In any building, there will be a variety of rooms with various functions and purposes. We commonly find a living room, bedroom, dining area, kitchen, and bathroom in a basic house. In most workplaces, we usually have a lobby or receiving area, hallways, function rooms, offices, restrooms, and so much more. Each room has a specific purpose, and we stay in each room for different amounts of time during the day.
Depending on the activities we do in a room, the ventilation required to maintain a fresh air flow will change. Having adequate ventilation and airflow in a room is essential for breathing and for some appliances and equipment to work properly.
Aside from that, with correct ventilation, we can control the humidity and temperature in a room and quickly remove any odors, fumes, and even particles that might linger, like in the kitchen or living room.
In order to remove these air pollutants, we have to change the air in the room by introducing new volumes of air. Depending on the room, we might need to perform multiple air changes per hour to achieve our desired air quality in that room. Here are some of the typical values of recommended air changes per hour for some of the most common types of rooms:
We consider one air change per hour or 1 ACH to occur when an entire room's air volume is replaced once with new air within an hour. As an example, a 30 m³ room that requires four air changes per hour would need 30 m³ × 4 = 120 m³
of air to flow in it within an hour.
Calculating the airflow requirements for a room will help us decide what actions to take to provide quality air in any room. Also, choosing the right appliances for our home often leads to lower electric bills. In the next sections, let's learn about CFM meaning and discover how to calculate airflow in the CFM unit, which is the mostly-used unit of measure used for airflow.
🙋 Do you know the relative humidity and temperature are related to the dew point temperature? Check our dew point calculator to learn more.