According to the current sanitary standards, apartment buildings must be equipped with ventilation, in which polluted air is removed from the kitchen and bathroom, and clean air is supplied to living rooms.
The ventilation of houses built in the last century is based on natural draft. Modern residential complexes are being commissioned with roof fans and forced air exchange systems. Read on to learn more about how the ventilation system is arranged in an apartment building, how to clean it and improve it.
The need for ventilation in an apartment building
Water vapor is released into the air during washing, washing dishes and showering. Lint particles from clothes and carpets, epithelium and hairs of pets form dust. During cooking, odors and tiny droplets of fat evaporate.
If an apartment building is not equipped with a ventilation system, all waste products of people remain in the premises. Conditions are created that are dangerous for the health of people and the safety of their property. Mold eats away at walls and furniture, and residents suffer from allergies and asthma. In such apartments, kids and elderly people feel worst of all.
Residential ventilation functions:
- Ensure the penetration of clean air into apartments;
- Remove dust and other impurities harmful to health together with the exhaust air;
- Regulate humidity in residential and utility rooms.
If, while cooking with an open window, odors spread to neighboring rooms, the ventilation system in an apartment building does not work satisfactorily. Another indicator that the ventilation in the house is not working is the intense accumulation of dust in the corners, on the ventilation grill and under the ceiling. Within a day or two after cleaning, you can notice clouds of dust under the upholstered furniture.
Most often, residents of the upper floors suffer from this. Poor draft is explained by the insufficient distance between the ventilation grill in the apartment and the end of the ventilation duct. Normally, it should be at least 2 meters. Often this condition is not met due to the presence of a warm attic in an apartment building and ventilation does not work as intended by the designers.
The principle of air discharge into ventilation
Most of the complaints about the work are caused by ignorance of how ventilation is arranged in a panel house.
There are 2 schemes for removing dirty air from apartment buildings:
Scheme 1. The ventilation duct reaches the attic, here it goes into a horizontal box
Several sealed boxes are combined into one shaft ending above the roof. With this principle of operation of ventilation in an apartment building, air masses from all floors rush to a horizontal box, from there into a common shaft and onto the street. In the process of movement, the air hits the surface of the box and an area of increased pressure is formed. Air rushes into the nearest opening leading out.
Sometimes the fifth floor ventilation duct is the nearest exit. Normally, this should be a general ventilation mine. Even with the optimal cross-section of the horizontal duct, backward thrust can be observed if the duct cover is set too low.The air bounces off the lid and squeezes out the odors coming from below into the kitchen on the top floor. To avoid such an undesirable effect, 2 methods are used:
- Method 1... It is necessary to increase the diameter of the horizontal box in the attic by 2.5 times. In addition, "incisions" are installed inside the box. All alterations should only be carried out by trained people. You must first consult with a specialist, since it is not always possible to use this method to improve ventilation;
- Method 2... The ventilation ducts of the last floor are equipped separately, they are brought into the ventilation shaft above the duct. A separate channel should be well insulated.
Scheme 2. All ventilation ducts are led to the attic
The attic room is used as an intermediate chamber. The only ventilation shaft leads through the roof.
This method of air extraction is very common in modern construction.
Most often, there is no reverse thrust in the network, but on the upper floors it is very weak. This is due to the low height of the vertical channel (no more than 40 cm). When the doors of the attic or between sections are open, there is practically no air movement either.
The standard diameter of air ducts with such a ventilation system in an apartment building is 140 mm. To improve its work, the channel outlets are lengthened due to the pipes put on them. The joints are sealed. It is enough to add 1 meter of pipe and tilt it slightly towards the central shaft.
Apartment supply and exhaust ventilation
In multi-storey buildings, an inflow-exhaust ventilation system is installed in each apartment. Typically, the following scheme is used: in toilets, bathrooms and kitchens, exhaust duct outlets are located, and clean air is supplied through the vents.
So that the air can circulate freely throughout the apartment, 1 - 2 cm gaps are left under the interior doors.
Such a plan for ventilation in an apartment building is quite simple, but not always effective.
If the windows in the apartment fog up, periodically smells unpleasant, it is necessary to examine the ventilation of the apartment building. Often, natural ventilation in an apartment building does not work due to debris. But tenants have no right to clean the ventilation in apartment buildings. Repair work is also carried out by specialists. So how to clean the ventilation in the apartment?
Professional ventilation cleaning
Specialists clean ventilation in apartment buildings using professional equipment. First, diagnostics of the ventilation of an apartment building is carried out. As a rule, a video camera is involved for this. It detects places of accumulation of debris and dust, destruction. Then the pneumatic brushing machine removes all the dirt. You can also disinfect the mine at the same time.
You can inspect the ventilation of an apartment building in the simplest way: bring a burning candle or a match to the ventilation grill. If the flame deviates towards the ventilation, then all is not lost. The vertical position of the flame indicates that the natural ventilation in the house is not really working. When examining ventilation, it is necessary to check all ventilation grilles in the apartment of an apartment building.
Self cleaning ventilation
Residents of apartment buildings can dismantle the ventilation grill in their apartment and clean the accessible part of the mine with a broom or vacuum cleaner.
Before you clean the ventilation in an apartment building yourself, it is advisable to wear protective equipment: gloves, a respirator, glasses. Sometimes a perfectly healthy and clean system does not work efficiently.
In this case, it is necessary to resort to additional means:
- supply valves;
- exhaust fans.
They make it possible to regulate the inflow and outflow of air from the apartment, are inexpensive and easy to install.
Basement and basement ventilation
The basement is one of the most important elements of the ventilation system of an apartment building. After all, the ventilation shafts that permeate all the floors begin exactly in the basement.
As a rule, ventilation of the basement of an apartment building is organized on natural draft.
To remove raw air from the basement, common ventilation ducts are used, which come out with openings on each floor and in each apartment.
The supply of fresh air is equally important for the ventilation of the basement of an apartment building, where it is often damp and cold. Air vents or openings in the walls of the basement, located slightly above the ground, serve this purpose. The number of airflows is calculated based on the area of the building.
The air area is 1/400 of the building area.
If the building is located in an area with a high content of radon or a maximum background radiation, the air area increases to 1/100 of the building area.
The area of one vent can vary from 0.05 to 0.85 sq. meters.
Air vents with a diameter of 30 x 30 cm must be reinforced.
The shape of the vents can be any shape, but most often they are rectangular or round. This form is easier to perform and looks better.
The air vents should be evenly distributed around the perimeter of the foundation to avoid the formation of windproof areas.
The distance from the corner to the nearest vent is 90 cm. It is advisable to make an even number of vents and place them opposite each other. The distance to the ground is at least 20 cm. If the holes are lowered below, they can be flooded with rain or spring floods.
The higher the air vents are above the ground, the better.
If the foundation of the house has internal bearing surfaces, air vents should be made in them so that the entire basement floor of the apartment building is ventilated.
The vents must not be closed, otherwise the whole principle of ventilation in an apartment building will be violated. To prevent cats and rodents from entering the basement, the holes are closed with a metal mesh.
So, the ventilation of an apartment building is a single system, the device of which begins in the basement and ends above the roof. Any attempts by residents to independently interfere with its work, such as cleaning the ventilation in the apartment, dismantling its elements or alteration entail administrative responsibility!
Learn more about how the ventilation of an apartment building works video:
