Honest reviews: Ventilation systems Part II

[klauster]

Well, it sounds to me that people with cold, damp houses have the greatest experiences knowing what to do. Regardless any technology – a warm, dry and comfortable home is well heated and ventilated. And that is also the case in homes with double/triple glazing.

Ventilation: If you increase the air-flow (think of sitting on a motor bike) it feels cold. It is the same cooling affect when opening the car window or opening the front and back door.

Humidity: High moisture content in air – it feels chilly. On the opposite in dry air even at minus degrees you can sun bathing in the Alps.

Heating: Housing in NZ suffer from lack of heat retention and heat distribution. In other words heating and then blowing in cold air by ventilation (or open the windows) is not people’s choice.

To go around this – you have to distinguish between radiant heat (you feel warmth on your skin exposed to the heat source, sun or fire) and/or convection heat (air circulation as heated air rises up to the ceiling, cools by moving down towards the heater, and heats up again).

For example a draughty or poorly insulated home would perform best with a wood-burner that creates radiant heat (instant result) and convection heat (warm air flow) to dry up your home.

People live in chilly boxes; they cool down to outdoor temperatures, then heated up quickly, that makes warm air (and all the humidity from showering, cooking, etc) to cool off on walls, ceilings, windows - causing condensation. That moisture never dries up behind closed curtains, as the cycle runs every day and the house soaks the water like a sponge – break up that cycle and have a dry and warm house!

[Wayne]

you want to fix some of the english on that.

[MAXNZ]

Dont fix any english.. it is true regardless

[klauster]

you want to fix some of the english on that.

Doesn't English seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend?

[Wayne]

Doesn't English seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend?

And you can chop a tree down then chop it up.

[klauster]

Wayne nice one - similar to a house that can burn up as it burns down.

[Trolly]

Hi,

Thanks again Mac, it was helpful info. As I said we also ended up going with Sayr, and now that it is Winter I thought I'd provide my feedback. We have had great results overall. Some condensation still on cold mornings (i.e. This morning we had about 3 inches) Without sayr I would have probably used towels on the window sills this morning. And the best thing is I don't have to touch it; it does all the thinking for me.

[MAXNZ]

Hey MaxNZ,

Great that you have a system that works well for you.

The reason most people don't go down the route of a TRUE hrv systems (Me included - because I thought it was brilliant when I first looked at it) is that they were designed for North north America (Alaska) Canada, North north Europe etc were you have double or triple glazing and it's minus 25 degrees outside. Plus you have a good central heat source going 24/7 for 5-6 months of the year and the environment is VERY dry. Although they will work, 99% of NZ homes don't have the above. A friend of a friend has a losnay...she says it's great in summer but in winter it makes her house freezing.

Building code: Only applies when mechanical ventilation is required for consent ie HANA MANA zones, busy main roads, Noise pollution etc

Well, the heat recovery will not put in much heat if there's nothing to recover from. I don't know the full story with your friend, but there may be multiple factors.. starting from non-insulated ducts, incorrectly programmed controllers and to simply not putting any heat into the house... If you don't produce any heat in the house don't expect to recover any either .. even though body heat can be counted towards heat produced I don't think it will be sufficient to heat an average 3-bedroom place even if there's two people in the room... unless you have a ZUMBA party with 40 participants or so.. that may make a bit of difference...

But anyway, multiple other things have been designed for different conditions but are now spread common across New Zealand... New Zealand is one of the last countries to adopt new technology when it has been existing outside for ages, has been proven to work.. New Zealanders are tough and do not like to change. Double glazing has been around in mild to cold climates for decades, it's only a few years since New Zealand have taken it on board.. uPVC framed doors and windows have been around for decades, they only popped up in New Zealand few years ago, these are way more efficient in terms of heat loss through frame. Mixer taps have been invented back in 1880 ... houses in NZ still have those separate cold and hot water taps fitted - WTF??? Carbon fibre underfloor heating has been around for decades, rarely used in NZ still, but will make bigger appearance soon. Mercedes designed cars for German unlimited speed autobahns with lots of NZers driving those around in NZ, or shall we drive tractors and wear gumboots and stubbies just because better things have been designed for different climates and regions?

There's nothing wrong in adopting technology that works better than old technology and making proper use of it.