Ducted Heat Pump Vent/Grill upgrade options?

Forums › Home Workshop DIY › Ducted Heat Pump Vent/Grill upgrade options?

hangon

397 posts

Ultimate Geek

#228856 25-Jan-2018 16:40

Surely there would be some better implementations than this? Those with adjustable or angled grills, one push open/close etc? But I can't seem to find any (at least not for consumers/diy)

Closest ones I could find are:

RED15/20 Round Egg Crate Ceiling Diffuser 150dia c/w damper - not much details and pictures not well labeled, I wonder if the damper works as a shut off valve. Still the air would go straight down.

http://www.smooth-air.co.nz/product/catalog/2Grilles*1.0Round%20Plastic*

Thanks.

mattwnz

20164 posts

Uber Geek

#1948904 31-Jan-2018 00:03

What I think you want is the actual inwall or ceiling heatpump unit which has grill, such as what Mistsubishi does. That just looks like one of those cheap plastic outlets on home ventilation systems.

Aredwood

3885 posts

Uber Geek

#1948914 31-Jan-2018 01:27

What is wrong with your current outlets? Do they just look ugly? otherwise what exactly is the problem with them?

Suckerpunch

124 posts

Master Geek

#1948934 31-Jan-2018 06:42

There are some thermal controlled ones people have posted about before on here. Hot air is pumped downwards, cool air is pumped sidewards.

https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=141&topicid=175823&page_no=5

http://www.holyoake.com/product-details/ECO-A_item.html?reg=NZ&ref_cat_id=ECO-Diffusers

Diffuser

Otherwise, is 300mm too big?

https://www.trademe.co.nz/building-renovation/heating-cooling/heating-systems/auction-1528397002.htm?rsqid=fe9a25997d024fc28be995e45db78b63

https://www.trademe.co.nz/building-renovation/heating-cooling/heating-systems/auction-1528397662.htm?rsqid=fe9a25997d024fc28be995e45db78b63

E3xtc

773 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1948936 31-Jan-2018 06:55

Yeah we have a ducted heat pump system too and these round adjustable ones seem to be the default option (at least for residential implementations). I too wish there was something a little more effective too - rather than just throwing hot/warm air in the same direction. IMO the 300mm square vents are too commercial in appearance and too large (at least for our house).

t0ny

395 posts

Ultimate Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#1949031 31-Jan-2018 09:03

I replaced my standard grills with the holyoake ones. Made a lot of difference but i always use the manual override to force air to come downwards due to high ceiling hight

E3xtc

773 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1949036 31-Jan-2018 09:14

t0ny:

I replaced my standard grills with the holyoake ones. Made a lot of difference but i always use the manual override to force air to come downwards due to high ceiling hight

@t0ny - can you block the holyoake ones off completely? Where did you source them from? What was the final price per unit?

t0ny

395 posts

Ultimate Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#1949037 31-Jan-2018 09:21

There is a lever which can close the holes completely letting air come through the sides only. The thermistor spring is supposed to open and close the holes automatically but i found the temperatures needed to be colder or hotter then i would have preferred before it would work so thats where manually using the level comes handy. I bought them directly from holyoak, they are based in East Tamaki. Cant remember the final price as this was a year back.

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jonathan18

7413 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

#1949277 31-Jan-2018 14:11

Suckerpunch:
There are some thermal controlled ones people have posted about before on here. Hot air is pumped downwards, cool air is pumped sidewards.

https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=141&topicid=175823&page_no=5

http://www.holyoake.com/product-details/ECO-A_item.html?reg=NZ&ref_cat_id=ECO-Diffusers

Otherwise, is 300mm too big?

https://www.trademe.co.nz/building-renovation/heating-cooling/heating-systems/auction-1528397002.htm?rsqid=fe9a25997d024fc28be995e45db78b63

https://www.trademe.co.nz/building-renovation/heating-cooling/heating-systems/auction-1528397662.htm?rsqid=fe9a25997d024fc28be995e45db78b63

The thread linked to above is the one I started, and covers off some of the options for alternative vents.

Over two years later we’ve still got the same ugly vents as per the OP’s post, and they’re still just as useless. When heating I still just remove the insert from the vents in the rooms with the higher stud (3m). Not pretty but effective in forcing the warm air down.

Only yesterday I was thinking it was time to sort this out and get those bi-directional vents put in, but part of what put us off at the time is that the diameter of these differs and we will need an adapter to compensate for this - one company suggested this would need to be custom-made. Not looking forward to finding out the cost.

Personally, once bitten twice shy on this stuff - I was totally underwhelmed by the knowledge of the installers, and literally paid the price for this.

hangon

397 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1949477 31-Jan-2018 16:12

Aredwood: What is wrong with your current outlets? Do they just look ugly? otherwise what exactly is the problem with them?

With recent weather and moving around rooms, I'd prefer something that can handle hot/cold air differently, ideally can be 1-push opened/closed, and adjust the direction (manually). It doesn't require a complex design.

The default ones from the installations have little (if any) adjustment, quite inefficient - in winter can't force the hot air down, in summer can't direct the cold air to the required spot. It's much better than nothing (or electric heaters/fans) - but with just a little tweak it could have been so much better.