Natural Ventilation Systems For Warehouses

Natural ventilation can often be overlooked because it is difficult to ‘see’ in action. However, this type of ventilation is ideal for warehouses as it is incredibly efficient, cost-effective and can be designed to meet BCA requirements for natural ventilation and smoke hazard management.

Compared to mechanical ventilation (that only works when it’s switched on), natural ventilation works constantly to facilitate the flow of fresh air throughout your building. And when it comes to reliability, natural ventilation can’t be beaten.

Warehouses that do not have natural ventilation tend to utilise mechanical ventilation in its place. However, this generates extra expenses for 3 main motives:

1) Lifespan – mechanical ventilation has a limited lifespan, as it runs on motors that will require maintenance and may eventually cease to work.

2) Service: because of its constant moving parts, this sort of ventilation requires regular and costly servicing.

3) Energy consumption – mechanical ventilation runs on electricity, so is therefore a constant expense.

What’s best – ridge vents or another type of ventilator?

Ridge ventilators are ideal for warehouses, but it is crucial to recall that not all ridge vents are fabricated equal.

CSIRO tested ridge ventilators are built on the science of updraft air flow that:

- Provides greatest performance in all climate conditions,

- Eliminates the risk of back drafting, and

- Prevents the entry of moisture.

This ‘updrafted’ design has been tested to Australian Standard AS2428, and has proven design advantages over ‘vented ridge’ designs.

How does this type of warehouse natural ventilation work?

Natural ventilation works conferring to the laws of thermo-dynamics, by allowing an outlet for warm air to outflow from the building. Ridge vents do not include a spinning; instead their updraft design incites air to move up so it can exit from the top of the ventilator.

Our ridge vents have wind jump diaphragms at nominated points in the ventilator. These diaphragms create air pressure edges when the wind is blowing across the ventilator as well as along the ventilator guaranteeing high performance regardless of wind direction. IVR Group ridge vents also contain a unique internal guide vane system that helps shape the air through the ventilator, resulting in large air flow performance gains.