homes. With 70% of the air we breathe in our lifetime being indoor air, it is therefore vital to reduce indoor air pollution by reducing the number of pollutants put into the air, diluting the pollutants in the air with effective ventilation and then purifying the air by adding an air purifier to remove the remaining pollutants from the air you breathe,” said Lena Hebestreit, Marketing Manager. “Our message of reduce, dilute and purify is simple but essential for achieving a healthy indoor environment. We are delighted to support World Ventilation Day again and continue to raise awareness of the vital role ventilation plays in our homes and businesses.”
The UK Government recently launched guidance ‘Understanding and addressing the health risks of damp and mould in the home’. This guidance is a direct response to the Coroner’s ‘Prevention of future deaths‘ report, aimed at landlords to prevent a tragedy like the death of Awaab Ishak happening to another family. The guidance aims to ensure that social housing and private sector landlords have a thorough understanding of their legal responsibilities, and of the serious health risks that damp and mould pose.
The key messages within the report include: explaining the health risks of damp and mould; clearly outlining the regulation on damp and mould in social and private rented properties; guidance on how landlords should respond to damp and mould; and how landlords should take a proactive approach to reduce the risk of damp and mould. Ventilation features significantly in the guidance for both preventing and addressing mould issues.
Vent-Axia has been committed to improving indoor air since 1936 and offers a wide range of energy efficient ventilation and air purifying solutions to suit each home or building. For social housing and private landlords there are different types of ventilation available depending on the property type and whether there is already a mould problem, with Vent-Axia able to offer a range of effective, energy efficient ventilation solutions.
Vent-Axia’s Heat Recovery Retrofit Solution has been specifically designed for easy, lower cost retrofit of heat recovery to save maximum energy and emissions and comply with the requirements of PAS 2035 in the social housing sector. The Heat Recovery Retrofit Solution range consists of three different Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery units, which can be used together to help improve IAQ and maximise energy savings by introducing heat recovery to the property. The range comprises: the Lo-Carbon Heat Save, and the Lo-Carbon Tempra which are both wall-mounted through-the-wall units and the Lo-Carbon Calido, which utilises a simplified ducting system that can run within the home to supply heat recovered fresh air to a different room.
Another ventilation option for landlords are intelligent filterless unitary fans. The Lo-Carbon Revive has a raft of useful original features to provide powerful, quiet and efficient ventilation while the Lo-Carbon Response 7 features an ultra-low profile for discreet installation; increased airflow performance; a digital control menu; as well as a 7-year guarantee.
For properties with hard-to-treat mould, Vent-Axia’s PoziDry range of PIV units are designed to improve IAQ and prevent moisture build-up within social housing properties, providing a highly effective solution to help households and landlords control condensation and mould, as well as offering high levels of air filtration.