Is air-con needed in England if you have HRV or MVHR?

[daxliniere]

Hey everyone,
I'm building a 5-room recording studio complex in London and was hoping to get some more information on ventilation/air-conditioning.

Given the average temperatures in London, if I'm running a quality HRV/MVHR, would it be necessary to install an air-conditioning system?

Jeff Hedback is doing the design, but I wanted to learn more about this and hoped that someone experienced with the local climate might be able to chime in.


All the best,

[Soundman2020]

Given the average temperatures in London, if I'm running a quality HRV/MVHR, would it be necessary to install an air-conditioning system?

Yes. HRV will recover some of the energy that is being lost when you dump your interior air overboard and pull in new air from outside, but it won't control the temperature of the air that arrives inside the room. And it won't control the humidity, either. That's the job of the actual air conditioner. It cools, heats, and de-humidifies the air, keeping it at constant temperature and humidity inside the room. Many musical instruments and some microphones need to be kept at constant humidity (around 40% RH), and all equipment should be kept at constant temperature. The tuning of a piano, guitar, or acoustic drum kit will change considerably as the humidity changes, as the wood swells or shrinks, and the temperature rises and falls.

So yes, you DO need a complete HVAC system. If you don't, then temperature and humidity will swing wildly inside, as the weather changes outside, and you'll end up with lousy recordings, unhappy musicians, instruments that constantly need re-tuning, gear that fails, and everything with a shortened life span.

You say that this is a 5-room studio, so I'm assuming it is going to be a large commercial facility, not a small hobby studio just for your own personal projects. If you want to keep customers coming back to your place, then it MUST have what all other top studios have: controlled environment that is comfortable for the musicians, singers, producers, WAGs, and others, and where instruments and gear are cared for and protected. Customers have a choice, and if your place is great all other aspects except that the air sucks, guess where they will go?

Jeff Hedback is doing the design,

And he didn't already tell you about this? That would be surprising! I'm pretty sure a well-known designer, such as Jeff, would include the complete HVAC system as part of the design for your place, or at the very least tell you about how important it is. HVAC is an integral part of all studios, big or small, and can't be left out. In every single studio that I design, HVAC is a very large part of it, and designing it properly is complex, and takes time. Often I spend as much time designing the HVAC system as I do on the rest of the studio!

Are you just asking for a second opinion, hoping that someone will tell you something different from what Jeff already told you? Or did you specifically ask him to not include the HVAC system in the design, and now you are trying to figure it out for yourself? It would help if you could clarify the background for your question. If you don't want to do that in public, then feel free to PM me.


- Stuart -