Lofty whole home ventilation system - any good?

Hi del basically I contacted there head office which if I remember rightly is in Harrogate, and they said they would get there local rep to contact me, two days later I received a call to arrange an appointment. The house it was for is not rented it is one i have bought to live in but wasnt aware of this problem till the winter time.

Regards
Gary

Hi, I've read through this thread and it seems that the sort of problems I have in my tenanted 1930's (I think) flat could be addressed with one of these (along with other measures like ventilation, a humidity controlled extractor in the bathroom that has no window, and making sure tenants are doing the right things of course). I plan on doing several things before going down the route of this sort of equipment, but want to establish now whether it will be a viable last resort in my case and get ahead of the game.

The issue is probably condensation (getting this checked) in various locations and some mould behind some furniture etc. One problem is that most of the property relies upon the bedroom window and front door for ventilation, and living right on the street in London it is not feasible to ventilate the way you'd really want to, or ever leave windows open!

There's no loft in this property - I guess there is a slim void in the ceiling under the flat upstairs but I doubt this will be of any use. The flat is entered down some steps, and the flat above is accessed via steps up from the street. Under the steps up is a cupboard, just inside my front door. There is a long corridor off which the front room is a bedroom, then there is the bathroom, 2nd bedroom and finally a kitchen/diner/lounge.

I am wondering if this cupboard is a suitable place to locate one of these machines? Alternatively, perhaps something like this (with/without heat recovery) would be better:

http://www.homeventilation.co.uk/mr-venty-wall.php

As far as I can understand it, the only difference between a lofty (etc) and a heat recovery unit is the avoidance of introducing a cold area to the house - is that right?

Any thoughts welcome, thanks in advance!

Hi kourou

By the sounds of it the flat/apartment is suffering from poor ventillation and will always be an issue based on its location the lofty wall looks the best option for your situation. I would call your local rep and get him to look at the issues you are having. Yes the heat recovery makes it so its not cold air been pumped into the house, however it's very little it's just like a draught but I don't even notice mine anymore. It was well worth it for me but might not be the answer everyone wants but if it works for me in Theroy it should work for you
Regards
Gary

hi all. really good finding this site and topic. i am about to rent an old house in wales with really thick stone walls. i looked at the place with my wife last week and thought yes this will do great to rent for a couple years. i am retiring and want to rent to see if we both enjoy living in wales before buying a place. anyway the place looked great but the chap living there said it had bad damp problams and pointed out a few bits. the built in wardrobe was the worst. i asked the agents and they told me it was condensation and the tenant did not understand how to over come it or refused to manage it. he just turned up the heat and closed the windows. i noticed that there was a unit in the ceiling at the top of the stairs that i have now found out is a lofty fan fitted about 6 months ago.
now what i want is advice please. its a great looking house but can we really manage the condensation situation. having read this forum i think we can but have no experance with this kind of thing. is it a no go or worth a go. thanks peter

Thanks Gary, would you suggest installing it within the cupboard where cold issues would matter less (the cupboard door is in a poor state so air can vent through to a certain extent, or a vent could be placed above the door), or in the hallway?

Hi kourou as it is only a small draft if you choose not to have the heat recovery unit I would go for the most central place in the flat allowing the air to flow better (I.e. if you put the unit in the furthest point east in the flat the furthest point west might not get great airflow) I would go for the most open place you can as well to allow better air circulation. Also in response to the other question just posted condensastion can be managed by all different means new builds have all different building regs to old houses and cause we try to insulate them to make them warmer and keep costs down we make it worse, simple things like opening windows and doors when possible, vents in bathrooms, kitchens when cooking running water etc,
one thing I still don't do even thou I have the vent in the loft installed is to dry clothes inside the house, I invested in a washer dryer only thing is have to be careful either I'm putting on loads of weight or I'm shrinking everything lol. Our condensation was so bad we had no choice but to buy the unit but I can safely say all mould is dieing and the house does not have that funky smell anymore, will be bleaching the mould and painting over next week can't wait. This was the first ever experience for me with condensation and mould and have gone through hell and back and a nagging wife to get it sorted so any more questions guys keep them coming I'm happy to help cause I know how much it sucks
Gary

Thanks Gary, I appreciate the time you've taken to respond!

Just to let you know, I've just had a quote of £795 fitted including VAT, so I bit the salesman's arm off.

Kind Regards

Hi
Was that just for the loft system?
Regards
Gary

Yes, their Mr Venty ECO2 with the wireless control.

I would have snapped there hand off aswell good deal that and you won't be disappointed
Gary

Hi folks,

My property is a five bedroom detached which had condensation and black spot mould issues.

