Ventilation in the bathroom

Air quality in the bathrooms

In a house are notoriously two rooms where the air quality is less healthy and would require constant change: the kitchen and the bathroom. The pollution of the air in the kitchen is dictated, clearly, from the activities of cooking food, which, at the same time, burn part of the air, in the case of diffused gas cookers, and diffuses in the air pollutants of various type related for cooking food themselves. Air pollution in the bathrooms, on the other hand, is linked to the use of such premises for the needs of the body and cleaning, in general, resulting in the accumulation of odors that hide the presence of bacteria and viruses in the air itself.

Living in stagnant air environments means, in the long run, getting sick, is not a case how is is now well known the so-called sick building syndrome, linked, according to the WHO assessments, to the volatile pollutants found in many products for construction, but also in cases of buildings constructed with bio construction materials, to ensure the proper air quality in bathrooms involves providing an adequate ventilation, and air changes consistent and balanced.

Regulation on bathrooms ventilation

The main rules in this area are mainly of a local nature and are found within the hygiene regulations in buildings and environments for civil, labor and even rural areas. At a national level, for years, the main driver has been the Health Ministry Decree 07/05/1975, entitled Amendments to the instructions Ministerial June 20, 1896 concerning the minimum height requirements and sanitary main living apartments, in which, in particular, Article 7 states that the bathroom should be provided of an outside opening for air or with a mechanical extraction system.

More detailed local construction hygiene regulations, basic regulations that often guide the issuance of certificates of occupancy, which (almost all of which are similar in different content) state that the main bathroom must be provided with a window opening, for air exchange, at least one eighth from the floor. In the case of blind bathrooms forced aspiration is to ensure a minimum replacement ratio of 6 volumes/ hour if continuous expulsion, or 12 volumes/ hour if intermittent mechanical ventilation automatically controlled properly timed delay to ensure at least 3 parts and any use of the room.

Properly ventilate the bathroom

On the basis of the above, and the knowledge gained about it over the years, it can be said that to ensure proper ventilation in bathroom there are two solutions: first, functional but episodic and related to the level of attention of the people, consists in periodically open the existing windows (in the case of bathrooms with windows, of course), while the second, more accurate, provides for the use of forced ventilation systems, to be chosen among those most suited to the characteristics of the dwelling and the plants in it contained.

Forced ventilation of the bathrooms is achievable, in summary form, with two plant systems: the first is that the bathroom is just one of the rooms of a house in which it is installed and running a system of Controlled Mechanical Ventilation (MVC), ie a system that manages the exchange of air at a central level for the entire building unit (or even more than one); the second, less demanding system, involves the installation of localized air extractors, installed directly on a wall (or another partition) between the bathroom and the exterior space, connected to the outside or through short lengths piping.

In the ventilation obtained through a centralized systems of ventilation, the system performs two functions: extracting the exhausted air 0 from the environment, using elements of recovery properly positioned, and entering new replacement air from the outside, with a management volume controlled air upstream from the plant, while locally, you can manage the rate of diffusion of the air, and maybe reduce the noise disturbance using speakers with brushless motors.

In cases of localized forced ventilation and not connected to a ventilation system, the most common systems, as well as known and recognizable, are those represented by the helical vacuum cleaners, recognizable in their cheaper versions, from the grids that reveal the propeller inside. In the case of bathrooms that employ these systems, as already mentioned, it is important that the aspirator is connected directly with the outside, to the maximum by means of short sections of a connector pipe and without rough roads of the same, that is at least of the type connected to ignition lighting (with minimum ignition) or, better yet, with a timer for a better management of the on and off cycles.