Ground Floor Flat: Detecting Neighbors' Cooking & Cigarette Smells via Ventilation Grille

The problem is too tight windows. In the past, such problems did not occur. A fairly good draft is also a problem because there is a significant negative pressure that sucks in where there is air. Windows are not allowed in, because they are almost hermetic, so the slightest difference in the sequence in individual rooms causes these backflows. If we continue to increase it extremely, we will suck water from the toilet bowl and maybe we will get bulging eyes )
Pity the money for heating and airing? Well, that's what recuperators were invented for.
It is not easy to use them in blocks, but it can also be done with the appropriate amount of work and cash.
I know use the micro-ventilation function, every window has it, or let's tilt it and that's it. Any strange grids will not help here, as above.

And this is interesting, I have a kitchen window with micro-ventilation open to full flow and it does not help, today I go into the kitchen and here he bangs his hood, apparently the neighbors were cooking. The problem is common ventilation, chimneys should be separate. In the kitchen, apparently, the ventilation chimney is connected with the others. In the bathroom, there is no problem whether the window is closed or open, the line is always in the right direction. At the next visit of the chimney sweep, I will report the problem, let him worry about something else. Alternatively, the installation of this grille with a non-return flap then the air is not pressed back from the ventilation chimney, just the flap will close as if there was no ventilation. Probably many people will be outraged by the fact that there is no ventilation in a closed circuit, but I will ask what is the air that I am blowing in instead of going out, and in addition it is used air.

Maybe one of the neighbors uses an absorber that is connected to ventilation. Report the matter to the chimney sweep

Ventilation odors do not always get through the ventilation duct. Sometimes they fall through leaks in the building itself or from the outside through the air flow from the window.
If the ventilation works well for you, air is sucked in from outside. On one floor below, someone opens a window while cooking and a beautiful smell comes with the air into your apartment.

In order to assess gravity ventilation, it is necessary to understand the mechanism of its operation. If there are any mistakes, it sometimes becomes quite a mystery. Overall, it's really hard to advise anyone remotely. Each case is individual and apart from the technical elements, there are also the habits of the inhabitants.

@berez
The grate with cones inside is a well-packed piece of plastic and polystyrene that is worth nothing. We bought one for testing and it will actually block the reverse thrust, but it will also limit the effective exhaust. The same can be done by pushing cotton wool into the vent. The grille is inconsistent with the Polish Standard for ventilation in buildings. Proper operation of the ventilation is regulated at the inlet and the temperature inside the room, not at the outlet.
Don't buy this crap

I warmly welcome

I have a similar problem. Well, I bought a new terraced house from the developer, I am terribly irritated by the smell of tobacco smoke in the morning when I go down to the kitchen. The smell is coming out of the kitchen hood for mine. I figured out that my neighbor is smoking and he blows on the hood. These channels are somehow connected and feel at my place. There was a developer and he stated after checking that everything was ok. The chimney sweep I called on this issue could not be commented on. The only thing he said after the anemometer test was that there was no draft in the ventilation duct in the downstairs toilet. Again, the developer came with a camera and found everything ok. My most important question is why I can smell tobacco smoke in the kitchen.

best regards

kingtlen wrote:

I warmly welcome

I have a similar problem. Well, I bought a new terraced house from the developer, I am terribly irritated by the smell of tobacco smoke in the morning when I go down to the kitchen. The smell is coming out of the kitchen hood for mine. I figured out that my neighbor is smoking and he blows on the hood. These channels are somehow connected and feel at my place. There was a developer and he stated after checking that everything was ok. The chimney sweep I called on this issue could not be commented on. The only thing he said after the anemometer test was that there was no draft in the ventilation duct in the downstairs toilet. Again, the developer came with a camera and found everything ok. My most important question is why I can smell tobacco smoke in the kitchen.

best regards

It is difficult to deal with it at a distance, but if you have found that you smell the smell from the cooker hood, then install the non-return flap as shown in the photo, but remember that it has a gasket http://www.harmann.pl/files/Image/produkty/rsk_big.jpg

Ladies and gentlemen,

One by one ... I have a similar problem and I feel I have come a little further in answering a few questions. Let me share this.

Bathroom and total blackness ... I did a renovation and it would be a pity to go back to the state before, so I started counting checking etc.

