Making sure your home is ventilated isn’t just important for maintaining a comfortable temperature – it helps keep it a safe place for you and your family to live in.

Without proper ventilation, moisture will seep into the structure of your house, leading to damp, rot, and mould. All of these can pose a serious hazard to the health of anyone living within.

To reduce the moisture levels in your home, it’s best to implement an effective ventilation strategy. One way you can do this is with passive ventilation. This is a low-cost method that involves using natural forces to circulate air around your home.

Prokil are the South’s specialists in damp prevention and ventilation. In this guide, we cover everything you need to know about passive ventilation systems, from the different types available to the benefits of having one of your own.

What Is Passive Ventilation?

Also known as ‘natural ventilation’, passive ventilation uses natural forces like wind and thermal buoyancy to circulate fresh air around a building,

This is done by opening and closing windows and vents. Clean air will enter, stale air will be expelled, and internal air temperature will be regulated by an improved airflow.

Passive ventilation is incredibly versatile and can be used in nearly any type of commercial or residential property. It can be easily installed in both new and established builds, complementing existing systems or working effectively on its own.

What Are the Benefits of Passive Ventilation?

Implementing a passive ventilation system in your home comes with plenty of benefits:

• Affordable: Because passive ventilation uses natural forces, you won’t need to buy expensive equipment (like you would with an air conditioner or dehumidifier). You’ll also save on operating costs and maintenance.
• Eco-Friendly: Passive ventilation doesn’t require electricity. You won’t need to use energy to power it, reducing your carbon footprint.
• Moisture Removing: Ventilation decreases the humidity in your home, which helps cut down the risk of damp, rot, and mould. Not only will you be protecting your family and yourself from health hazards, but you’ll be saving money on getting the infected material removed.
• Temperature Regulating: Ventilation removes heat energy from your home, ensuring it stays cool in the summer.
• Silent: Passive ventilation generates no noise while working.
• Consistent: Each room will be supplied with the necessary amount of both cool and warm air, keeping the temperature comfortable without having to adjust the system every hour.

How Are Passive Ventilation Systems Installed?

Passive ventilation systems are one of the quickest and easiest ventilation systems to install. They are typically installed by drilling through the outside wall of each room at risk from condensation and mould, utilising filters to prevent draughts and remove impurities from the air.

The exact components of your new system will depend on the location and external climate of your home.

Passive Ventilation Strategies

Wind-driven ventilation makes use of the different pressures created by winds around a building.

Buoyancy-driven ventilation is driven by the forces that come from the difference in temperature between the interior and exterior of a building.

Night cooling is driven by windforce or thermally (stack) generated pressures. It involves purging heat from a building at night while cooling down the building’s thermal mass, which then acts as a heat sink during the next day. This method usually involves automatic windows or louvres staying open for a pre-set period of time over night.

Talk to the Ventilation Specialists

Investing in a passive ventilation system is an excellent, low-cost way of keeping your home safe.

Prokil has specialised in installing bespoke ventilation systems for over 50 years. We will design a highly efficient passive ventilation system for your home, taking into account your schedule and carrying out your installation quickly and cleanly.

Alongside passive ventilation, we also offer positive input, positive output, and extractor fan ventilation systems. If you’re not sure which system is best, we’re happy to survey your property to identify the ideal ventilation solution for your home.

We can also install a range of other condensation prevention systems, including damp proof courses and basement tanking, so you can be sure that your home will be kept safe and dry all year round.

To book a damp survey, get in touch online or by calling us on 0800 048 9488. We will survey your property to identify the best ventilation solution for your home, while answering any questions you have about preventing damp and mould.