Hi. We've got a cellar in our house, which unfortunately has no real ventilation. The cellar is damp, but I wouldn't say it's a major problem (at the moment). We have the ability to run an extractor fan at the entrance to the cellar (just above ground level), but to achieve the best effect do you think it's better for the fan to draw air in from outside or to extract air outside. Sorry if this seems like a silly question, I just can't think about the best way to get air circulating into the cellar. Thanks.
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Sorry in advance - another damp question!
- Thread starter RuthieB
- Start date
Andrew Bodenham
Member
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- 441
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- North Lancs
Good ventilation will cure so many problems, so it's well worth getting it set up right.
What you should be seeking to achieve is cross-flow of air through the space, e.g. from one end to the other. So ideally you should be introducing dry air at the furthest possible point from your extractor. This will then travel across the cellar to the extraction point collecting moisture as it goes, before your fan slurps it up and sends it outside.
The theory is easy. Getting it to work in practice may need a bit of trial and error experimentation. Bear in mind that an extractor fan sucking OUT of the cellar will effectively lower the air pressure within the cellar. So higher pressure air will try to enter by any possible route, e.g. through cracks in floors, around doors, through air bricks or whatever. This could lead to warm, wet air being drawn down from say a kitchen or laundry, which could then cause condensation in the cellar as it cooled or met cold surfaces. Ideally you could arrange for a ducted supply of air from outside, or from some dry part of the house above.
Anyway, I wouldn't get too hung up about it, in fact you should ignore most of what I've burbled on about. Any ventilation will probably help so whack in that fan and get sucking. Or blowing.
What you should be seeking to achieve is cross-flow of air through the space, e.g. from one end to the other. So ideally you should be introducing dry air at the furthest possible point from your extractor. This will then travel across the cellar to the extraction point collecting moisture as it goes, before your fan slurps it up and sends it outside.
The theory is easy. Getting it to work in practice may need a bit of trial and error experimentation. Bear in mind that an extractor fan sucking OUT of the cellar will effectively lower the air pressure within the cellar. So higher pressure air will try to enter by any possible route, e.g. through cracks in floors, around doors, through air bricks or whatever. This could lead to warm, wet air being drawn down from say a kitchen or laundry, which could then cause condensation in the cellar as it cooled or met cold surfaces. Ideally you could arrange for a ducted supply of air from outside, or from some dry part of the house above.
Anyway, I wouldn't get too hung up about it, in fact you should ignore most of what I've burbled on about. Any ventilation will probably help so whack in that fan and get sucking. Or blowing.
Flyfisher
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- 10,245
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- Norfolk, UK
If you can arrange ventilation on two sides of the house then you might find that any external air movement around the house will naturally ventilate the cellar, thus avoiding the need for a fan at all.