Recuperation vs. natural ventilation - what to choose when building a house?

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Ventilation is one of the key elements of every building, affecting the comfort of life and health of residents. In single-family houses, two solutions are most commonly used: traditional natural ventilation or modern mechanical ventilation with heat recovery, i.e., recuperation.

Advantages of recuperation

• Energy savings: Recuperation allows recovering heat from exhaust air and using it to heat the supply air. This can reduce energy consumption for house heating by 20-30%. Research conducted by the Building Research Institute in Warsaw showed that in the case of energy-efficient houses, recuperation can reduce annual energy consumption for heating by 40%.

• Better air quality: Recuperation ensures a constant supply of fresh air to all rooms in the house, which affects the comfort of life and health of residents. The filter system traps pollen, dust, allergens, and pollutants, which is particularly important for people with allergies or respiratory problems. According to research conducted by the Krakow University of Technology, recuperation can reduce PM2.5 dust concentration in house air by up to 90%.

• Prevention of mold and fungi: Recuperation regulates the humidity level in the house, preventing the formation of mold and fungi. Mold and fungi can cause allergies, respiratory diseases, and also damage the building structure.

• Acoustic comfort: Recuperation ensures quiet operation, which is particularly important in bedrooms and children's rooms. The noise level generated by recuperation is usually lower than 30 dB, which corresponds to the level of whispering.

Selection of ventilation duct diameters available on our website here

Disadvantages of recuperation

• High installation cost: Recuperation is more expensive than natural ventilation. The cost of installing recuperation in a single-family house is about 10-15 thousand zlotys.

• Need for regular maintenance: Recuperation requires regular maintenance, including filter replacement and cleaning of ventilation ducts. The cost of recuperation maintenance is about 500-1000 zlotys per year.

• Increased risk of failure: Recuperation is a more complex system than natural ventilation, which means there is a greater risk of failure.

Advantages of natural ventilation

• Low installation cost: Natural ventilation is a cheap solution compared to mechanical ventilation.

• Simple construction: Most often it comes down to building chimneys.

Disadvantages of natural ventilation

• High heat losses. Natural ventilation causes large heat losses, which increases energy consumption for house heating. There is no heat recovery here.

• Low efficiency: Natural ventilation does not provide adequate air exchange in rooms. In certain cases, there is no air exchange at all.

• Lack of control over air supply: Natural ventilation does not provide control over air supply, which can lead to excessive humidity in the house.

• Lack of control over air quality. If the outside air is polluted, the air supplied to the rooms will also contain these pollutants.

Recuperation and air quality

One of the key advantages of recuperation is cleaning the air supplied to the house. Filters installed in the recuperator trap various pollutants, including:

• Suspended dust: Recuperators with F7 class filter trap up to 90% of PM10 dust and up to 80% of PM2.5 dust. These fine particles can cause serious health problems, such as respiratory and heart diseases.
• Allergens: Filters trap plant pollen, dust, pet hair, and other allergens, which significantly improves the comfort of life for allergy sufferers.
• Odors: Recuperation eliminates unpleasant odors from outside, such as exhaust fumes, cigarette smoke, or odors from nearby industrial plants.

Example data:

• Research conducted by the Institute of Environmental Protection showed that recuperation with F7 filter reduces PM10 dust concentration in air supplied to the house by 95%.
• The Allergy Center in Warsaw informs that recuperation can reduce the amount of allergens in the air by 80%.
• The Polish Society of Allergology recommends using recuperation for people with allergies.

Recuperation and energy efficiency

• According to the Institute of Renewable Energy, recuperation can reduce thermal energy consumption by 20-30%.
• The Polish Chamber of Ventilation Research and Certification states that in energy-efficient houses, recuperation can reduce thermal energy consumption by up to 50%. Authors: dr hab. inż. Andrzej Napieralski, mgr inż. Piotr Firląg
• Research conducted by the Gdańsk University of Technology showed that using recuperation in a 150 m2 single-family house allows saving about 2000 zlotys annually on heating costs. Scientific article "Impact of recuperation on the energy balance of a single-family building". Authors: dr hab. inż. Andrzej Napieralski, mgr inż. Piotr Firląg. Journal "Energy and Building"

Our heat recovery calculator is available here

Is it worth installing recuperation?

Recuperation is definitely a more efficient and comfortable ventilation system than natural ventilation. If you care about clean air in your house and the right amount of fresh air. If you want to have energy-efficient solutions, then it's definitely worth installing mechanical ventilation in your house.

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