| City dwellers spend at least a third of their lives in the office. If we take into account that another third is spent sleeping, it turns out that a person is within the walls of office premises for half of their active time. It is quite natural that in order to increase the productivity of employees, it is necessary to provide the most comfortable working atmosphere. And not only figuratively, but also literally. We are talking about the air we breathe at work.
Choosing the best
Unfortunately, although the air composition in the metropolis is far from ideal, we have no way to influence its chemical composition. But it is possible and necessary to create a certain temperature, humidity, and prevent the development of pathogenic flora in it.
In Russia, there are a large number of standards regarding air parameters in office premises. The main requirements are a temperature of 19–25°C and humidity of about 50%. Fresh air must be supplied at least 60 m3 per person. To comply with these parameters, two factors must be taken into account when choosing office premises of classes A and B.
Factor one: the building must be officially commissioned. Very often, the office starts to be used before the entire complex is put into operation, and some of the systems are still idle or work in test mode. As a rule, this includes climate control. Therefore, if there is a choice (and during the crisis it appeared, since currently, according to various data, about 30% of office space is unoccupied), it is better to be located in a fully functioning building.
Factor two: the air supply and purification system must be technically “advanced”. Modern climate control equipment allows you to regulate the temperature inside each room. It is highly desirable to have four-pipe fan coils (devices that allow you to regulate the temperature locally in selected areas of the building), especially in buildings where opening windows is prohibited.
Do it yourself
If you are considering a less expensive office segment (classes C, D), where the possibility of individual temperature control is not provided, it is advisable to make sure that the technical parameters of the building allow for the installation of additional climate control systems and obtain the owner's permission for these improvements.
When choosing equipment for self-organization of the supply and exhaust ventilation system, it is necessary to remember that the air supply standards applicable to professionally designed systems require adjustment in the case of «amateur» projects. So, if 20 people work in the room, the required inflow should be 1200 cubic meters of air per hour. But, taking into account the inevitable friction losses, the productivity of the supply fan should be higher: when installing ventilation in rigid boxes, a power reserve of at least 10-15% is needed, and when using soft corrugated boxes — at least twice as much.
A simpler fan can be used in the exhaust system, since it performs an auxiliary function. The performance of the exhaust fan can be 15% lower than the supply fan, but the difference in power calculation for hard and soft boxes remains.
There is no such thing as too much power
In general, do not be afraid to overdo it with the power of a technical device. Firstly, because actual losses, as a rule, exceed planned ones. And secondly, the higher the power, the less the system is loaded during operation, and therefore, the slower it wears out and the longer its resource is preserved. Plus, the system is assembled from larger components, which also provides an additional margin of safety and durability.
All of the above is equally true for split systems. In principle, 1 kW of cooling power is enough to service a 10 m² room. However, experts advise slightly exceeding this norm. Thus, for an office space of about 20 m², where, as a rule, no more than 5 people work at personal computers, it is recommended to choose air conditioners with a power of about 2.6–3.5 kW.
Bringing it to condition
When choosing an air conditioner model, pay attention to a few more technical components.
With the onset of cold weather, a winter start-up will come in very handy — a device that allows the air conditioner to operate in winter and is a system of electric heating of the external unit. You will also appreciate the advantages of high-quality, well-thought-out drainage, as well as a self-cleaning system that eliminates the formation of pathogenic bacteria inside the device.
A built-in ionizer would also be useful. In urban areas, offices and other rooms where people spend a long time, natural air ionization is absolutely insufficient and dangerously low. The lack of negatively charged air ions causes constant oxygen starvation, decreased performance, poor health, leads to loss of attention, weakened immunity, increased fatigue, and also provokes the development of many diseases. If you have chosen an air conditioner model without an air ionization function, it is advisable to equip the premises with household ionizers.
In addition, you should take care of steam humidification systems. The fact is that air conditioners dry out the air very much, which is also harmful to human health. But this problem is easy to solve — there are many humidification systems, and their cost is low.
Keep your head warm
The main function of an air conditioner is to create and maintain comfortable conditions for a person in a room. The same goal should be followed by technical decisions taken in the process of organizing a climate control system: air conditioners should not become a hindrance, so wall-mounted ones are better than floor-mounted ones, which, in turn, are inferior in convenience to ceiling ones. If the choice is made in favor of wall-mounted climate control systems, it is advisable to immediately install horizontal screens under them so that cold air flows do not disturb people whose workplaces are below.
The East is a delicate matter
Experts unanimously give the palm to Japanese-made air conditioners. The Daikin system, which is considered something like a «Mercedes» in the world of air conditioners, enjoys the best reputation. Korean and Chinese models work quite well, but they are made to the limit of strength, which makes the purchase of such a system to some extent a lottery. In addition, such models have a much lower resource — as a rule, it is exhausted along with the warranty period. However, to be fair, it should be noted that both the Koreans and the Chinese are constantly working on quality, so it is possible that the situation will soon change.
And yet, the most important factor that a leading company needs to work on is a good psychological climate. If certainty is achieved in this matter, there will be no problems with all the others.
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