The air exchange or ventilation rate of display cases, picture frames and storage enclosures has a significant effect on their effectiveness as tools for preventive conservation. Well-sealed enclosures provide a buffer against external humidity variations and reduce the ingress of externally generated pollutants and particulates. Where internally generated pollutants are a concern, deliberate ventilation of the enclosure may be an appropriate mitigation measure. When a buffer such as silica gel is to be added to enhance relative humidity (RH) stability the air exchange rate (AER) of the enclosure is a key variable (Thomson 1977). In the authors’ experience it is difficult to determine an approximate AER of an enclosure from visual inspection, and AER in enclosures ranging from less than 0.1 to greater than 50 air changes per day (ac/d or acd–1) are common (Table 1). This makes the routine use of 1 ac/d for a well-sealed display case in buffer calculations (Thomson 1977) difficult to justify (Weintraub 2002) and explains why buffering works very well for some (Guichen and Gai 1984) but not others (Ashley-Smith and Moncrieff 1984). Low-cost gas detectors and innovative gas delivery methods were used for a research project to investigate the impact of ventilation on internally generated pollutants (Calver 2001). Subsequent use during several enclosure installations suggested that it would be useful to further investigate the technique and produce a standard protocol.
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