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| Thread ID: 59349 | 2005-06-29 07:50:00 | Home Ventilation systems | wmoore (6009) | PC World Chat |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 368014 | 2005-06-30 06:21:00 | Yes we do have a DVS. The idea is that the roof space will act as a reservoir of warmth from the heat rising from the house below. This air will not be saturated with moisture because it is essentially air from the outside heated by the upward losses from the house. The air in the roof space is not heated mainly by warmth rising from the house below, it is the sun shining on the roof that provides most of the warm air in the roof space. However the tile roof leaks like a sieve and the end result is a lot of cold, sometimes freezing air being introduced to the house at the ceiling level. When it is raining the air is saturated with moisture.Correct, but due to all the moisture released during the day from cooking, showers, baths, laundry, etc, not to mention just plain breathing, the air inside nearly always contains more moisture than the outside. See this page (www.condensation.co.nz) for more information. There is an improvement as far as condensation goes with regards to the windows but some of that is due to the house just being colder.If your DVS is not making a big difference to the condensation levels in your house then there could be some factor of the installation that is preventing the system doing its job, eg a bathroom fan outlet or open window close to the DVS outlet that results in the air going straight outside instead of circulating around the house. Or maybe the unit you have is insufficient for the size of the dwelling it services. |
FoxyMX (5) | ||
| 368015 | 2005-06-30 06:43:00 | Nope the house has just been reinsulated to the latest standards, Batts in the roof, underfloor insulation, all external windows and doors are kept shut all the time, internal doors left slightly ajar as per DVS instructions. There are no outlets/inlets other than DVS, electricity bill for last month for one 85 year old lady living alone, wait for it: $260. She basically lives in one room all day and only retires to bedroom at night. Temperature in passageway 20 feet away from DVS outlet has never been higher than 17degC all winter. If DVS is switched off goes up to 20degC immediately. The DVS is fed in over nightstore heater to heat the incoming air as much as possible. Heaven knows how old people are surviving the winter if they are less well off than Mum now that we are being ripped off by privatized electricity system. |
zqwerty (97) | ||
| 368016 | 2005-06-30 07:26:00 | I have mine set at about twice the recommended fan speed (ie. twice the "House size" setting) in order to get it to work properly. It works fine at this setting, even with a very very well ventilated roof. | somebody (208) | ||
| 368017 | 2005-06-30 11:22:00 | , electricity bill for last month for one 85 year old lady living alone, wait for it: $260. She basically lives in one room all day and only retires to bedroom at night. Temperature in passageway 20 feet away from DVS outlet has never been higher than 17degC all winter. If DVS is switched off goes up to 20degC immediately. The DVS is fed in over nightstore heater to heat the incoming air as much as possible. Heaven knows how old people are surviving the winter if they are less well off than Mum now that we are being ripped off by privatized electricity system. What the hell is she running in that house? I have a family of 4 in my house, PC running 24/7 usually, TV, dishwasher used once daily, front loader washing machine, fridge and chest freezer, DVS and spa pool and an average power bill of around $140 a month Next month will be higher as her indoors has been giving the drier a work out to keep up with the washing. Seriously one would have to wonder if the nite store heater is wired correctly and is on the right tarrif. Either that or she's running fan heaters in the room all day or the neighbours have tapped into her line for their "grow' operation next door. At that price i'd kill the night store heater and put in a heat pump if she feels the cold that much. |
EX-WESTY (221) | ||
| 368018 | 2005-06-30 13:55:00 | Nothing special that I know of and I have looked into this. Remember she is in the house nearly all the time. 1KW bar heater (she doesn't like the sound that fan heaters make) is on most of the day in the small winter living room. 700W heater in the toilet some of the time. Dishwasher used approx every 3 days. Washing machine approx every 3 days. Of course fridge/freezer always connected. TV at night. NightStore on the usual routine recommended, with the powersavings, and they are happening, I have checked the bill. Half price for that. Hot water cylinder uses quite a bit. I live next door, in an adjoining flat, I have my hot water tank on for 5 hours every 3 days, computer on 6/7 hours/day, 500W heater on for same time as computer, I am away during the day so not same heating usage as Mum, have power saving bulbs for most lighting, once upon a time in the middle 80's my bill was $27 for 3 months with hot water always on now it is $56/month in winter, $43 in summer, line charges are a large part of my bill. Nothing has changed in my installation since the 80's, the meter was changed about 10 years ago with only a small jump in bill. I have all my old bills here since those days, I could look at them again and do a better analysis but I am sure that even though I have economised the only thing that has really changed is that the price/KWh has increased exorbitantly. |
zqwerty (97) | ||
| 368019 | 2005-06-30 14:05:00 | As a quick estimate, say she is using 2KW/hour for 20 hours a day for 30 days, that comes to $180 at 15c/KWh. It adds up quickly. Include line charges and a few extras like cooking a meal on the stove 3 times a week for an hour and there you have it. | zqwerty (97) | ||
| 368020 | 2005-07-01 08:12:00 | The way to kill the hot water bill is to put that on night rate if that's an option. We have a 180L cylinder with a tempering valve so that the delivery temperature is 55c, I have bumped up the storage temperature to about 75-80c, which is fine for our draw of showers and dishwasher each day + the odd warm wash in the washing machine. The heating for this option kicks in at 11pm and off again at 7am I recall and for this we average 200 units per month which equates to around $20 + the obligitory line charges. A few years ago this was about $6 per month for hot water and our neighbours laughed till they checked our bill, then they asked how we did it and who to call......... For those that draw heaps of hot water, heatpumps are now available as an option for that as well, endless supply and no ripple controls. |
EX-WESTY (221) | ||
| 368021 | 2006-07-01 04:09:00 | We've just had a "Dry Air" system installed, it certainly dries the house and windows well, and we do recover some heat from above our gas heater which heats the roof air and is recirculated. But we are beginning to be concerned about the filtering, as we've all had continuous sinus infections for the last month (could be coincidence, time will tell I guess). We weren't told anything specific about the filter, it just looks like a sock on the inlet line. Is this enough to filter out bits of batts, for instance? Do some houses have asbestos in the roof? Any other hazards? We don't have any neighbours using fireplaces much, aren't concerned about outside air so much as inner roof air. | rufus (8441) | ||
| 368022 | 2006-07-01 04:27:00 | Zqwerty: if you have the house "properly insulated", you are using the ventilation system to drag cold winter air from the ceiling space and freezing the 85 year old . Turn it off . There would be some point if there was no ceiling insulation, and you were recovering heat which has gone straight through the ceiling . . You're making it worse, by using this cold air to efficiently cool the night storage heater . No wonder she is running a bar heater all day . |
Graham L (2) | ||
| 368023 | 2006-07-01 04:53:00 | Geez, all this brilliant new technology . Glad I don't have any . You know one thing I have noticed about condensation . People who use gas heating get masses of it . We have a portable gas heater and if we use it, the room its in gets heaps . Don't use it and the house is dry . Electric heaters, in whatever form, bathrooms, fan, oil column etc, are deadly to power bills . I'll be sticking to my wood fire . Ex-Westy -> remember that in the South Island power costs more than in Auckland . This is a depressing fact regardless of which of the three power companies used down here . Our power bill (with no electric heating) in Auckland was $100 - $120 . Here its been $130 (summer rate) and $186 (winter rate) . Thats another new con I've found, this winter rate crap . |
pctek (84) | ||
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