Solar Ventilation - has anyone installed this?

[Barrie]

Hi,

Has anyone installed Solarventi or anything similar? When we are away from our home, which is most of the year sadly, we leave a dehumidifier running in the kitchen and a heater on very low in the bathroom (downstairs). It is doing an excellent job of keeping the damp at bay but the cost is prohibitive. I wondered how effective solar ventilation would be and how much it would cost to have it installed. If anyone has any experience of these systems it would be good to know what you think.

Cheers, Barrie

[Lehaut]

When we lived on a narrow boat in the UK, we had one installed in the bathroom to remove humidity as we were not connected to the mains. It worked quite well, but on a much smaller scale than you envisage :).

[alittlebitfrench]

Running anything electrical (specially a heater) when you are a way is not a good idea.

I would have thought good old fashioned ventilation grids on windows and in walls is a far better idea.

You just need air to circulate. Wind is a good at that.

[pip24]

Hi Barrie, Welcome to the Forum. I read about your problems with interest as about 16 years ago we bought a small cottage and had similar problems to you. Even internal walls with black patches and droplets of condensation on the walls. Our neighbour advised that as we were having the roof done to have a VMC ( ventilation mechanique controlee ) outlet fitted in the roof at the same time, looking towards fitting a VMC in the future. A year or two later I bought and fitted a vmc, connected the outlet to the new roof outlet and three ports to upstairs rooms and one larger port to downstairs main room/kitchen. The result was remarkable . No more black patches or drips on the walls. The unit takes 22 watts and is recomended to be left on. But we dont leave it on when away but it still seems to work. The important thing is to have it on a 2 amp trip. Hope that this is of help.

[alittlebitfrench]

A VMC will only work in the room that it is located.

It also requires electricity.

I personally would turn off the electricity to any house unattended for long periods.

[woolybanana]

I have a VMC and the house is bone dry.

But has a problem when the damp, warm air hits the colder air in the roof space, causing the VMC tubes to fill up and back drip. I have got insulated pipe to install as a remedy.

The other problem is that when you are in residence it seems to suck the warm air out of the house, putting up the CH bill.

However, provided it is left on, it will keep an empty house nice n dry.

[idun]

When we had our french house built the VMC was installed. Trickle vents, (french ones not silly down draft UK ones) in all the rooms apart from the kitchen, bathroom and toilet, where the suction outlets for the VMC were.

The internal doors were special in order to allow the air to circulate without drafts. And it worked, excellent, highly recommended as long as it is on all the time.

There is a down draft system in the UK now, some of it with a heater built in, so that in mid winter cold air from outside is not being thrown into the house, that also seems to work well.

Never heard of the system you mention, but there are so many these days. I do know that you need to decide and eliminate the damp ASAP, but you probably knew that anyway.[:)]

ps  heating is surely on, only hors gel?

[BritinBretagne]

I use a Big Green Fan on my boat during the winter. It’s a big green electric fan attached to a solar panel. It does a great job at keeping the air circulating and was as cheap as chips. It was sold as an accessory for using in a greenhouse. This is yet another time I agree with ALBF, I certainly wouldn’t leave the electricity on or the heating running while a holiday home was left empty for months. I recently read a post on a thread about filling garden gas tanks where one poster spent more annually heating their unoccupied second home than I spend heating my home. It made me warm reading about it.

[Théière]

Kent Online: Warning after faulty dehumidifier sparks blaze.

https://www.kentonline.co.uk/maidstone/news/warning-after-faulty-dehumidifier-sparks-blaze-238750/