When it came time to design a new facility, Ventuer was approached because of our unique ability to provide safeguards against this unwanted intruder, who it should be noted has managed to successfully penetrate the defences of countless New Zealand buildings, including the humble family home. Yes, mould is a super villain when it comes to gaining entry into buildings, a problem that becomes especially troublesome when it might damage items that are being stored in a secure facility, leading to claims from disgruntled clients.

To protect against mould, the design for Safe Store Westage uses a combination of passive and mechanical ventilation. The first line of defence uses passive ventilation and VL-104D & VL-2SD louvres, along with SVV-900 turbine vents.

The VL-104D is a drainable single bank louvre with a lower pressure drop and a medium level of weather protection. It’s commonly used for plant rooms or more sheltered locations, whereas the VL-2SD provides a high level of weather protection and is suited to locations where high levels of wind-driven rain is expected. Together, these louvres formed the basis of the passive ventilation for the facility, along with the SVV-900 Turbine Vents. These straight vane turbine ventilators have been specifically designed for industrial and warehouse situations, using the convection forces inside the building and wind outside to effectively place warm and potentially mould carrying air, with fresh air from outside which is pulled in through the louvres.

This combination is often sufficient to ventilate an area adequately. Safe Store is a client focused business though and wanted further safeguards, which we discussed before designing the second line of defence to kick in only when the first line was at an elevated threat of being breached.

In this second line of defence, a control system measures relative humidity and temperature. When the readings reach a zone known to be conducive to moisture build up, the mechanical ventilation system automatically engages to maintain the level of ventilation required to keep the storage units safe from moisture and mould.

For the mechanical ventilation, Ventuer turbo inline fans and the VG-LFD diffuser were used. The VG series is especially good at diffusing the air supply to an internal space, with a larger dispersal area and two sets of individually adaptable blades. This ducted solution only operates when the passive ventilation is at a reduced ability to cope with the conditions, making it cost effective as it stays redundant for much of the year. It also requires no manual operation or monitoring, removing any possible human error.

The result for Safe Storage is what we consider to be the best ventilated storage facilities in New Zealand. We’re confident they are impenetrable by the scourge of mould. We’d certainly be happy to store our most valuable belongings there. Which is exactly what we do because the Ventuer products built into the units certainly have a lot of value…although rather than being priceless, they are quite affordable.