How to build a ventilation system yourself

Here we will look at how, in general, the construction of a ventilation system happens. Everything you will read is only the basis of such a process and is subject to change, taking into account the specific situation.

Depending on whether there will be fresh air in the room or the system will only serve to transport air (for example, heated air for heating - the system works on recirculation), proceed as follows. We assume that we want to bring fresh air into the room. This means that a façade grille with a filter must be provided. The so-called fresh air will enter through it. And to make it enter the room, we must have a blower installed with the necessary power to overcome the resistance of the grille, filter and curved sections of the airway. But in order to exchange the air in a room, in addition to introducing fresh air, we must also remove the "pollution". For this we will need a suction fan to take it outside. Depending on the design, this can only be done with a fan that is mounted on the façade or via a separate suction line. According to accepted norms in many countries, for the best comfort, at least three air exchanges must be carried out in one hour. This means that if we have a room with a volume of 100 m3, then we have to inject and remove 300 m3 of air from it in one hour. If the room emits suffocating or dangerous gases, then this norm logically changes in the upward direction, and then there must be installed filters on the suction (outlet or discharge) highway.

Another feature is the connection of the grilles to the air network. This is done either directly on the ducts themselves or via a flexible duct (soft connection) from the main highway to the grille. In this case, however, it must have a junction box. This makes the implementation of the project a little more expensive, but it is much easier to implement, because we do not have to take into account the exact deviations of the box from the main highway, relative to the desired location of the gratings. This option is very suitable and when there is a physical impossibility to make a deviation to the desired location for placing the grille. The latter is fixed either with screws or with a concealed mounting kit.

As for the air ducts, they can be installed in several ways. One is to use a hairpin bracket. The stud itself is wound on an anchor, which is pre-driven into the wall or ceiling. If the air ducts are smaller in diameter and therefore lighter, a perforated tape can be used to catch them.

In the case of rectangular air ducts, the installation is done with a mounting profile (suspension), which is fixed by studs and a driven anchor to the ceiling. Then, the air duct itself is placed on the suspension. It can be lined with insulation - cotton wool with aluminum foil or K-Flex insulation (microporous rubber), which can be with or without aluminum foil. Also, the air ducts can be powder coated, which allows for outdoor installation.

It should now be clear that building a small ventilation system is not a daunting task, especially if you have the right tools and free time. And since the responsible part of calculating, designing and providing everything you need will be our responsibility, you can safely decide to build the ventilation you need, thus saving money and avoiding dependence on someone else. And don't worry! For questions, we stay tuned.