How Ventilation Works

"Ventilate" comes from the Latin word for "to fan," the action of causing air to move. And that's exactly how ventilation works: it provides the conditions that allow air to move.

For our purposes, however, we have to get a little more technical, because efficient ventilation requires a very specific type of air movement. We're not interested in moving air just to create a breeze that cools us by speeding evaporation. Instead, we want ventilation that provides year-round benefits.

If you've ever walked into the stuffy confines of a room that's been completely closed for a lengthy period, you know air tends to stay in place. You also know that just opening a door or window doesn't solve the problem immediately. A flow of air must be established to produce the air changes needed to remove all the stale air.

That's what an efficient ventilation system must do, too - provide a steady, high volume of air movement. That means the system components must be sized and positioned to provide a constant flow of air, moving in a constant direction.

We can create air movement in one of two ways- using natural ventilation or mechanical ventilation.

Source: Air Vent Inc. A Certainteed Company
Reprinted with permission