I had envirovent ventilation specialist provide a quote on my property and this is what he recommended:

Mr Venty ECO2 Loft mounted unit with heater = £718.80
CYC-SELV - Cyclone 12v Centrifuga (bathroom) = £300.00
1RDEFPTK - High Rise Wall Kit - With round cowl outlet 100mm = £30.00
RCD Fuse Spur - required for install = £90.00

GRAND TOTAL : £1,138.80 (This is with NLA, National Landlord Association discount )

Anyhow managed to obtain a Mr Venty Multiple Input Ventilation for £360 and got a friend to install it for £190 including labour and additional materials.

The relative humidity was 60/65 % but now after a week or two it has gone down to 40/43%, readings by a hygrometer.

It does work.

Hi All - You may have seen my posts a couple of months or so ago when I was speaking to Gary about Envirovent ECO2 Loft (Mr Venty?).
Anyway, my quote from Envirovent was considerably more than Gary's for the same system with an extractor fan for the kitchen (nearly £1500!). The local (Essex) Envirovent rep eventually reduced his price and offered the ECO2 on its own(supply the unit only) for £750.
As my son is an electrician (albeit in a heavy industrial environment - big volts!) I decided to buy a Nuaire Drimaster Heat which (after looking around) I purchased for just over £300. The electrical 'bits' (fused spurs etc) came to around £30. We cut a rather large hole (8 or 9 inch diameter) in the landing ceiling (4 bed detached house with 3 reception rooms downstairs) and after some precarious balancing acts above the stairwell (big drop!) fitted the plastic vent over the hole. The ducting from the unit was then connected to the other side of the ceiling vent in the loft. We broke into the lighting circuit in the loft using a junction box and wired the unit up as per the instructions supplied.
There are I believe 6 fan settings on the Drimaster and we settled on no.5.
When there is no other noise on the landing there is the distant sound of a fan running - a gentle humming which is not at all bothering or intrusive and which cannot be heard in the bedrooms when the doors are closed (4 bedrooms just a few feet from the vent). There is what I would describe as a 'gentle draught' on the landing - the 'injected' air there is definitely cool, but then none of us spend much time on the landing - it is just an 'in transit' place from which to access the bedrooms and bathroom!
The unit has from my point of view 'cured' the condensation - mostly throughout the house. The 3 bedrooms which we sleep in all had condensation on them every morning and in one in particular room the window reveal walls were also wet in the morning when it was very cold outside, creating the accompanying mould. The downstairs toilet cistern used to 'run' with condensed water which has run off and loosened the vinyl floor tiles and rotted the mdf skirting board. This cistern is now dry and also the aluminium patio doors in the 'back lounge' (an extension room which is really the farthest place from the landing vent) are for the most part dry.
So, I can only report from my experience - as they say "every house is different" - mine was a £350 'punt' to try to solve a problem which we have had for years and it seems to have worked!
I take on board the argument that leaving windows open would probably have the same effect, but have you tried leaving a bedroom window open at night with some of the temperatures and cold winds which we have had this winter? I look upon the Drimaster as a sophisticated way of having the windows open in the winter for ventilation (which, if it weren't for the cost of energy and the cold draughts, would be a good idea) without having to suffer these draughts in the rooms which are occupied. We try to leave the doors of all rooms open when it is not necessary to have them closed, although I understand that the air will circulate around the house as long as there are gaps between the door bottoms and carpets.
I am sorry, but I cannot comment on running costs at the moment. I understand that the Drimaster fan is of minimal cost to run - it runs 24/7 until the loft temperature reaches 19c when it turns off automatically (otherwise it would work like a fan heater injecting warm air into an already warm summertime house - we hope!). Likewise the heating element only turns on when the loft temp drops below 10c in order to slightly warm the injected air and I do not know when this is actually happening. Also I have no idea of the temperature in the loft at any given time (sorry - you can come around and sit up there with a thermometer if you want). The above mentioned temperature controls on the Drimaster are adjustable - I have just left them on the factory recommended settings.
Just hope that some of the above might help some of you.
Cheers Del.
PS. I still intend to fit some sort of extractor fan in the kitchen (maybe a heat recovery unit) as I know that a lot of 'localised' cooking condensation is evident there and this needs addressing - the cooker extractor fan is not really fit for purpose.

RDW said:

Just to let you know, I've just had a quote of £795 fitted including VAT, so I bit the salesman's arm off.

Kind Regards

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I had a system installed in a house I have in Croyden. It cost £599 total inc vat and has done the trick in there. The company was condensationcured.co.uk . They gave me a quote of £699 but if I had it fitted when they were in the area it would be £599 - I only waited for 3 weeks and it was done.really good service from them can't complain. I had the quote off Envirovent aswell but thought it was a bit pricey -

I have just moved in to a 2 bedroom bungalow,the unit had been installed by the previous owner. We were told they had encountered mould spots after fitting double glazing throughout the house and after running the unit for a couple of months the mould had gone.

It appears to be working extremely well (it was installed 6 yrs ago) and runs on its lowest setting.

I am having it serviced next week and a new filter fitted, the advice is to change the filter every 5 yrs and a run through how to use the unit.