What Are Trickle Vents?

What Are Trickle Vents? a question amongst many others that often gets asked by customers.

 I am going to give you a brief insight into why we need Ventilation and from this you will able to understand the benefits of Trickle Vents.

 
 In the past 5-10 years there has been significant changes in the way that we think in terms of saving energy, fossil fuels etc. One of the biggest changes that has been made is the advance in Insulation technology (Wall Insulation, Roof Insulation and Glazing Insulation). The thinking behind it is if we stop the heat from leaving our homes as fast there won’t be a need to turn the heating on as much which in turn will result in using less gas and electricity.

Imagine you are sat outside in your back garden enjoying the sun (I know we don’t get much sun but bear with me) and then the sun goes in. You could either put on sweatshirt, hat and shoes to keep your warmth in or you could get a heater and turn it on next to you and stay warm. It is quite obvious which one of these options would cost the most in money terms (the heater) but its cost in environmental terms is quite high as well.

We have got around this problem by putting in roof insulation (like a hat), wall insulation (like sleeves) and floor insulation (like the shoes). This all works very well but there is a BUT and it is quite a big BUT, with all of this insulation there is no ventilation which results in excess moisture in the air. An example of this is getting into a car after getting wet in the rain and the windows steam up very quickly. If we open a window (backround ventilation) or turn on the fan (forced ventilation) the condensation clears. The same can be done in a house. However if we fling open the windows then the steam and condensation will go away but we will get cold and need to turn on the heat again.

So this is where the Trickle Vent comes in to its own. The Trickle Vent does exactly what it says and allows air to trickle into your house at a reasonable rate so that you will not feel a cold draught, your security will not be compromised and you should have a balanced environment.

Q. What size Trickle Vent do I need to vent my room?

There are 2 answers to this question, the easy answer and the technical answer.

The easy answer:

We always advise a customer to fit the largest trickle vent that they have room for on their frame, or in a large area such as a bay window then fit a couple of smaller vents, this give the best opportunity for good airflow. A good vent will have a closer so that you can regulate the airflow if needed.

The technical answer:

This is based on advice given by Building Regulatory bodies.

Living rooms, Bedrooms and all habitabale rooms you need enough vents to provide an Equivalent Area of 5000mm2

Kitchens, bathrooms, WC and Utilty rooms you need enough vets to provide an Equivalent are of 2500mm2.

Example:

1 living room could have either 1 x 600mm or 1 x 800mm Vent to meet EA area or  2 x 300mm or 2 x 400mm vents to do the same

1 kitchen could have any size vent to meet the EA area.

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