Ventilation is the system nobody thinks about until there is a problem. Unlike air conditioning, it neither cools nor heats — it simply exchanges the air, continuously and quietly. And because it works without drawing attention, years go by without it being opened.
We clean extraction, supply and air renewal systems in villas, apartments and commercial spaces.
What MVHR is and where it is installed
MVHR is mechanical ventilation with heat recovery: a system that extracts stale air from the damp rooms — bathrooms, kitchen, laundry — and, in balanced systems, supplies filtered fresh air to the main rooms.
In Portugal it is found mostly in recent construction and in renovations carried out to current indoor air quality requirements. In the Algarve it is common in villas built in the last decade and in new apartments.
You can recognise it by the extraction grilles in the ceiling of the bathrooms and kitchen, and by a central unit, usually in a storeroom, a laundry room or the loft.
Why it gets dirty, and what that causes
A ventilation system works permanently. All the air leaving the house passes through it: water vapour from showers, kitchen grease, dust, fabric particles.
This material settles in three places: on the central unit filters, on the fan blades and on the inner walls of the ducts.
As it builds up, three things happen.
Airflow falls. The system keeps working, but extracts less. In bathrooms you notice it from the mirror taking longer to clear, and from the smell taking longer to go.
Consumption rises. The fan works against more resistance.
Moisture stays. This is the most serious consequence. An extraction system that no longer extracts as it should is one of the common causes of mould on tile joints and in the corners of bathroom ceilings.
What we do
- Checking and cleaning or replacing the central unit filters
- Cleaning the extraction box and the fan
- Removing, washing and refitting the extraction grilles and diffusers
- Cleaning the duct sections accessible from the grilles and the unit
- Checking airflow at the extraction points
- Sanitising the components
On balanced systems with heat recovery, the central unit's heat exchanger is checked and cleaned where access allows.
Kitchen extraction
It is a case apart and worth treating as one. In a domestic kitchen with heavy use, and above all in a commercial kitchen, grease in the air clogs filters and ducts at a speed that has no comparison with any other system in the house.
The product and the time needed are different from a bathroom extraction. Always tell us if the system serves a kitchen, because it changes the quote.
