Save energy and prevent unnecessary cooling of the crawl space
This winter, every effort will be made to save energy. Intelligent and appropriate ventilation will reduce the energy consumption of a building’s crawl space.
The traditional solution for ventilating the underfloor spaces of a building is passive ventilation. This means that the space is constantly ventilated, and even in the coldest temperatures the building’s thermal energy is lost with the airflow. This leads to a lot of heat being lost during the winter.
However, it is not necessary to ventilate the crawl space all the time. With IoT-powered VILPE Sense, the ventilation can be adjusted as needed. In practice this means that in the coldest temperatures, the underfloor space is not ventilated at all.
“The VILPE Sense system stops ventilating the crawl space when it is seven degrees below zero or colder,” says Veli-Pekka Lahti, Director of Research and Development at VILPE Oy.
“This prevents unnecessary cold air from entering the subfloor structures, which would increase the building’s energy consumption.”
No need for residents to adjust the ventilation
The ventilation of the crawl space can be made as easy as possible with the help of automation. VILPE Sense sensors measure the outdoor air temperature and relative humidity, and the corresponding readings in the underfloor space, so there is no need for building occupants to adjust the underfloor ventilation or monitor temperatures. The VILPE Sense algorithm does this automatically.
The graph below shows how Sense ventilates the crawl space. On the coldest winter days, the roof fan speed (RPM) is zero. When the temperature rises and conditions are better for ventilation, the fan starts to run more efficiently.
On the other hand, on rainy days, for example, less ventilation is used so that the ventilating air does not bring more moisture into the space. This means that the ventilation of the underfloor space is always at the right level, which keeps it in good condition.