1. Gravity ventilation in large slab blocks works (or at least that was the plan) like this:
a) the air vents act as exhaust hoods in the apartment
b) "otherwise tight" window joinery was to provide fresh air
c) additionally large (20 x 40 cm) air "inlets" in the drying room and laundry room through - successively - the basement corridor, staircase and door to the apartment were to supplement this balance.

Ad 1c:
The flight through the drying room, laundry room and the staircase "wet" from the snow (actually water) provided humidification of the air and drying - successively - washing, "potatoes" and stairs (simple but beautiful!) And also delivered pre-heated air to the house.

2. Implementation:
a) the foremen did not always manage to "hit" the plate in such a way as to get to the right chimney, so at best the total number of "entries" to the chimney is correct, but for every second floor to be there, it had to be really good. The plates were standardized and usually a prefabricated opening allowed access to one of the two adjacent shafts. So the plates should be alternately placed from the ground floor upwards. Sometimes the opening was large enough to cover both wires and then the redundant was bricked up, which again was not always "tight".
b) sometimes, when the spout was generously made, it often "splashed" with a thin mortar into the leaky chimney, partially or completely concreting it (the chimney is a set of "blocks with a hole" on top of each other).

3. Modernization ...
a) inserting airtight windows - air does not enter the apartment ...
b) sealing the door - noise, but also the air from the staircase does not enter
c) tight door to the basement - the air does not enter the staircase - usually less drama, because the main entrance door is rarely a "demon of tightness".
d) sealing "holes" in the laundry or drying room - that is, limiting the air intake to the building.

4. Better solutions:
a) air intake under the sill, by the radiator (like "at grandma's", but not necessarily 20cm x 20cm ... 2cm x 5cm is enough).
b) the entrance threshold with the "labyrinth" inside - the air enters from the staircase and the noise is less.
c) "Rooster" on the top of the chimney - provides an additional "exhaust" effect thanks to the wind blowing on the top.

5. I advise against:
a) cutting out seals in the window and diffusers: from the window too much $$$ from 0 W / m?C becomes a "cooler". The seals form air chambers where standing air, being fairly close to the vacuum, is an insulator. As this air begins to move and be cold it becomes a coolant.
b) clogging the vents: fans of radon (a big plate, but not so much after so many years), moisture, carbon monoxide and their stench know better.

6. Diagnostics
a) If the apartment is simply too tight, the air should "stand" on the grilles.
b) If one chimney draws in "like a fool" and the other "blows", it means that something is wrong with the obstruction.
c) If the string appears only after the window has been tilted and not unsealed, it means that we make a "draft" on the higher floor to the neighbor between "its grilles"
d) We disassemble the grille and look up and down using a mirror or a phone camera. Usually, we won't see the sky, because there is a small roof over the outlet to prevent it from falling.
e) A trip to the roof and lowering the round weight on a string (so that it does not get stuck, because it will not support ventilation), or a filming phone (only with nice neighbors taking a bath )
[The so-called a note, do not do it alone at home, because, according to the letter of the law, the very entrance to the roof requires a height license and the consent of the building manager]
f) Gravity ventilation works better when the temperature inside the building is higher than outside - "warm air goes up", so in winter and with the heating on, the ventilation works better, otherwise, something is wrong.

7. Advantages of efficient ventilation:
a) You will survive - if you have gas stoves - CO is very "media" after it works. It works unnoticed.
b) Lower heating bills - when moisture accumulates in the air, it soaks into the walls (and concrete becomes a weaker insulator), then "this moisture" also needs to be reheated, and the specific heat of the water is very high.
c) Better well-being: people need oxygen, they exhale carbon dioxide. Man will experience lower oxygen and higher carbon dioxide, but just wait for pharmacists to start selling "Paracetamol: The Broken Chimney and The Bite Head."
d) The dishes and clothes are dried in the dryer
e) There is no black raid on colder walls
f) Water does not condense on the windows.
g) Don't be ashamed to invite people (guests enter and the smell of bigos from a week ago in the house ...)

To sum up:
Let's remember two simple principles on which gravity ventilation is based:
- warmer air rises
- in order for the air to come out from somewhere, it must first enter

Sorry for the excess of colloquialisms, but I would like to be understood by as many readers as possible. I will add right away that I am not related to construction by profession, but I hold the title of an engineer. I acquire knowledge practically and verify it before I start writing something.