Difficulty concentrating, headaches, coughing, nausea or drowsiness. Inadequate indoor ventilation poses a threat to healthy people, but it is particularly dangerous for allergy sufferers. Meanwhile, in Poland, more than 30 percent of the population suffers from the condition, according to the National Health Service. The installation of decentralized ventilation can solve many problems and significantly improve the quality of life. In addition, a number of concessions and subsidies make it possible to reduce the cost of the investment by up to several thousand zlotys.
Ventilation is key to ensuring clean and healthy air in the home. It allows air to be exchanged, thus removing pollutants, moisture and unpleasant odors from the rooms. Importantly for allergy sufferers, ventilation filters can reduce pollen concentrations in the home by as much as 95 percent.
Home like a thermos
For homes with inadequate ventilation, allergens can accumulate in the air and settle on furniture, carpets, curtains and other items in the home. This is a very harmful phenomenon for allergy sufferers. Meanwhile, according to the World Allergy Organization (WAO), 30-40 percent of the human population has at least one allergic condition. The Polish National Health Service reports that 8 million people have allergic rhinitis and more than 4 million struggle with asthma.
In turn, excessively humid air can promote mold growth, which is dangerous even for healthy people. They produce spores that can cause allergic reactions, as well as lead to respiratory problems and cause many other diseases, including cancer.
Many apartments and houses struggle with inefficient ventilation, and increasingly better thermal insulation materials and energy-efficient windows are contributing to this problem. Modern homes are often as airtight as a thermos. Unfortunately, this promotes health problems for residents. This includes not only allergies, but also Sick Building Syndrome (SBS), which manifests itself in lack of concentration, headaches, coughing, nausea or drowsiness, says Jaroslaw Popadyk, Product Manager for Ventilation at Stiebel Eltron.
There are various ways to improve ventilation in the home and ensure clean and healthy air. The simplest is regular ventilation of rooms, preferably for a few minutes several times a day. However, it is not able to completely eliminate the problem, in addition, it causes cooling of the rooms and thus an increase in heating bills.
The best solution is mechanical ventilation, which is a system that works by pulling polluted air out of rooms and introducing fresh air from outside, or recuperation, which additionally helps recover heat.
In the case of newly built houses, builders are generally aware of the need to install an efficient ventilation system. Sometimes they even force recuperation on architects, because they prefer to design traditional gravity ventilation. The situation is worse in the case of thermal modernization of older buildings. Investors replace windows with tight windows, insulate the building with Styrofoam and forget about ventilation. In general, this is due to ignorance, not savings. They start dramatically looking for a solution when steam appears on the windows and fungus on the walls. Fortunately, in this case it is not too late, a decentralized recuperation system can be used. It is able to supply fresh air to the apartment, while preventing heat loss by giving it back to the incoming outside air. This makes it possible to reduce heating energy losses by up to 90 percent and reduce heating bills by up to 30 percent. In turn, dirt and pollen do not have a chance to enter, as they are captured by filters located inside and outside the unit," adds Jaroslaw Popadyk.
Stiebel Eltron brand products
© STIEBEL ELTRON
How to reduce expenses?
It is worth remembering that expenses for ventilation and recuperation can be significantly reduced thanks to several government programs that cover this type of investment.
The most popular is the Clean Air program for owners and co-owners of single-family houses, or separate dwellings in single-family buildings with a separate land register. It includes subsidies for thermal modernization of buildings and replacement of old and inefficient solid-fuel heat sources with modern heat sources that meet the highest standards. Subsidies are up to 66,000 for the basic subsidy level, 99,000 for the increased level, and up to 135,000 for the highest level.
Few people have heard of the Warm Housing program, perhaps because it is a subsidy for municipalities, which then issue a call for proposals in their area for individuals with legal title to premises in a multifamily building. The subsidy covers the replacement of inefficient solid fuel heat sources used to heat a dwelling. For the most polluted municipalities, the subsidy can be up to 17,500 for the basic level of subsidy, 26,900 for the increased level, and 39,900 for the highest level. For other municipalities, the subsidy can be up to 15-37.5 thousand.
The expenses incurred (after deducting the amount of the subsidy) can be deducted from tax under the Thermal Modernization Credit. The amount of the deduction cannot exceed 53 thousand for all thermal modernization projects carried out in individual buildings of which the taxpayer is the owner or co-owner.
In addition to the aforementioned nationwide programs, there are also local subsidy and loan programs. Therefore, it is worthwhile to keep checking the news on the websites of individual units. Discounts and subsidies can significantly reduce the price of the installation, which will translate into a faster return on investment, advises Jaroslaw Popadyk
Stiebel Eltron brand products
© STIEBEL ELTRON
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