Ventilation Question (2018)

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networkn

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#228949 31-Jan-2018 13:43

I know there are already some threads, but wondering on the current state of ventilation.

We have a 2 Story house, 12 years old. We have Heatpumps in 3 of the 5 bedrooms, nothing in the lounge or dining area (heating in that area is done with a Pellet Fire).

The remaining bedrooms share a wall. $5K for 2 Heatpumps seems more than we want to pay, as both rooms are VERY small, but get very hot.

We do get moisture esp in Winter in the bedrooms.

We are wondering about potentially installing ventilation, but our previous experiences with HRV were horrible and I have read a lot of bad feedback about their product.

Our wishlist would be to be able to heat/cool the 2 bedrooms, remove moisture if possible without spending the earth.

Our heatpump guy talked about a new film (I think he said it was Japanese) which acts like double glazing, he recommended that for the Windows of the 2 bedrooms we are having heat issues with.

What are peoples current recommendations please?

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#1949266 31-Jan-2018 13:46

My grandparents have a system where they can bring warm air from common warm area in the house to a certain room or rooms. Wasn't the cheapest but also dehumidified the entire home and could draw ceiling air or external.

I'll ask if you wish.

networkn

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#1949269 31-Jan-2018 13:50

Coil:

My grandparents have a system where they can bring warm air from common warm area in the house to a certain room or rooms. Wasn't the cheapest but also dehumidified the entire home and could draw ceiling air or external.

I'll ask if you wish.

Sure, thanks. Also if it's not too rude, approx cost.

Coil

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#1949271 31-Jan-2018 13:54

networkn:

Coil:

My grandparents have a system where they can bring warm air from common warm area in the house to a certain room or rooms. Wasn't the cheapest but also dehumidified the entire home and could draw ceiling air or external.

I'll ask if you wish.

Sure, thanks. Also if it's not too rude, approx cost.

Will do, I'll let you know when I hear back.

eph

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#1949273 31-Jan-2018 13:54

12 years old house and you've got moisture? That's not good. Has it been build properly i.e. fully insulated, double glazing, etc.? Do you ventilate the house - open windows, etc.?

Where is the moisture appearing?

networkn

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#1949278 31-Jan-2018 14:16

eph:

12 years old house and you've got moisture? That's not good. Has it been build properly i.e. fully insulated, double glazing, etc.? Do you ventilate the house - open windows, etc.?

Where is the moisture appearing?

We are very busy and I'd say that we don't get a huge amount of time to have windows open. Often there is no-one in the house during the day, and prior to leaving, between wakeup and gone from the house, there isn't time, and temperatures/weather would discourage windows being open (who wants 5c temps in the house at 8am). Similar situation at night. Not so bad during summer where we want windows open to cool the house and light is around till 9pm.

No double glazing, but pretty good insultation.

Moisture is 95% on Window Sills and curtains.

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#1949312 31-Jan-2018 14:29

Can you leave air conditioning on all day? It'll make it to those rooms, slowly and not completely.

Otherwise if you can put in an extractor in those rooms blowing air outside, and leave the window cracked / on safety position in the air conditioned rooms the cooler air will make its way through. That's what we do for bedrooms.

Sounds like a ducted heat pump might be a good option, but that's even more expensive.

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networkn

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#1949319 31-Jan-2018 14:38

It would be nice to have some way to cool the lounge/living area. I am not sure the details on construction for our house, but I know there is room to crawl in the roof, but I wonder how you could get a "vent" into a ceiling of the first level.

We could run a heatpump all day, but that would pretty much only cover the 3 rooms.

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#1949324 31-Jan-2018 14:45

networkn:

We are very busy and I'd say that we don't get a huge amount of time to have windows open.

Moisture is 95% on Window Sills and curtains.

We really need a house layout to see what is possible

The first question to solve is where is the moisture coming from, is it only in the rooms without heatpumps,- are they being used or are they vacant,

What venting is there in the kitchen/bathroom?

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#1949326 31-Jan-2018 14:48

wellygary:

networkn:

We are very busy and I'd say that we don't get a huge amount of time to have windows open.

Moisture is 95% on Window Sills and curtains.

We really need a house layout to see what is possible

The first question to solve is where is the moisture coming from, is it only in the rooms without heatpumps,- are they being used or are they vacant,

What venting is there in the kitchen/bathroom?

All rooms have the moisture, if anything I'd say it's worse in the rooms with heatpumps.

We have a vent in the bathroom, over the shower, plus windows are opened (more regularly than in the bedrooms I'd say).

