Since its inception in 2010, we have supported thousands of clients meet their Part F Ventilation requirements through post-construction testing and site support during construction.

Our highly experienced fully accredited site services team provide a cost-effective testing service that can be conducted alongside our air-tightness and sound insulation testing services, ensuring minimal site disruption and only one company to deal with.

Here at Melin Consultants, we understand the importance of maintaining high indoor air quality and ensuring compliance with the latest building regulations.  With our expertise and knowledge of ventilation testing we are well positioned to provide comprehensive solutions tailored to your needs alongside our other on site testing services.

What is Part F Ventilation Testing?

Approved document F of the Building Regulations focuses on building ventilation requirements to ensure sufficient airflow and indoor air quality for optimum occupancy comfort.  With continued focus on improving air tightness, good ventilation design and installation is becoming more and more important in new buildings.  Insufficient ventilation can quickly cause potential issues, such as mould, damp and excessive condensation, thus its crucial to to check through on site vent testing that ventilation rates meet the minimum requirement. 

As mandated, ventilation testing involves assessing a ventilation system’s effectiveness in providing sufficient fresh air and removing pollutants from indoor spaces.   Evidence of these tests must be passed to the Building Control Body as part of their sign-off procedure.

The majority of testing we carry out consists of ‘System 1’ background ventilation systems and System 3 – Continuous Extract – System 1 refers to the type most commonly installed consisting of intermittent extract fans and other background ventilation, such as trickle vents.  System 3 refers to continuous mechanical extract ventilation (MEV).  The more complex System 4 (MVHR) would need to be balanced and commissioned by an approved installer.

All our testing is conducted by fully experienced and accredited engineers using state-of-the-art UKAS calibrated equipment.  (insert picture) The most common method of testing is the use of a vane anemometer, this is a measuring device held up to the fan terminal with an appropriate hood attachment. 

Part F – Why Test?

By conducting as built vent testing, similarly to air tightness testing, we are essentially demonstrating that the building is performing as designed. 

In the case of ventilation we are typically  looking at the performance of the fans to confirm they are performing to the minimum flow rates according to Part F Legislation (as designed).  Quite often, manufacturers literature may state that the fan model achieves at least 15 l/s, but on testing it maybe achieving significantly less due to poor ductwork design and/or installation. 

By testing, we can prove whether the installed fans are performing to minimum flow rate standards and show building regulation compliance and provide comfort to occupants that the ventilation system is performing as designed.

What are the minimum flow rates?

When testing, the flow rates need to be a minimum of the following;

What if the Ventilations systems fail the test?

We would be lying if we said all fans pass first time, as mentioned earlier, this can be due to poor ducting or installation, or even mis-leading information on manufacturers literature. 

If the fans do fail, the options at this stage are to either fix any ducting or installation issues, replace the fans with higher quality units, or both, which can prove quite costly and inconvenient when handover deadlines maybe looming.  To minimise the risk of costly test failures, we strongly recommend seeking good advice at the planning stage, ensure the site and installation teams work together, and inspect ductwork before ceilings etc are closed in and access is restricted.  We also recommend to over spec the fans, this can help compensate for any ductwork or installation issues. 

The Vent Testing Process

Conducted by fully qualified BPEC Engineers, our vent testing process goes a little like this;

(Please note, we offer discounted rates if air tightness testing and vent testing is carried out on the same visit)

• Initial inspection – Engineer will conduct a pre-test inspection of the ventilation system to check its suitability and readiness for testing.
• Equipment setup – The engineer sets up the UKAS calibrated equipment used to measure the flow rates.
• Testing – The engineer will conduct the flow rate tests on all vents in the applicable rooms.
• Analysis – The engineer will collate the results and confirm with the site team whether the fans are compliant or advise if remedial works need to be carried out.
• Report – The engineer will produce a detailed report of the testing process, including the air test results, any issues identified, and recommendations for improvements should the tests not have met minimum part F requirements.
• Certification – If the vent tests have proved compliance, the engineer will issue a test certificate for each dwelling, the certificate can then be submitted to Building Control to show compliance.

Why choose Melin Consultants?

• A dedicated in-house site services department, ensuring your vent, air tightness and sound testing requirements can all be undertaken under one umbrella.
• Very competitive rates and discounts available when combined with air tightness and sound
• Practical advice from our specialist engineers prior to the test visit.
• A full site service as standard, we wont just test and go, in cases of test failure, our engineers will stay on site and endeavour to establish cause of failure in order to assist the site team with recommendations for remedial works. In some cases it can be quickly resolved there and then.
• Nationwide coverage
• Fully UKAS Calibrated test equipment
• Multiple unit discounts
• Enquiry, test and report in as little as 48 hours.

Don’t just take our word for it, please get in touch and put us to the ‘test’, if you would like to discuss your Part F requirements further, request a quotation or book us in to test please don’t hesitate and contact 01554 571010 or via admin@melinconsultants.co.uk.