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Fresh air & solar heating

(13 posts) (6 voices)

Started 11 years ago by bibi
Latest reply from Eco

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bibi
Member

Hi,

We have a w'board house in Melbourne that due to its age is very draughty and cold .. We have a bowin SLE2 ( Gas flueless) running in the front living area and have had new insulation put in the roof. The back rooms have been added on before we bought and have no insulation in a flat roof, this in turn leads to a terrible mould problem with all the condensation.
we have mould growing from the floor to the ceiling in 2 of the 3 bedrooms and also along the other side of the house also. the entire back room gets mould all over the ceiling and on the back walls and door also.
This year has been the worst of the 3 winters since we have been here!!

Primarily we are looking for a solution for the mould and condensation however would be thrilled if there could be the added bonus of heating which i am understanding an improvement would at least be possible
I have looked at the solarventi and know we would need the SV30 this appears to give out the highest temp of heat however is only 1 single outlet
Recently we looked at HRV and whilst i am impressed with the distribution of the air feel it would be too cold and counter any heating we had running.
the last thing I have looked at was the sola mate whish seems to be a combo of the two but i think it may be too expensive for what we can afford.

We are not able or handy enough to create our own much cheaper version of anything so will have to get a commercial system installed.
Can anyone please tell me of their views or experience on the above systems or if anyone has a tv show and would be interested in using us as a test case lol..
we need to organise something asap as another winter of sponging down countless walls and ceilings every few weeks with 4 children under 4 underfoot will drive me totally nuts!!!

TIA

Tam

Posted Sunday 3 Jul 2011 @ 12:19:23 pm from IP #
dymonite69
Member

The problem is that the uninsulated ceiling will always remain a cold surface for condensation to occur. Are there also continuous sources of moist air to that room? Is there no way you can insulated beneath the roof e.g. put foil lined blanket under it?

Posted Sunday 3 Jul 2011 @ 12:43:13 pm from IP #
schnark
Member

Hiya,

I've installed a Solamate and are happy with the performance but as you note, it's not the cheapest option. There is a guy on the forums who installs the Solar Ventis - I looked at those but ended up going with the SolaMate because of the increased air-flow + additional distribution. Both will introduce plenty of fresh air - from my understanding, the differences are as follows:
- SolaMate's use of a powered fan (costs about the same as running leaving a light on) versus SolaVenti's use of the solar panel although they have a battery option for nightime operation (for pushing in cool air). The latter is arguably better for the environment while the former pushes more air through
- SolaVenti is a bit cheaper
- SolaMate has 3 outlets per unit verus SolaMate having 1 (although you can put up to 2)

From personal experience though, i'd strongly recommend fixing up your insulation first and foremost before trying to put in a new heating solution. If you don't, all of the heat that you build up on the days where there is sufficient sun (in Canberra, this is about 8 days during Winter - don't ask me where I found that number, I think it was a link on the forum - guessing that Melb will be slightly better) will be quickly wasted. You'll then be disapointed with the result when its not the systems fault.

Posted Sunday 3 Jul 2011 @ 2:44:26 pm from IP #
ghostgum
Member

I second schnark's comment about fixing the insulation first. It may be possible to blow in insulation, or to retrofit a false ceiling with insulation above. Without the insulation, the warm moist air from the sleeping person is going to cause lots of condensation.

I have a SolarVenti SV14 installed in a SE suburb of Melbourne, which on sunny winter days nicely warms up one 12m2 room and the nearby passage. I would have used the SV30 if I had room on the north wall for it.

HRV (the company, not the acronym) is mostly about ventilation, and you won't get much heating in winter. If you want heating, I would suggest either SolaMate (with 2 panels) or SolarVenti.

If you are into DIY, then look at
http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/SpaceHeating/Space_Heating.htm

Posted Monday 4 Jul 2011 @ 12:17:53 am from IP #
bibi
Member

Thanks guys,

I'd love to DIY however circumstances prevent this. as for insulation unless we knock down and rebuild ensuring the insulation is sorted is not possible.the flat roof at the back has minimal insulation (sort of grey shredded paper?) but it is also all of the bedrooms and walls of the house with the kitchen being the best and never having had any mould.. the rest of the house though.... OMG!!!! as we will be renting it out at the end of the yr (aside from bettering it for ourselves) we need to get it sorted.. maybe it wouod be cost efficient to put some kind of radiator wall mounted in ea of the rooms to keep them dry?? sorry no eco pro here just trying to solve our problem cost effectively and preferably eco friendly too..

