PRANA recuperator or decentralised MVHR in eco homes and modular buildings

New progressive technologies and directions are constantly appearing in modern construction. Recently, energy-saving modular houses and eco homes have been in great demand among consumers in United Kingdom. We will tell you about the peculiarities of the arrangement of the ventilation system in such houses in this blog. Eco home or modular house is much more than just shelter, it’s an extension of you and your dreams, a sanctuary, a place to make shared memories and even (whisper it) somewhere to show off a bit. It matters.

There are some undeniable advantages of such a house as interesting and modern appearance, convenience, mobility. In eco homes the smallest details are thought out: the latest technologies, high-quality insulation, modern windows, increased thickness of the roof, everything is done so that the heat loss of the building is minimal. This is crucial for economy and energy conservation.

The trend towards so-called passive construction has been gaining momentum recently, these are houses that use 80% less energy for heating or cooling than conventional ones. Passive houses are the dream of almost every person who does not want to pay extra money for heating, cooling.

However, when planning to build such a house, a number of questions arise. How to ventilate an almost 100% hermetic, airtight house? Open the window or trickle vents? If you keep the windows/ trickle vents open all the time, will you heat the street? Why then did you install airtight windows and build a warm house at all? Air conditioning? But the air conditioner is in no way connected with the outside air, it does not have a supply duct from the outside, it simply cools or heats the exhaust air over and over again.
So how to live in a completely airtight house? How to combine maximum energy efficiency, minimum heat loss, savings on heating, complete air exchange once every 1-2 hours and clean fresh air in a modern eco home/ modular house?

One of the best solutions for a modern modular house is the installation of Prana decentralised MVHR or PRANA recuperator.

Prana mvhr is ideal for eco homes and modular buildings, because it provides minimal energy consumption. The ventilation units replenish the air you breathe, and can heat or cool your property, consuming from 3 watts up to 30 watts per hour in the process – less than the average domestic lightbulb! In the copper heat exchanger, warm exhaust air transfers heat to the cold, fresh air being supplied to the room; inflow and exhaust air travel through separate chambers in the copper core, allowing for conduction to take place while ensuring that the flows do not mix. Heat recovery occurs at a fantastic rate of up to 94-96% efficiency. During the summer, inflow air is cooled by the same mechanism, with very little energy expended in the process. With our decentralised models, the controls for each room can be adjusted independently, meaning resources aren’t wasted on ventilating rooms that aren’t being used of the copper heat exchanger, control using a remote control or smartphone via Wi- Fi or Bluetooth, sensors for temperature, humidity, CO2eq, air quality TVOC etc.

Features of installation and use of decentralised MVHR PRANA in eco homes and modular houses
Modular houses most often consist of a frame, and the outer walls consist of insulation and cladding of the facade with metal siding or falsework.
This causes the small thickness of the walls which is from 200 to 300 mm. When installing household systems in houses of this type, it is recommended to carry out additional work in the form of insulation or decoration of the recuperator body.
The minimum length of the working module of PRANA household recuperators depends on the model and is:

PRANA 160 mini, PRANA 160 ERP PRO mini – 350 mm;
PRANA 200G mini, PRANA 210G ERP PRO mini– 350 mm;

Therefore, the main feature of installing such systems in modular houses is the protrusion of part of the working module of the system indoors or outside.
When the body of the system protrudes more than 60 mm (not including the length of the back cover) in the cold season of the year in Scandinavian and Eastern Europe countries, the following deviations are possible when using the system:

icing of a part of the heat exchanger. When the “Mini-heating” and “Winter mode” functions are turned on, this probability decreases, but continues to exist, since the projecting body contacts with cold outside air;
decrease in efficiency. During cooling of the heat exchanger, a decrease in the supply air temperature is observed.
If the housing protrudes up to 60 mm, there is no need to be insulated, because only the exhaust fan will protrude outside and the heat exchanger itself will be located in the wall.

If the body protrudes more than 60mm , the following solutions can be applied to avoid frosting of the heat exchanger:

additional thermal insulation of the case in the case of protrusion to the outside;
decorating the device when protruding into the middle of the room.

Insulation of the body protrusion from the outside is carried out with the help of insulation for pipes made of polystyrene foam or another type and insulation material.
Taking into account all the features of frame eco homes and modular houses, we can conclude that installing domestic range of PRANA recuperators/ decentralised MVHR in them is possible and even necessary. Such a decision will help minimize financial costs and time for construction work. Also, significantly save on heating compared to natural ventilation due to leaks in doors or windows or ventilation through an open window and trickle vents.
Installation of recuperators makes it possible to effectively ventilate domestic premises.
Prana Ventilation Systems or decentralised MVHR is the right choice for your health, your home and the environment.
The installation options give users 100% possibility to install such systems in eco homes, modular houses and help to solve important problems related to ventilation.

Ecostream helps households with air quality improvement through Prana ventilation systems, such as decentralised MVHR and MVHR systems. Our approach ensures the reduction of condensation to prevent mould build up. Get in touch with us today!

Read more about Ecostream: https://ecostream.org.uk/

Read more d-MVHR: https://ecostream.org.uk/d-mvhr/