The Importance of Make-Up Air
What is make-up air? It’s not air that’s dressed up for a night on the town. Make-up air is the air needed to replace air lost through ventilation. Exhaust fans, water heaters and other equipment push out air from inside the building, causing negative air pressure. Making sure the air pressure is properly balanced inside a building can keep an owner from making costly repairs and installing unnecessary equipment. More modern buildings have less natural gaps in their construction, so more thought needs to be put into how to keep the good air in and push the bad air out.
Negative air pressure affects the inside of a building in multiple ways. Negative air pressure can cause exhaust fans and hoods to work harder than they need to, which can make them more likely to break down or need replacement sooner. Cross-draft from air pressure can cause unwanted air to drift into unwelcome areas. Ever eaten in a restaurant at a hotel where you can strongly smell the chlorine from the pool even though it’s on a different floor? That’s a result of bad air pressure.