Sensor controlled vent

Colm R

As part of my long running refurb - we were doing some dry lining of what will be the master bedroom. In this room, there was an old hole in the wall vent.

The electrician was re-wiring the room for me, and while he was there putting a socket in the wall below the vent, I had the bright idea without even thinking, to put a loop in the wire next to the vent and he obliged. Its sealed now, behind a plastic covering but is there if needed for the sparky to put a socket in without chasing my newly plastered wall. And there is a conduit running up to the attic above.

I did not put much thought into it at the time, but I'm finally in a position to finish this room at last. Is there some sort of smart vent I could get to suit my needs.

I was thinking of something that does not even have a fan - just something to open if the o2, co2 or humidity levels get to a certain point and leave the air balance. The objective being to have the vent open in the winter time for enough time to have fresh air, but be closed also as much as possible to keep the heat in.

This is a 1970s bungalow so heat exchange on this completely not air tight house is not really an option.

Anything on the market out there for this type of set up - or any recommendations of what I could use given that there is a power supply there.

MicktheMan

Have a look at demand control ventilation (DCV) systems

gutteruu

Bathroom fans have inbuilt humidity sensors. If you didn't want the fan maybe splice the fan wires and run into relay or louvres to open and close a louvre as necessary. Cheapest option I could think of. If you were to get a 3 or 4 channel gas monitor it would be fairly pricey. Even wiring something into a personal gas alarm would set you back a lot.

sunnyone

Hi Colm R,

In case you are still looking for those vents, here are two types I am aware of:

(1) Vent-Axia Freshvent THERMO is a vent that opens/closes depending on the outdoor temperature. The obvious downside is that you get minimal ventilation on really cold days. I have this installed in my own kitchen and it works really well

(2) Aereco also sell a vent that responds to humidity levels inside the room, which seems to be what you are after. It falls into the DCV category which MicktheMan suggested. It will open when the room humidity rises (room needs extra ventilation) and start to close when the humidity falls (preventing unnecessary loss of heat). It doesn't close fully so there is always some ventilation. In theory its great, but I find that in practice its not the best - not because of the vent itself, but because indoor spaces tend to have a constant humidity level. I have installed this in bedrooms and the opening size really doesn't change much because the humidity level is always constant at approx. 60%. I think the plasterboard walls act as a humidity buffer so it doesn't matter if the room is occupied or not. A standard cheapo vent would have been just as good.

If I was you I would stick to standard vents (maybe with manual open/close) or else the vent axia unit if you really want automatic closing/opening features.