4 of the bedrooms are on the top level, with 3 bunched together in 1 area and the other down the end of the hallway.

Coil

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#1949343 31-Jan-2018 15:10

networkn:

Coil:

My grandparents have a system where they can bring warm air from common warm area in the house to a certain room or rooms. Wasn't the cheapest but also dehumidified the entire home and could draw ceiling air or external.

I'll ask if you wish.

Sure, thanks. Also if it's not too rude, approx cost.

Smart Vent is the system they used, They have a long and large house and had a few extras put in. YMMV..
He indicated around 3-4k however but didn't want to give an exact price as he got it a bit cheaper and did some work himself.

You can also install this system yourself but maybe a bit of a pain in a 2 story house.

eph

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#1949474 31-Jan-2018 16:08

networkn:

eph:

12 years old house and you've got moisture? That's not good. Has it been build properly i.e. fully insulated, double glazing, etc.? Do you ventilate the house - open windows, etc.?

Where is the moisture appearing?

We are very busy and I'd say that we don't get a huge amount of time to have windows open. Often there is no-one in the house during the day, and prior to leaving, between wakeup and gone from the house, there isn't time, and temperatures/weather would discourage windows being open (who wants 5c temps in the house at 8am). Similar situation at night. Not so bad during summer where we want windows open to cool the house and light is around till 9pm.

No double glazing, but pretty good insultation.

Moisture is 95% on Window Sills and curtains.

We've got no moisture/condensation in our 50 yo house. We used to have some condensation on the windows but since we replaced them with proper modern ones (uPVC) that's gone as well. The greatest source of moisture is definitely kitchen and bathroom, so make sure you run the fans while in use especially in winter and with no other ventilation (windows/doors closed). If you got the standard (horrible) aluminium windows then I don't think you can ever get rid of the moisture on the windows especially on the frames (direct thermal conduit to the outside).

As for cooling the house in the summer, the common PPS systems (SmartVent, HRV, etc.) do have add-ons where in summer the air is taken from outside rather than overheated roof cavity. You can even make one yourself - it's just a fan with some ducting and few motorised dampers :). I do have a friend who's got PPS retrofitted in 3 story house but getting the ducting around (without showing it too much) was challenging...

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MikeAqua

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#1949520 31-Jan-2018 17:27

We have a two story house (in Nelson), with an open stairwell between the two levels. We were told that a ventilation system that circulated between the two levels would be very-difficult (expensive) to retrofit in our house.

They suggested a ceiling fan in the stairwell to push warn air down in winter or reversed pull cool air up in summer.

Years ago, one of the ventilation companies was selling individual room ventilation units that incorporated heat recovery. They were installed in the wall close to ceiling height. I was looking at them for a house I moved out of in 2007.

Mike

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#1949529 31-Jan-2018 17:38

MikeAqua:

We have a two story house (in Nelson), with an open stairwell between the two levels. We were told that a ventilation system that circulated between the two levels would be very-difficult (expensive) to retrofit in our house.

They suggested a ceiling fan in the stairwell to push warn air down in winter or reversed pull cool air up in summer.

Years ago, one of the ventilation companies was selling individual room ventilation units that incorporated heat recovery. They were installed in the wall close to ceiling height. I was looking at them for a house I moved out of in 2007.

Sounds like our house.

I've got an appointment with SmartVent, they seem to cover a lot of the options we are considering, hopefully they aren't pushy and revolting like HRV

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#1949531 31-Jan-2018 17:41

What has worked out really well for me is to get a portable air conditioner (cost me about 550). It cools the room in a few mins but iam considering getting some window tints done as well. Every little bit helps

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#1949756 31-Jan-2018 22:32

@networkn Sounds like you need double glazing instead of a ventilation system. As cold uninsulated window frames almost always get condensation on them. If they are cold enough, then even low ish humidity air (around 50%RH) will still have moisture condensing out.

Otherwise you might just need better heating. The back bedroom always gets damp in my house, only because it doesn't get any free heating from the sun. But if I keep it's average air temp warmer than outside. The damp goes away. NB, im using that room as a home office, So it gets very little moisture added. (far less than a bedroom)

Consider how damp the outside air is. I have seen houses in bush areas that get no sun during winter. Outside is always so damp that opening windows is pretty much a waste of time, and a ventilation system would be no better. (As it can't reduce humidity to less than whatever the outside level is) Only options in those situations is dehumidifiers, or keeping the whole house warmer than outside. (winter) And aircon for summer.

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