Do you think the hrv will solve the mould problem at least as that is our primary need or will a lesser outlet but higher temp solarventi play a good hand in reducing the condensation??? very hard to figure out which will work better for the moisture issue more fresh air or hotter fresh air??

Posted Monday 4 Jul 2011 @ 12:30:00 pm from IP #
cava
Member

Other issues aside, from a health perspective, get rid of the flueless gas heater as soon as possible.

Posted Monday 4 Jul 2011 @ 1:44:52 pm from IP #
ghostgum
Member

I think you will find that HRV and Sola-mate are similar prices. Based on my experiences with HRV salesdroids, and my sister's installed system, I'd avoid them. It sucks air from in the roof space, and needs the filter changed every year (cost of a service call).

Sola-mate or SolarVenti are likely to be better solutions.

None of these solutions will prevent condensation in the morning as a result of poor insulation and sleeping humans who breath out moist air.

Posted Monday 4 Jul 2011 @ 9:32:31 pm from IP #
bibi
Member

Tks everyone,
I have stumbled across an interest free govt loan scheme available if you are improving the energy efficiency of yr hm which requires the attendance of an energy consultant. Hopefully they wil be able to advise on my best course of action. I have been trying to think of ways to better the insulation situation with some ideas i have found on this forum and am also going to explore the cost/feasability of adding insulation to the walls... And windows.. Bubblewrap will work on a number of windows however not sure how tenants might feel about that lol
The gas heater has special emission features that it has won awards for, so i dont feel it is a health prob..i also get it regularly serviced and checked

Posted Tuesday 5 Jul 2011 @ 2:19:52 pm from IP #
schnark
Member

Hi Bibi,

Happy to help - its always hard to get real life examples.

You should also look at the films you can apply to windows to improve their rating if you're concerned that bublewrap may not be that impressive to renters. It's available from a bunch of window places - i've never used it myself (maybe others can advise) but it seems like the obvious solution

Posted Tuesday 5 Jul 2011 @ 11:55:20 pm from IP #
cava
Member

The gas heater has special emission features that it has won awards for, so i dont feel it is a health prob..i also get it regularly serviced and checked

I worked in the testing laboratory that did the approval testing on the said flueless heater, and I repeat my advice again. Look to replace it as soon as possible.

Posted Wednesday 6 Jul 2011 @ 3:39:31 am from IP #
bibi
Member

Tks cava... Certainly more interest to yr warning now you have expanded on yr previous post and very disappointed with the so called special "safety" lo nox aspect tut tut.. How do they get away with it?!
Tks schnark, I just read on another thread of a film that i will def look into... clear comfort i think... But will ring around the glass places. I am also thinking of putting in a sky light sothe blinds (with pelmets can stay closed rather than opened to let light in

Posted Thursday 7 Jul 2011 @ 4:18:02 am from IP #
cava
Member

Marketing is a wonderful thing bibi!

Posted Thursday 7 Jul 2011 @ 10:26:50 am from IP #
Eco
Member

If I had this problem in my house my approach would be to firstly look for extraneous sources of water. The unflued gas heater would be the first suspect. Natural gas burns to water and carbon dioxide and few few other minor gases - which is exhausted into the house. I would try not using it for a couple of days and see if the condensation continues. (Use electric fan heaters and jumpers instead. Regardless of the result I would get rid of the flueless heater - who wants to breathe combustion exhaust gases - other than smokers of course.)

If it is not thought to be that I would be looking for other sources of moisture - internal pot plants, clothes dryers (if not vented to outside), cook tops without exhaust fans, subfloor soil moisture, storm water draining under the house, subfloor ventilation inadequacy, mass plants up against the house (and over watering).

If I couldn't find any extraneous source of moisture then i would conclude that the moisture is probably coming from the breath. As suggested insulation to stop the surfaces getting too cold may stop the condensation.

Posted Saturday 9 Jul 2011 @ 3:42:53 am from IP #

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