Nuaire/other positive input ventilation systems - any experiences good or bad?

[SnotMikeUpPuffedHe]

Does anyone have experience of these? I've seen it mentioned on a couple of other threads which tend to be when people recommend them as a solution to damp/black mould but would be interested to know more.

We've recently had some new windows fitted and noticing more moisture and a little black mould around them and I wonder if something like this would be the answer.

We also have a few cold corners in the house which have always been a little prone to slight mould and it would be good to sort that if we can.

As well as whether these systems are effective or not I wonder whether they make the house colder? And also I'd be interested in how you found someone to install or whether you did it yourself.

It's a four bed semi detached house.

Thanks!

Our issue wasn't condensation. It was just stale air in the basement where high humidity levels were causing mould issues. We wanted to use the basement as we use the rest of the house so we needed to make the air in the basement the same as the rest of the house. The installers promised that this would happen. However, I already started having doubts when the said they would be only putting two diffusers in the house, one at the top of the stairs leading down to the basement and the other at the stairs on the second floor. They then removed 10 cm strips of rubber from the window frames in each room to act as vents. I asked them about the possibility of cold air coming in but they said that the positive air pressure inside would inside that air would not come in from outside. We have checked with a candle and can show that clearly air is coming in through these vents. So it seems that, firstly, this air intake is not reaching the basement at all, and secondly there is no positive pressure inside the house as air is leaking in from the outside through the vents. Seems like a complete disaster. I have noticed that the air from the diffusers seems less strong after we first complained. So I'm wondering if they have lessened the air intake level to try to get us to accept the machine. I have read that this particular machine can be controlled remotely through an app. I think that the machine is probably fine and if correctly installed, should work. We have only 30% of the bill so Im hoping they either come and make it right or just give us our money back and take away their materials. Our house does not have a loft as it just has cathedral ceilings. The roof is a wooden structure so probably has leaks in various spots.

Have you looked at the unit to see if there appears to be an obvious issue like bad ducting, what level is it set at? Does your loft have adequate air flow, does your house have adequate vent to forced air out?

There doesn't seem to be an issue with ducting. The air is coming into the house correctly through two diffusers. It is set at the economy level. We don't have any loft. The air is drawn from outside. I have downloaded an app to link to the machine. It gives some basic info like humidity of air at intake from outside, humidity of air after passing through the machine. The issue just seems like the air isn't sufficient to get to the basement area or the house maybe isnt airtight enough and the air just escapes easily and doesn't create a positive pressure. I think it's more the former explanation. But in my opinion, to create a positive air pressure to go to the whole house, we would need a significant blast of air which would make the house unlivable. The installers are coming to morrow to try to convince me that all is ok but I'll be asking them to take it away and refund me the money. I had my doubts to begin with but they assured me several times that it would work fine.😡

Dh is considering one

oh im a bit confused by them i have had one put into my loft this week i was lucky as got it on a energy grant for free and other things so should be happy but its cold tonight and when walking up the stairs you can feel a draft from where it comes out (on the ceiling like a light)

i was told it takes air from the loft,cleans through filters and comes out from a round disk,looks like a flat-ish light

its making the upstairs cold even with the heating on can somebody explain how these work,originally i was told it would take cold damp air out of the house but yesterday was told it pushes clean air from the loft into upstairs

thanks

Hi there. I know what you mean. It depends on what type of machine you had installed. Our machine takes the air from outside and preheats this air to 18 degrees before dispersing it throughout the house. At least that's what we were sold. We do notice a certain current at times in the landing where the vents are. As you can see from my previous posts, we just got ours installed before Xmas. I was initially quite unhappy but over the past few weeks, I have noticed a big change in our house. Firstly, the basement area has lost its musty smell and is now at a much more comfortable humidity level. The rest of the house smells better in general. The heating has also changed for the better. It feels much cosier, and more uniform than before. I think the important thing for you is if your machine doesn't preheat the air, then you are just getting the same temperature air as in your loft, which will be colder in winter and warmer in summer. We didn't have any condensation problems and our house is 15 years old. But our main issue was poor air quality and humidity in the basement area. It has cost us 2.6k for the machine and another 2k to install. Results are more promising now so lets see.

mine does not heat the air so yes it feels cold
ive never had condensation so hoping it dosent start any

The question is, is blowing low humidity cold air in from outside to displace warm high humidity air from inside an efficient way of controlling humidity ?

The problem is your PIV ventilation is probably consuming quite a bit of electric if you are running it 24/7. Not so much to run the fan but to heat the incoming air.

Electric is expensive. Roughly 4x the cost of heating a house with gas. So it might be worth checking your electricity bill. If you have gas CH it could be far cheaper to account for the heat loss caused by PIV through gas rather than electric.

A dehumidifier would do the same job, but the running costs are probably a lot less and the system purchase is a lot less. On the negative side there are also limits to what a dehumidifier can cope with, and a dehumidifiers ability to circulate air is less because you aren't generating a pressure differential, so you need to move it from room to room to dry them out. You also have to have a method of emptying the dehumidifier.

You may find that PIV works initially better because the PIV is drying out your house which has been damp for many years. Once the house gets drier, it may be possible to maintain the lower humidity with something like a dehumidifier which is less costly to run and a lot less expensive to install. It really depends on the nature of your humidity problem.

Hello, I have Environment coming to survey a property tomorrow - I'm in the North East. Could you tell me if you are still happy with the unit and doing what it should do? The basic cost I've been given is higher than I thought it would be, over £1,800, this would include upgrading consumer unit (fusebox) and 10yr parts & labour warranty. This is for a 17C single storey cottage with damp issues (if the tenant doesn't look after the place), mix of single glass wooden sash windows and uPVC double glazed. It definitely needs something to help air flow and general health of the building. Any thoughts or comments would be extremely helpful.

@LottB With a house that old you might benefit from joining This Facebook group for old houses. Loads of useful advice.

Hi, I'm just wondering what extractor fans you got for your bathroom and what companies you sued to the systems you got installed, thank you