Unovent. Home ventilation

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3puttssuck

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#253036 22-Jul-2019 18:50

www.unovent.co.nz

Has anybody had one of these systems installed? Looking for feedback etc on this type of system. Thinking of installing something like this in our 12 year old 4 bedroom house. Fully insulated with aluminium double glazing. Looking to eliminate condensation on windows etc.
TIA.

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#2281787 22-Jul-2019 20:15

I am interested as well

timmmay

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#2281788 22-Jul-2019 20:16

Never heard of them. From their website, all it seems to do is suck roof space air into the house. Roof space air can be warmed, but it can also have all kinds of things up there like rat droppings (they're impossible to keep out), insulation, building paper, etc. I much prefer bringing fresh air in from the outside, through a filter, and ideally through a heat exchanger.

Is this better than nothing? Maybe. Depends how good your roof space air is. Mine was not good at all, dirty and smelly.

I'd invest the money in a heat exchange system like cleanaire, and of course you need heating.

scuwp

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#2281827 22-Jul-2019 21:38

Recommend Smart Vent as an alternative. We just have the basic ventilation system and instantly our condensation was gone. Lots of threads on here about ventilation systems to read through. Chose Smart Vent as you can by parts and filters off the shelf and do it yourself.

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#2282304 23-Jul-2019 16:13

I'm vaguely interested in this as well, for the purpose of pushing air through soon-to-be-added basement rooms. Since we're against a slope, there will be one or more rooms at the back which have no outside air access, and cycling the air occasionally will help deal with the inevitable damp buildup. Was thinking of just running a fan for an hour a day on a timer to get some air changes, but if anyone has better thoughts...

jaymz

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#2282315 23-Jul-2019 16:55

A friend of mine installed this system (4 fans, + Controller) end of summer last year.

His house has a almost flat roof with next to 0 roof space so was not possible to install an alternative ventilation system.

The fans themselves run on 12V, and connect to a thermostat that allows the fans to run at a certain temperature range (so the air pushed isnt too cold or too hot)

Each fan has its own filter that is removable for cleaning or replacement. From memory it wasnt a HEPA filter but enough to catch most things (if you have rats in your roof you might have bigger problems!)

The results he said were very good. Their place stopped having as much condensation on the windows in the morning which was a positive for the system.

Prices have gone up A LOT since then though. He paid $1200 for the 4 fan system, now the fans are a lot more now each! - I can't remember the exact cost now though (he recently inquired about getting an additional fan)

Happy to ask him questions on behalf if anyone is interested in more info.

neb

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#2282322 23-Jul-2019 17:13

jaymz:
A friend of mine installed this system (4 fans, + Controller) end of summer last year.

Was that the Unovent or a Smartvent?

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Kickinbac

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#2282370 23-Jul-2019 19:48

jaymz:
A friend of mine installed this system (4 fans, + Controller) end of summer last year.

His house has a almost flat roof with next to 0 roof space so was not possible to install an alternative ventilation system.

The fans themselves run on 12V, and connect to a thermostat that allows the fans to run at a certain temperature range (so the air pushed isnt too cold or too hot)

Each fan has its own filter that is removable for cleaning or replacement. From memory it wasnt a HEPA filter but enough to catch most things (if you have rats in your roof you might have bigger problems!)

The results he said were very good. Their place stopped having as much condensation on the windows in the morning which was a positive for the system.

Prices have gone up A LOT since then though. He paid $1200 for the 4 fan system, now the fans are a lot more now each! - I can't remember the exact cost now though (he recently inquired about getting an additional fan)

Happy to ask him questions on behalf if anyone is interested in more info.

The price has probably been increased to pay for the TV advertising!

My thoughts on the Unovent is that you’re paying for a hole in your ceiling and insulation. When the fan is off it will just leak heat in or out of your house

jaymz

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#2282742 24-Jul-2019 11:37

neb:
jaymz:

A friend of mine installed this system (4 fans, + Controller) end of summer last year.

Was that the Unovent or a Smartvent?

Unovent

jaymz

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#2282745 24-Jul-2019 11:40

Kickinbac:

The price has probably been increased to pay for the TV advertising!

My thoughts on the Unovent is that you’re paying for a hole in your ceiling and insulation. When the fan is off it will just leak heat in or out of your house

Haha! I'd say you are right about that. Got to get their money back somehow!

Yeah, there is the downside to any ventilation system that you put in, you are creating a hole in that insulation layer.

To a certain extent, you will have that with any positive pressure ventilation system. They all have an un-insulated path to the roof cavity that would allow hot air to escape (albeit with systems like SmartVent or HRV, it is a longer path through the fan and ducting)

bfginger

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#2284532 27-Jul-2019 12:32

3puttssuck: www.unovent.co.nz

Has anybody had one of these systems installed? Looking for feedback etc on this type of system. Thinking of installing something like this in our 12 year old 4 bedroom house. Fully insulated with aluminium double glazing. Looking to eliminate condensation on windows etc.
TIA.

If you're seeing condensation on double glazing and not only the frame that says the humidity level is far too high and suggests your house is very airtight or moisture isn't being removed by rangehood and shower fan. A true heat recovery balanced pressure system like Cleanaire works better than a ceiling fan as it uses the heat in outgoing air to heat incoming air which keeps your house warmer meaning lower relative humidity levels. What part of the country are you in?

3puttssuck

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#2284534 27-Jul-2019 12:34

bfginger:
3puttssuck: www.unovent.co.nz

Has anybody had one of these systems installed? Looking for feedback etc on this type of system. Thinking of installing something like this in our 12 year old 4 bedroom house. Fully insulated with aluminium double glazing. Looking to eliminate condensation on windows etc.
TIA.
If you're seeing condensation on double glazing and not only the frame that says the humidity level is far too high and suggests your house is very airtight or moisture isn't being removed by rangehood and shower fan. A true heat recovery balanced pressure system like Cleanaire works better than a ceiling fan as it uses the heat in outgoing air to heat incoming air which keeps your house warmer meaning lower relative humidity levels. What part of the country are you in?

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bfginger

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#2284545 27-Jul-2019 13:08

Inland South Island is going to be near freezing many winter nights so there is no way I'd install a positive pressure system to operate 24/7 there. Cleanaire has two performance grade heat exchanger units so I'd want the better 95% one.

With it being so cold you could get a mini personal weather station to find out what the real temperature and relative humidity levels are in your house. The thermal performance of standard 2007 joinery won't be very good and it'll be very cold to touch at night which invites condensation. There should be condensation channels on the frames.