Looking at this thread prompted me to find out what interm number of air exchange our improvments made in our home. The blower door tests conducted before and near the completed improvements had been done for the program that the Ontario government had implemented. The total improvements that I had planned had not been completed in the time frame the government had alloted us and in all likelyhood we have an even tighter envelope as I write this. Before any improvements 1.98 ACH @ 50 and 1 year later 1.90 ACH @ 50. ( The passivhaus 0.3 ACH @ 50 is impressive)
The company that performed the independant studies had been sold and I had to contact the original owner for the blower door test evaluations. The more interesting conversations followed. After he had told me the numbers he asked about the health of the homes occupants. Great but why do you ask.?? He remarked that homes of less than 3.0 ACH @ 50 do not natually allow enough fresh air for the health of the occupants and absolutely must have an air-exchange unit. Yes we have a HV unit. Good to know. He had inspected some retro-fitted homes and the people where having headaches and being generally listless from respired CO2 build-up as well as the homes having some moisture problems. He cracked some windows and told the owners not to close them until they had a air exchange system installed. This is a topic that Vlad had touched on. H
VAC Ventilation is an important part of the acronym.
Speaking with the inspector further the amount of ACH that this area new home builders strive is 3.0 ACH @ 50 or better.
Although the ACH number was not our goal just a bit of attention to common building practise details netted a suprising number. And now knowing that good maintainance on the air exchange unit is an ABSOLUTE MUST for our health. I learned another VERY important thing prompted by the Eco-renovators.
Randen
