France

Various studies demonstrate a significant impact of ductwork leakage on the fan power consumption of ventilation systems. They have shown that the total energy used by fans can be reduced by 30-50% by improving the airtightness of the ductwork system. However, most of those studies focused on non-residential and multi-family buildings. This study focuses on single-family dwellings; specifically houses.  

Throughout the certification process of air filters, the major technical characteristics are evaluating. Both theoretical models and experimental methods, proves some relationships between the parameters and the performance of product. In this article we present the statistical analysis of certified products according to EN ISO16890:2016. A sample of 1800 certified products by Eurovent Certita Certification is analysed to highlight products characteristics based on quantitative approach.

Between 2017 and 2018, the Centre for Studies and Expertise on Risks, the Environment, Mobility and Planning (Cerema) organized an airtightness measurement campaign in 117 multi-family collective and single-family French dwellings. These dwellings were built before 2005, that is, before the release in 2005 of the fifth French thermal regulation for new dwellings, that was the first to introduce specific requirements for airtightness.

This study aims to experimentally evaluate the influence of the combination of a supply only ventilation, called here positive input ventilation, and innovative active air vents on the Indoor Air Quality of a house. The positive input ventilation draws fresh air from the outside, filters and pre-heats it before blowing it in living areas. Active air vents are small motorised damper set up in upper parts of windows that can move according to local pollutants measurements or according to the measurements of the other active air vents in the house.

Since the 1970s, many authors have discussed the impact of poor airtightness on building energy use, indoor air quality, building damage, or noise transmission. Nowadays, because poor airtightness affects significantly the energy performance of buildings, and even more significantly with low-energy targets, many countries include requirements for building airtightness in their national regulations or energy-efficiency programs. Building pressurization tests are increasingly used for compliance checks to energy performance requirements and may result in severe penalties.

This study aims to evaluate the performances of a VMI, a demand-controlled mechanical supply ventilation system, in an experimental house, in terms of indoor air quality (IAQ), energy performance and thermal comfort. The positive input ventilation draws fresh air from the outside, filters and preheats or precools it before blowing it every dry rooms. The air circulates through doors’ undercuts and is naturally extracted thanks to exhaust orifices in every wet rooms. A heat exchanger supplied with water from a reversible heat pump is used to preheat or precool the blown air.

The French ongoing research project “Durabilit'air” (2016-2019) aims at improving our knowledge on the variation of buildings airtightness through onsite measurement and accelerated ageing in laboratory controlled conditions. This paper presents the final results of the second task of the project. This task deals with the quantification and qualification of the durability of building airtightness of single detached houses. It is done through field measurement at mid-term (MT) and long-term (LT) scales.  

The airtightness of new buildings has significantly improved in the last two decades thanks to building energy performance regulations. However, until now, low knowledge is available about the evolution of buildings’ envelope airtightness. This work deals with the durability of buildings airtightness, and focuses on ways to better characterize it.

The measurement of natural airflows is practically challenging. Driving forces that induce natural airflows are characterized by low pressure differences. Conventional airflow-meters would introduce pressure drops, which can significantly affect the flow pattern. Besides, the measurement of the flow crossing a window is difficult to implement and poorly reliable. Thus, indirect methods called tracer gas methods are widely used to bypass these difficulties, as they do not interfere with the flow pattern.

Building airtightness requirements are becoming more and more common in Europe (Leprince, Carrié, & Kapsalaki, 2017). However, airtight buildings require an efficient ventilation system to ensure good indoor air quality. In France, the inspection of ventilation system (Jobert, 2012) has revealed many noncompliance. They are mainly due to bad conception, poor implementation, and lack of maintenance. This often leads to reduced ventilation flowrates and poor indoor air quality. Leaky ductwork is one of the reasons for this noncompliance.