The importance of the air extractor for your family's health

In this article, we will explain what an air extractor is and its implication in ventilation systems, indoor air quality, and people's health.

The CTE (Technical Code of Building) states that housing must have a ventilation system (hybrid or mechanical) to allow air to circulate from dry rooms to wet ones. To achieve this, admission openings must be enabled in living rooms, dining rooms, and bedrooms, and extraction openings in bathrooms, kitchens, and toilets. The goal is to ensure adequate ventilation throughout the home, thanks to the supply of a sufficient ventilation flow that guarantees the extraction of contaminated air from inside the rooms.

The air extractor and current regulations

The air extractor plays a crucial role in the ventilation process, as it is the device responsible for locally expelling contaminants that are produced as a result of normal and habitual use. To ensure the proper operation of the ventilation system and not put people's health at risk, it is essential to take into account the criteria set forth by current regulations. The CTE DB HS 3, Indoor Air Quality establishes the following requirements regarding its design, sizing, and maintenance operations.

Design:

• They must be located in accessible places for their cleaning.
• They will be connected to extraction ducts at a distance from the ceiling of no less than 20 cm and at a distance from any corner of no less than 10 cm.

Sizing:

• They must be sized according to the extracted flow and for a depression that compensates for the predicted pressure losses.
• The total area of the extraction openings of each room must be the largest of the products of the following statements: 4 × qv or 4 × qve (where qv = minimum required ventilation flow (15 l/s in bathrooms) [l/s] and qve = ventilation flow corresponding to each extraction opening of the room [l/s]).

Maintenance operations:

• Cleaning operations: once a year.
• State review: once every 5 years.

Types of extractors

Extractors can be classified based on the movement of the airflow:

• Axial or helical: the airflow is in the same direction as the axis.
• Centrifugal: the airflow is in the same direction as the radii.
• Helico-centrifugal: the airflow enters axially and exits radially.

Beyond current regulations: the air extractor in the market

If you want to ensure optimal ventilation that guarantees quality indoor air for you and your loved ones, it's important to consider the following recommendations:

• Installation of an extractor with self-regulating technology. This will allow for a constant ventilation flow, regardless of the pressure.
• Installation of hygro-regulable openings. This will allow variation of the ventilation flow based on relative humidity.
• Installation of a stato-mechanical air extractor (for hybrid ventilation). This will allow ventilation to occur as in natural ventilation when conditions are favorable and as in mechanical ventilation when pressure and ambient temperature conditions are unfavorable.