Taking Care of your Trickle Vents

If you care about the ventilation in your home or commercial building, your trickle vents will be working hard. They ensure a consistent stream of fresh air, helping to dispel odours, bad air, and also prevent issues such as mould.

Although they look like a simple piece of plastic or UPVC that blends into your window frames, they still need some amount of cleaning and maintenance if you want them to continue working at their best.

Thankfully, there isn’t much you need to do, so follow our guide to find out the best methods for cleaning trickle vents, and why keeping them clear is important.

But first, the basics.

The Importance of Good Ventilation

If your home or building has poor ventilation, it means that fresh air isn’t entering the space, allowing the air inside to become stale. This can lead to a number of issues, including:

• Damp and Mould
• Lingering Odours
• Humid Air
• A higher quantity of allergens (such as dust, pollen, and more)

All of these can be very harmful, especially for people with respiratory issues. At best your home, school, or office will be unpleasant to live/work in, at worst it could lead to hospitalization or even death.

To prevent these issues, the best solution is to open your windows to let fresh, clean air in. However, during rainy days and over the winter months, you’d prefer to keep the heat in and leave them closed. This is why we see an increase in mould growth and damp this time of year, even if there are no leaks to speak of.

If you care about keeping heating bills low, but are also concerned about the air quality within your home or building, turn to your trickle vents to save the day.

What are Trickle Vents for?

Trickle vents are the perfect way to ensure effective airflow throughout a room, without the need to open a window. Instead of a large opening to the outside, you have small gaps that allow a consistent amount of air to flow inside. Unless you’re close to the window, you shouldn’t notice any draught.

If you do, consider installing thicker blinds or curtains that block some of the direct airflow. However, this can be a tricky decision. You’ll be draught free, but the fresh air will struggle to flow towards the far side of the room, potentially only improving the air quality in a localised area. If you feel like poor ventilation is causing issues, and your trickle vents are being left open, check if they’re blocked by curtains or blinds.

Our Air Box solutions are designed with this in mind, their small design makes them less likely to be blocked, or get in the way of your existing fixtures. Unlike traditional trickle vents, the directional airflow is aimed towards the ceilings, so no extra cold air blowing at head or body height.

Air Boxes are designed to compliment your trickle vents, not replace them. When working together with your built-in trickle vents, you’ll have double the airflow with none of the drawbacks. This is important in large spaces such as offices, as it is hard to get consistent ventilation in such an open area. To ensure your commercial building stays well-ventilated, install an Air Box on every window frame.

But once they’re installed, it’s important to keep an eye on them, and your other trickle vents, so that they are working well at all times.

How to Clean Trickle Vents

Like any surface in your home, dust and grime can build up within and around your trickle vents if they’re ignored. Despite their design, which does its best to filter pollutants, if the air quality outside is poor, they will get dirty at a faster rate.

As you can imagine, any blockages in the system prevents them from working effectively. The gaps are small, so it doesn’t take much to get in the way.

Most of the time, dust is the culprit. When you’re cleaning around your windows, pop your trickle vents open and use a thin duster or pipe cleaner to remove any buildup. It’s a quick job, and you won’t have to do it very often, but it’s more than worth the effort.

If you find any more grime and dirt that you can’t clear with a duster, a small amount of cleaning fluid and a cloth should get rid of it. Just be aware that there may be a strong smell for a while until it dissipates.

Trickle Vent Maintenance

Although very effective, trickle vents are simple pieces of kit. Even our Air Boxes, with their ergonomic design that filters air better than most standard trickle vents, are remarkably simple.

This is all to make installation easier. It is completed in a few short steps, and you can do it yourself with nothing more than household tools. There is no drilling required, meaning no damage to your windows, and you can fit multiple within an hour.

With only a few parts, there’s a lot less to go wrong. Once attached securely, your Air Box won’t be going anywhere, and if it does somehow work its way loose, you can simply screw it back on. The only issues our customers see are small blockages, which are easily remedied with some quick cleaning.

Air Boxes are built to last a long time, ensuring effective ventilation for decades, with virtually no input needed from you. This gives you peace of mind to focus on the more important things in life, while enjoying better air quality for your commercial building or home.

If you have any questions about us or our Air Box range, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. We look forward to hearing from you.