Browse Forums Heating, Cooling & Insulation Re: Maintaining good air quality in an energy-efficient hous 2Mar 29, 2013 2:44 am The Harder You Try - the Luckier You Get ! Web site http://www.anewhouse.com.au Informative, Amusing, and Opinionated Blog - Over 600 posts on all aspects of building a new house. Re: Maintaining good air quality in an energy-efficient hous 6Apr 07, 2013 9:10 am My storybook home build: https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=57987 Re: Maintaining good air quality in an energy-efficient hous 15May 05, 2013 2:05 pm Well I finally got around to installing the unit. So far I am happy with it, even though I bought a unit smallest unit it still does a great job. I have two bathrooms and have placed the vent directly above the shower which go into a y joiner then off to the unit. The units electrical is a standard plug that plugs straight into where the normal exhaust fan goes. I then have one vent in the main living area to bring the pre-conditioned fresh air in. My bathrooms dry out much faster now and the whole house is a more even temperature. There is no condensation on the windows in the mornings at all anymore and I love the fact that I don't have to open and shut the windows all the time, which also means the house is quieter. There is a lot less dust in the house as well and I don't need flyscreens. It does have some drawbacks though. When cooking ( or burning in my case ) the smell can sometimes get into the towels, not a huge issue but it wasn't something I was expecting. Also it really is like having the window open. If someone is smoking when they are walking past your house you will get a whiff inside the house. I have had a quick look at carbon filters and to get a inline filter for my ducting is around $400. So if you live in area where people have woodfires etc you would have to have a carbon filter adding a lot of cost. The vent in the lounge makes a little noise from all the air coming through, its a noise I like but I could see it annoying some people. Also the main unit itself is quite noisy if your going to get one, do what I did and put it above your garage otherwise you will hear it when your trying to sleep. It is a bit of a 'dumb' unit. I would like to have the option of a controller so you can set a timer for it. Or even a humidity control so that it can run slow but when it detects steam it would run at high speeds until the humidity is low again. I will certainly be doing it again but I will spend more and get a better unit that has more features or hopefully the same company advances the product by the time I am ready for it. Any questions just ask. Re: Maintaining good air quality in an energy-efficient hous 16May 14, 2013 12:35 pm Thanks aza0 for the experience! Any rough idea how much you spent on the whole thing, installation ducting etc? Good to know regarding the cooking smells; probably wouldn't be a big issue to have a switch & just turn it off while cooking? Better yet, if it could be wired in with the rangehood so whenever that's on, the circulation system's off.. Re: Maintaining good air quality in an energy-efficient hous 18Aug 13, 2013 11:52 pm There are several heat exchangers (HX) available now at a (semi) reasonable price with around 90% efficiency. They take (cold air) in from the outside and "dump" it into your house while extracting the same amount of air from inside your house. The "magic" is that the two air streams both pass through the HX, and while not physically mixing the air, the heat in the "used" air is used to heat up the incoming "cold" air so you're not just blowing your warm air outside. P_D . Block settled 07 June 2011 Our little piece of the Interwebs on HomeOne....... viewtopic.php?f=31&t=48577&start=0 Re: Maintaining good air quality in an energy-efficient hous 19Aug 13, 2013 11:57 pm Stewie D ..... Quote: A semi-related note is venting both kitchen ranges and bathrooms to the roof space, which I would have thought is a Very Bad Thing ™, but seems to be done in 99% houses Venting a kitchen fan into the ceiling space has been illegal for at least ten years. Venting a bathroom fan into the ceiling space is not recommended as you will end up with condensation then mould up there - two things you want to avoid. Stewie Correct, well almost totally correct, you can only vent your bathroom exhaust fans into the ceiling IF you have a tiled roof with no sarking. Given that energy efficiency requirements almost force you to have sarking with tiled roofs ................ BUT, If you have an (opening) window in your bathroom mechanical ventilation is NOT required...But it's still a darn good idea !!! P_D . Block settled 07 June 2011 Our little piece of the Interwebs on HomeOne....... viewtopic.php?f=31&t=48577&start=0 Re: Maintaining good air quality in an energy-efficient hous 20Aug 14, 2013 9:21 am Yes PD and you can also do it if you have eaves vents or open eaves as well ( last time I looked anyway ). And because of the mould and condensation problems it is why I mentioned my Quote: not recommended I think you and I and most others would agree the more ventilation to the outside for these two rooms the better. Stewie go upvc window frames ensure insulation under colorbond. not just sarking, lighter color roof also not sure if you have seen this viewtopic.php?t=5823 last couple of pages… 4 111306 10 years ago was a different software than we use now. it has had a lot of changes over the past years. Improvments to the software and changes to how Nathers models need… 8 1745 It's MGP 10 which means every length has been machine graded to it's specified engineered strength. It may not look pretty and if you where hand picking your timbers you… 1 366 |