DIY - Ventilation system

Hi there
This winter we are going to do something about our condensation problem. The house has been renovated but it is still old and suffers from its inhabitants breathing too much!

Anyway, we will investigate the DVS, HRV and MoistureMaster systems (any views on these welcome) and then the option of setting one up ourselves based on the kits you can buy at places like Mitre 10 etc.

So what I am coming to is are there any members out there who have set up their own and how have they found them?

Cheers
Louise

Gidday

Do you like the the thought of doubling your power bill?

Hi Jack

Not really, but it is like the heat-pump situation: will probably suffer an increase in my bill for the ability to be warm or not have condensation on the windows.

I don't really believe the claims of .5c a day but having done some reading (Consumer etc) don't think i can be bothered emptying out a de-humidifier and they add up power-wise too.

Checking out the options and will ask friends who have them what they have noticed.

Cheers
Lluise

We have an HRV system. We never had a big problem with condensation but got it more to take advantage of the heat in the roof space. Our house is huge (about 300sqm) with a 13ft high ceiling so we have a four fan system with an outlet in nearly every room. The outlets usually come through the ceiling but ours are at the top of the wall as we wouldnt let them cut through our pressed steel ceilings so may not be quite as efficient. Anyway they work reasonably well in spring & autumn but would have little impact on their own in winter. In the summer it's quite good for cooling down at night - assuming the temperature actually drops enough.

We also have radiators (from a wood fired Rayburn) and heat pumps for winter use and find that once the roof temperature has risen we can turn the heat pump off and the HRV will do a pretty good job of maintaining the temp. Power bill wise we have 2 or 3 months of high bills (mainly due to the heat pumps) but the rest of the time it's only $60-$70/month. No noticeable difference from before HRV. I don't mind the high power bills in winter as it means we have a house that's warm throughout and I hate being cold!

Hi Belti Do you have "batts" in roof space or something under the iron?