An experiment in improved ventilation in the school building

A DEMO has now been installed in the school building, to show and test one way to improve ventilation and thermal comfort. It relies upon a simple hook-and-eye latch.

Below the jump, this post illustrates the demo and discusses its intended use.

History

https://mishkonbuildingandgrounds.blogspot.com/2023/09/improving-hvac-in-school-building.html

https://mishkonbuildingandgrounds.blogspot.com/2023/01/tips-for-good-ventilation-and-thermal.html

The Demo

As a demo, a hook-and-eye latch has been installed in one door (which is rarely used, so it won’t interfere with anyone’s normal routine). It props the door open a fixed amount. The opening is equivalent in area to the register opening in a HVAC duct, which blows filtered air into the room. Now that air can get out again!

(As usual, click/tap on an image to enlarge it.)

Meanwhile, young children who are inside that room are constrained to remain there, just as if the door were closed. 

The hook is unobtrusive and durable. It can be opened from either side by an adult, with a simple upward sweep of one hand. (Easier than opening the door by turning the knob!)

As always, teachers and staff are free to shut the door as needed for quiet and/or privacy. 

Yet now we can provide them with the option to avoid getting too hot or too cold in a stuffy room—and to breathe well-filtered air. 😇

The door can be propped open with the hook only from the inside. This arrangement assumes that our staff need to fix the door position only when they are inside the room. (As they leave the room, they can prop the door open by the more usual means.) 

Let’s try out this option for a while and see how well it works for us.…