There are really only two reasons to install ventilation in buildings – to provide comfort and to promote health. Each is crucial to the wellbeing of people in the workplace and at home. The main factor to influence both comfort and health is indoor air quality (IAQ) which is determined by the amount of pollution and number of micro-organisms present inside a building.

Health effects from indoor air pollutants vary depending on the pollutant, and the skin, eyes, nose, throat, and/or lungs can be affected.

For example, flu-like symptoms may be experienced together with blocked or runny noses and, occasionally, nausea may accompany these symptoms. In the long term, when people are dosed up with polluted air daily, the symptoms become more serious and chronic conditions such as asthma can occur.

But health risks from air pollution are not limited to respiratory problems. Chemical dusts and fumes find their way into the body via exposed skin surfaces as well as the lungs, causing diseases which vary from painful or irritating skin conditions or even to central nervous system damage, brain damage, liver damage, cancer, or damage to eyes.

And, of course, over the past two years we have seen the emergence of COVID-19 which poses a clear and present danger to people, especially in indoor spaces.

Ventilation prevents Covid-19 spread

Ventilation is a key factor in limiting the spread of COVID-19. Infected people breathe out COVID-19 particles which remain suspended in the air. Indoors, the build-up of these particles plays a major part in spreading the virus to others.

When it comes to comfort, ventilation is essential in many buildings, especially commercial ones, to remove stale air and replace it with fresh air, as well as to prevent overheating.

All this has led to a far sharper focus on IAQ and ventilation.

Indoor air pollution is caused by an accumulation of contaminants that come primarily from inside the building, although some originate outdoors. These pollutants may be generated by a specific, limited source or several sources over a wide area, and may be generated periodically or continuously.

Common sources of indoor air pollution include biological organisms, building materials and furnishings, cleaning agents, copy machines, and pesticides.

Ventilation processes

While many of us tend to think of ventilation as air movement within a building or the introduction of outdoor air, it is actually a combination of processes which result in the supply and removal of air from inside a building.

These processes typically include bringing in outdoor air, conditioning and mixing this air with some portion of indoor air, distributing this mixed air throughout the building, and exhausting some portion of the indoor air outside.

But the key is to let fresh air in via ventilation to dilute the virus concentration in the room. For that, you need expert design and installation of the most appropriate air movement products and that is why it pays to work with a ventilation expert like ECEX.