engleski

Air Tightness Assessment of Buildings from the Point of View of Energy and Comfort

Ventilation of old buildings and houses without renovation mostly rely on natural ventilation due to unavoidable air gaps of windows and doors. In order to achieve low energy consumption controlled natural or mechanical ventilation must be applied together with air tight construction. Air gaps cause uncontrolled ventilation that is insufficient when the temperature difference between inside and outside is small and the wind speed is low. As opposite, it is too much during cold and windy weather. Insufficient air tightness has a secondary effect to energy demand via air quality and local thermal comfort problems. Too high air velocity in a room in cold weather results in local discomfort assuming that the draught effect only detectable at certain locations. As a result room air temperature must be set higher. Standards for air change rate and volume flow as well as methods for air tightness do exist but there is not enough information on the air tightness quality and usual air change rates neither of the existing building stock nor that of the new buildings and houses.

Air tightness

nije evidentirano