Hole in the wall ventilation!

white_westie

Lots of houses have the straight 4inch hole in the wall type of ventilation which in windy conditions can lead to issues with cold draughts etc.
Question for the experts - For upstairs rooms with external walls, could you use a flexible hose connecting a hole in the soffit to a ceiling vent in the room, or is that a no no for some reason?

WW

sydthebeat

what advantage do you envisage with that arrangement?

fatty pang

sydthebeat wrote: »

what advantage do you envisage with that arrangement?

Airflow & sound will be attenuated by the non-linear path ducting the air as proposed. Assuming a ‘regular' size bedroom, a straight-through 100mm dia hole will provide circa 30,000mm2 equivalent area when TGD-F calls for 6500mm2. With this unnecessary and unhindered airflow comes stronger drafts and additional unwanted noise.

sydthebeat

Not quite sure of your maths there FP.

A 100dia pipe offers an area of 7850 mm2.

Mahogany Gaspipe

I live in one of those ~2000's house with that type of direct ventilation.

The house is located just of a national road and as a conduit for sound that type of arrangement is a problem. About four years ago I packed insulation into those 4" pipes and it made a massive difference in reduce both the sound and cold draughts coming in to the house.

No doubt some certain posters will suggest that my solution has the house well on the road to collapsing and all occupants having one foot in the grave from the Black lung!

Dardania

white_westie wrote: »

Lots of houses have the straight 4inch hole in the wall type of ventilation which in windy conditions can lead to issues with cold draughts etc.
Question for the experts - For upstairs rooms with external walls, could you use a flexible hose connecting a hole in the soffit to a ceiling vent in the room, or is that a no no for some reason?

WW

I lived in an apartment years ago with that arrangement - worked fine, and I didn't perceive issues with draught or excess moisture (ont he contrary - apartment was very well insultated)
In my current house, I put holes int he wall, albeit with DCV humidity sensitive vents, and due to the exterior walls being a bit short height wise (due to roof coming down in edge) the vents are a touch too low...wish I thought of doing the soffit idea, via the ceiling

Mahogany Gaspipe wrote: »

I live in one of those ~2000's house with that type of direct ventilation.

The house is located just of a national road and as a conduit for sound that type of arrangement is a problem. About four years ago I packed insulation into those 4" pipes and it made a massive difference in reduce both the sound and cold draughts coming in to the house.

No doubt some certain posters will suggest that my solution has the house well on the road to collapsing and all occupants having one foot in the grave from the Black lung!

Depends on how air tight or not the rest of the house is!

I think vent axia or one of the extract fan manufaturers do a passive ventilator that has insulation around the edges of the pipe, in order to attenuate sound, and it also closes down when the temp is low - might be an alternative if you feel the need to unclog?

fatty pang

sydthebeat wrote: »

Not quite sure of your maths there FP.

That’s a polite way of putting it. I should have stopped after the second glass.

white_westie

sydthebeat wrote: »

what advantage do you envisage with that arrangement?

As I said i think some of the known disadvantages of the straight 4inch hole in the wall is that it lets a lot of cold air and noise in, and also lets the warm air out.
My issue is that it is a permanent hole in the external wall, which can never be removed properly if needed.
By using soffit and ceiling holes, it might reduce the noise element a bit, and they can be removed easily if required.

My origional question was because I am not sure if there are issues using a curved/flexible pipe versus the straight through rigid pipe as the air intake.

Need to say my house, mid 80's build, 3bed semi-d in dublin, does not have any ventilation holes at all - in actual fact all the houses (approx 300) in the estate have none, only the last phase had a vent hole in the bathroom.
So currently am reading up on ventilation options, but don't really see myself drilling 4inch holes in all the bedroom and bathroom walls.
We air the rooms out everyday by opening windows, but was wondering could that be avoided/reduced.

kennyb3

I got a builder to install these

-snip- wall-vents/anti-draught-wall-vents/

Added a tyfon grille to teh outside (as exposed windy location)

http://www.fresh.eu/en-gb/accessories/fresh-tyfon.php


Works great, and means on windy nights the ventilation can be regulated.

white_westie

kennyb3 wrote: »

I got a builder to install these

-snip- wall-vents/anti-draught-wall-vents/

Added a tyfon grille to teh outside (as exposed windy location)

http://www.fresh.eu/en-gb/accessories/fresh-tyfon.php


Works great, and means on windy nights the ventilation can be regulated.

For some reason mod has removed 1st link - was it from icon bp?
If not then maybe you could pm me it!

Did you have any vents in place before you had these regulated ones fitted?

Sinnyoggy

kennyb3 wrote: »

I got a builder to install these

Works great, and means on windy nights the ventilation can be regulated.

Can you pm the links to me aswell please.

kennyb3

Before I get inundated with Pm's yes it was what sinnyogy thinks.