Like living in a goldfish bowl. It’s fair to say that most of us have tried to keep pet fish at some point. It turns out that for a low maintenance pet, fish can be a lot of effort to keep. But cleaning their tanks and filtering water is essential to keep them healthy, after all, it’s how they breathe. So why is ventilation in our homes any different? As our homes are made more airtight, they become more like goldfish bowls. Much like how water doesn’t magically clean itself inside a fish tank, you need to actively ventilate your home to keep it clean and healthy. There are three main types of ventilation you can use to ‘clean your goldfish bowl’: natural, intermittent, and continuous. Natural ventilation involves opening windows and doors to create airflow, a bit like manually cleaning your goldfish bowl. As we probably all know, this is very easy to forget about and ends up being more work than you think. Sometimes there are also valid reasons to not want to open your windows. These may include: trying to stop prying paws (security), temperature losses, or noise. But unfortunately, a closed or occasionally opened window is insufficient to ventilate your home. Intermittent ventilation is like only turning the filter on when feeding your fish. This traditional style of extraction ventilation is currently a legislated option, but it has flaws. This form of ventilation still requires you to remember to turn it on and is also generally too expensive, powerful, and noisy for constant use. It’s also too easy to not leave it on for long enough to properly remove airborne moisture. Continuous ventilation is like an advanced filter that is cheap to run 24/7 and can still boost when needed, keeping your fish healthy and happy always. Because it’s constantly running, it doesn’t matter if you forget about it, ensuring a much better average indoor air quality. Continuous negative pressure ensures effective contaminant removal, while continuous positive pressure ensures fresh, clean air is always brought inside; together they provide a more balanced solution. Efficiently designed continuous fans are often much quieter than their intermittent counterparts, something that your surprisingly sharp-eared goldfish will thank you for. Research shows that windows and intermittent ventilation are insufficient for maintaining a healthy environment that’s why as homes become more airtight, Kiwis will demand continuous ventilation solutions. What options do you have? Simx has several continuous ventilation solutions. For single room continuous extraction, the Manrose Genius and EC Contour fans are designed for quiet, energy-efficient 24/7 continuous use. They are ideal for extraction from a single wet room, like a bathroom, kitchen, or laundry with their variable speed options during high humidity events. If you’re looking for a complete solution for an airtight modern home that includes extraction, there are two main options: continuous extraction with passive air inlets, or balanced heat recovery. The Vent-Axia MultiVent is a cost effective, fully featured, and centralised, continuous extraction ventilation system. This system combines continuous trickle extraction with high boost levels using humidity sensed automation to deliver better indoor air quality. Because continuous extraction creates negative pressure, passive air inlet vents can be used with any continuous extraction fan to bring fresh air inside for whole home ventilation. Manrose has a collection of passive vents, such as the filtered Puro, acoustically damped Calma, and Aria with knockouts for minimum closure applications. On the other hand, heat recovery systems like the SmartVent Synergy3 or SmartVent Balance are a more comprehensive alternative to continuous extraction. These systems integrate active air supply and offer greater energy efficiency through reduced heating, plus improved comfort. A heat recovery system provides all the benefits of fresh air without the nuisance or expensive power bill to re-heat it. Alternative home ventilation systems can also be considered depending on the climate and type of home. Simx can help you find the right solution. Remember: build tight and ventilate right, because no-one likes a sick goldfish.