Noise from ventilation systems in dwellings – Regulations and field test procedures in selected countries in Europe

In most countries in Europe, regulatory noise limits appl y for service equipment in hous ing. During the last few decades, mechanical ventilation with heat recovery ( has become increasingly prevalent in new and retrofitted housing in Europe. The MVHR sys tems supply fresh air to obtain good indoor air quality, with minimal heat losses. Ho wever, the systems may operate continuously 24 hours/day and transmit noise into and between rooms by many possible paths. In practice, many people get annoyed or disturbed by the noise, especially during nighttime or when having quiet activities. Some cou ntries have stricter service equipment noise limits for continuous sources, and stricter limits also apply for upper quality classes in acoustic classification schemes Thus, both design and measure ments become challenging.
The aim of this paper is to inve stigate the noise limit values and descriptors applied to ventilation systems in housing in selected countries in Europe and to compare and discuss the field test procedures typically applied.