ABOUT VENTILATION IN SCHOOLS
Indoor air quality in residential and public buildings has a direct impact on the health and comfort of occupants. In educational facilities and classrooms, air quality additionally has a tremendous influence on the level of concentration and on the ability of the young people present there to absorb knowledge. The main threats from polluted air in schools are particulate matter from road traffic (PM10, PM2.5, PM1), smog, exhaust gases (NO₂, SO₂), allergens, unpleasant odours and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) coming from paints, furniture and cleaning chemicals.
An effective ventilation system requires filters that can handle different types of pollutants.
The TeachAIR school heat recovery unit effectively filters them all.
TeachAIR is an advanced ventilation system with heat and moisture recovery, high-efficiency particulate filters and a carbon filter reducing NOx as well as gaseous pollutants. It is designed to provide a comfortable microclimate in educational facilities, including classrooms, at the lowest possible operating costs.
The unit delivers an airflow of 700 or 900 m³/h, which makes it possible to effectively ventilate rooms with up to 30 pupils, in line with the minimum requirement of 30 m³/h per person - check the latest requirements on GOV.PL
Fresh air can be supplied at low velocity and low turbulence through a displacement diffuser with activated carbon, which effectively neutralises odours and provides reliable prevention of droplet-borne infections by separating exhaled air away from the occupied zone.
- An advanced algorithm controls the operation of the unit based on CO2 concentration and the defined thermal comfort parameters.
- The aesthetic and functional casing effectively dampens sound, without disturbing the teaching process.
- The system features an advanced air filtration system based on an electrostatic filter.
- The integrated cooling/heating coil ensures thermal comfort regardless of outdoor conditions.
- Access to the AlnorAIR cloud platform enables centralised management of multiple units across the entire school.
- The option to integrate with the SmartHOME solution by Loxone allows synchronised operation of many devices within the building.
THE FILTRATION SYSTEM IN TeachAIR - how does it work?
An effective air purification system relies on several stages:
PRE-FILTER
- What it removes: captures larger particles such as dust, small leaves and insects.
- Advantages: initial protection of the unit and of the finer filters; it only needs cleaning, with no replacement required.
ELECTROSTATIC FILTER (ESP)
Installed together with the pre-filter directly on the intake duct.
- What it removes: soot, smoke, smog, oil aerosols, very fine dust and ash.
- Advantages: high efficiency on fine particles, low airflow resistance, designed for repeated cleaning, which significantly extends the service life of conventional filters by up to 70%.
ePM1 55% FILTER
Optional inside the HRU-TeachAIR unit (standard: ISO coarse 70%).
- What it removes: particulate matter, dust, allergens, mould spores, bacteria and other solid particles.
- Advantages: high effectiveness in protecting respiratory health, reducing the risk of asthma and allergies.
CARBON FILTER (ACF)
Installed inside the displacement diffuser.
- What it removes: reduces gases and odours, but above all volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and toxic gases (SO₂, H₂S, NH₃).
- Advantages: neutralisation of chemical substances and improved olfactory comfort.
This approach makes it possible to comprehensively protect the health of occupants and to improve indoor air comfort.
CASE STUDY - PRIMARY SCHOOL, SOKOŁÓW PODLASKI
The Alnor Ventilation Systems team carried out the installation of a modern TeachAIR heat recovery unit in a school building in Sokołów Podlaski. The installation was completed efficiently and in compliance with the applicable standards, ensuring optimal air quality in the classrooms. The solution improves the comfort of pupils and teachers and also supports the energy efficiency of the building.
Clean air in the educational environment is of key importance for the health and well-being of pupils. It affects concentration, the ability to absorb knowledge and overall learning performance. That is why it is so important to ensure constant air exchange and to limit CO₂ levels and pollutants in school rooms.
In addition, we run air quality monitoring both in a classroom equipped with a heat recovery unit and in a room without such a system. The results obtained confirm our belief that the solutions applied genuinely improve learning conditions and demonstrate our commitment to caring for pupils' health.
The installation itself is quick and non-invasive — it requires no interference with the structure of the building beyond making the opening for the air intake and exhaust. The heat recovery unit also runs exceptionally quietly and noiselessly, so it disturbs neither lessons nor the comfort of being in the room, which is especially important in a school environment.
The photographs below show a classroom — both without a heat recovery system and after the TeachAIR system was installed. Installing the unit does not require a major refurbishment of the classroom, and the end result is aesthetic and discreet. More importantly — from the very first day of school, children breathe clean, filtered air, which directly affects their health, concentration and academic performance.
Would you like to see how the system works in practice? Thanks to continuous classroom monitoring, air parameters can be checked in real time — CO₂ concentration, temperature and humidity — both in the classroom with the heat recovery unit installed and in one without it. See the difference!
OFFER FOR IMPLEMENTING A HEAT RECOVERY VENTILATION SYSTEM IN SCHOOL BUILDINGS
A mechanical ventilation system with heat recovery, dedicated to educational facilities and in particular to schools where the modernisation of the installation is to be carried out without the need for a full refurbishment of the building.
The proposed solutions enable installation in a way that is non-invasive to the existing building infrastructure, limiting the scope of on-site work to the necessary penetrations for the air intake and exhaust. The systems can be deployed in stages, without having to take entire buildings out of use, which allows school lessons to continue while the investment is being carried out.
The units on offer ensure continuous air exchange, heat energy recovery and the option of applying multi-stage air filtration matched to the environmental conditions. These solutions make it possible to improve air quality in classrooms, stabilise CO₂ levels and increase user comfort while at the same time reducing the operating costs of the building.
The systems are designed to operate in occupied buildings and are characterised by low noise levels and high energy efficiency, which makes them a suitable solution for modernising existing schools without interfering with the architectural structure of the building.
SUMMARY:
The effectiveness of air purification depends largely on the type of filters used, since each of them is responsible for removing a different group of pollutants. Mechanical filters, such as ePM1, mainly capture fine solid particles – including PM1, PM2.5 and PM10 particulate matter, which have a direct impact on the respiratory system and on concentration. Carbon filters (ACF – Activated Carbon Filter), in turn, effectively reduce gases, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and unpleasant odours, improving the comfort of being indoors.
That is why the most effective approach is to combine different filtration technologies in order to ensure comprehensive protection of air quality. In a school environment, the optimal solution is the following set-up: an ePM1 filter combined with an ACF filter. Such a combination makes it possible to reduce both particulate and chemical pollutants at the same time, which translates directly into the health of pupils and into learning conditions.
In locations particularly exposed to high smog concentrations, it is also worth considering electrostatic filtration (ESP), which increases the effectiveness of capturing the finest particles, even under heavy pollutant loads.
Combining these technologies provides multi-level air protection, which translates not only into improved health and comfort for users, but also into better well-being, higher concentration and the overall quality of life of people in school buildings.
CONCLUSIONS:
- Each filter removes a different type of pollutant, which is why combining them is the best solution.
- In schools the optimal set-up is: ePM1 (particulates) + ACF (gases, VOCs), with ESP added in smog-exposed locations.
- Such a combination provides comprehensive health protection, olfactory comfort and a higher quality of life.
- Using a heat recovery ventilation system in school buildings makes it possible to maintain stable air quality parameters in teaching rooms while at the same time reducing the building's energy losses, which translates into improved operational efficiency of the facility.
TeachAIR
TeachAIR
These and other ventilation and heat recovery products can be found in the PRODUCTS section.
Write to us at alnor@alnor.com.pl or call: +48 22 737 40 00 to find out more about the product.