passive air vents?

[onebaddaddy]

Morning all,
We're currently awaiting the yay or nay on a tender we've made for a 1800 ex ciderworks.
In the hope it all goes according to plan and our offer is accepted I've been thinking ahead about how to tackle the obvious ventilation issues in places like the cellar, and elsewhere.

The cellar for example has a rudimentary outside drays mans door which was an obvious source of water entry.
The coal bunker entry is uncovered and again is an open source for rain water, as is the other large hole in the wall that looks like it may well have been a fireplace.
I would plan on reconstructing the door, coal door and the other hole and installing some ventilation.

Is anyone familiar with these type vent units?
http://www.aereco.co.uk/product/ghn#1
http://ebay.us/No86Bc

It apparently operates without mains electricity or batteries via a series of polyamide bands that expand and contract with varying levels of humidity..
I believe the bands expand in humidity levels between 30-75% opening the vent proportionally.
Seems like it might be a good piece of kit to ensure a continual flow of air as needed, possibly used under the floorboards too?

Admittedly they're pretty ugly units, but if they function well that's a sacrifice I'd be ok with.

Any thoughts?

 

[mattice]

Probably too early to say from experience, but we've just installed 8 of these in preference for 'powered' units, in a Welsh former cow shed that was/is graced with a musty unventilated odour. I guess when I saw their simplicity, I wondered how they were helping us over and above a good hole in the wall. I've 'inspected them' when the 'shed' has been full of people, and when it's been vacant. The background humidity is always high, so I guess they are always open. Kind of wishing we'd gone for some forced air units as there are still quite a few dead spots. Under floor surely it's best to have continuous air flow? I suppose these help in areas where you don't want a permanent draft unless I'm missing something. Good luck, sounds an interesting project!

 

[Lime]

Probably too early to say from experience, but we've just installed 8 of these in preference for 'powered' units, in a Welsh former cow shed that was/is graced with a musty unventilated odour. I guess when I saw their simplicity, I wondered how they were helping us over and above a good hole in the wall. I've 'inspected them' when the 'shed' has been full of people, and when it's been vacant. The background humidity is always high, so I guess they are always open. Kind of wishing we'd gone for some forced air units as there are still quite a few dead spots. Under floor surely it's best to have continuous air flow? I suppose these help in areas where you don't want a permanent draft unless I'm missing something. Good luck, sounds an interesting project!

Your comments remind me what I thought when I read this thread last week, namely IME a cellar is always humid and it will be very rare for the humidity to fall at any time.
Therefore, no matter how clever these vents may be, they will be open all the time and their construction will impede any air flow compared to a plain vent.
Even if you install forced ventilation it will make little difference unless you want a gale blowing through the cellar all the time.
High humidity is something you have expect in a cellar, that is the way they were built, they were never dry.

 

[88v8]

Cellar... hmmm.

To have airflow, one needs airflow. If air is to flow out of the cellar, it must flow in from somewhere else in the house. Otherwise you just get a short-circuit loop of air flowing in one vent and out another.
Depending where you allow the air into the house, this may create a draught.
Hmmm.

In our small cellar (8' x 10' x 6') we have an Ebac dehumidifier which runs - correction, is switched on - 24/7 other than summer daytime when we open the cellar window. That reduces the rh by around ten points, but at best it's still 60%.

Ivor

 

[onebaddaddy]

Thanks for the replies..

The plan was to vent from opposing ends of the cellar, ie open vent positioned low down at one end and poss one of those units at a higher level on the opposite face of the cellar, allowing air in and an exit point as and when the unit operated itself.
Aiming to create a modicum of convection?
The cellar is well closed off from the main house so draught upward into the dwelling would be minimal.

Alas, our tender has just been declined, so we're back to trawling the multitude of property sites again..

I might still give the units a try when we do finally move

Jay

 

[88v8]

We looked three years to find a house that hadn't been ruined by the disciples of plasterboard, insulation, downlighters, and other such yukness.

Hope you find your dream.

Ivor

 

[onebaddaddy]

Ha ha I hear you 88v8..
Our last cottage, a Georgian former canal cottage had been bodged beyond belief.
4 - 5 layers of bathroom tiles, kitchen floor consisting of layered laminate/ceramic tiles/cork tiles/ceramic tiles and finally the original welsh slate, the air vent apertures that were siliconed...the list goes on...

Re: The cottage we were trying to buy.
Weirdly, we've just had email confirmation that the successful tenders have pulled out due to it being "too much work to undertake".
Yes it needs work...lots in fact to get pristine, but nothing you couldn't live in,whilst performing the renovations.

Soo, potentially we're in the running again...fingers x'd.

If it all comes together I'll start a thread on the property, poss a blog too to show more in depth progress and suchlike.

Thanks again, Your help and advice as always much appreciated..

Jay