Reduce gale through vents

hooplah

We live in a mass concrete house. We have these 4 inch vents in two rooms. At this time of year its like a gale is blowing through there and they really reduce the temperature.



Image is here if it doesn't appear https://i.imgur.com/QUSAldW.jpg

I understand the importance of ventilation. I don't want to block them up, is there anything else that I can do?

Would cowls or baffles make a difference? Should they be fitted on the interior or exterior? Are there inserts which might help?

jmBuildExt

Your pic didnt show up for me....

Baffles are usually only on vents that allow air to pass out - e.g. extractor fan. The baffles open as the air passes.

You can go for a cowl type vent on the outside - that will help.

Also, the usual is to have a slider on the inside vent so you can close it if needs be.

For the rolls royce, look up demand controlled ventilation. Companies such as aereco. The vents open/close automatically based on amount of moisture in the air inside.

hooplah

The aereco products look interesting. Any idea of the costs for something like this?
https://www.aereco.ie/product/eht/

listermint

You can get baffles for the inside of the vent .

But definitely get rid of those absymal internal vent covers. They are rubbish and it annoys me everytime I see a lazy builder use them after going to the bother of such a nice circular core.

Buy these and replace them all. If anything they'll great a better deal and more controlled airflow


https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F141280714560

Alkers

hooplah wrote:

The aereco products look interesting. Any idea of the costs for something like this?

They're about 120e if I remember correctly, they're supposed to be used with a humidity controlled extractor in wet rooms and with sufficient under door gaps for ventilation between rooms

topnotch

I got one of these style vents on ebay for my shower extractor fan as the cheap vent that came with the fan kept flapping in the breeze.https://www.amazon.com/GETMORE7-Stainless-Ventilation-External-Extractor/dp/B07FXT4D8T
Works a treat.

Calibos

hooplah wrote: »

We live in a mass concrete house. We have these 4 inch vents in two rooms. At this time of year its like a gale is blowing through there and they really reduce the temperature.

That looks like a sliding vent cover that you already have fitted. Slide it to the right or left!

hooplah

listermint wrote: »

You can get baffles for the inside of the vent .

But definitely get rid of those absymal internal vent covers. They are rubbish and it annoys me everytime I see a lazy builder use them after going to the bother of such a nice circular core.

Buy these and replace them all. If anything they'll great a better deal and more controlled airflow


https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F141280714560

I'll check those vent covers out, thanks. The reason he put on the large square cover is that he knocked some of the internal plaster off, so things didn't look so neat!

Could you link to a suitable baffle for inside the vent? I'm not really sure what I am looking for.

thanks!

hooplah

Simona1986 wrote: »

They're about 120e if I remember correctly, they're supposed to be used with a humidity controlled extractor in wet rooms and with sufficient under door gaps for ventilation between rooms

Thanks for that. Do you know of anything that would work for humidy control in passive vents in a bedroom. Or would something like that always have to be part of a bigger system?

Lumen

hooplah wrote: »

Thanks for that. Do you know of anything that would work for humidy control in passive vents in a bedroom. Or would something like that always have to be part of a bigger system?

As far as I know (and according to their own website) those Aereco vents work fine without DCV, i.e. using "natural ventilation".

They do a "airflow controller" (ACW) accessory to limit airflow in windy conditions, which also appears to be passive.

I'm not really sure whether it's worth the extra plumbing and door cutting of a full DCV system when you can just stick a couple of wall mounted extract fans in wet rooms. Maybe if you have bathrooms/ensuites with no external walls?

hooplah

Lumen wrote: »

As far as I know (and according to their own website) those Aereco vents work fine without DCV, i.e. using "natural ventilation".

They do a "airflow controller" (ACW) accessory to limit airflow in windy conditions, which also appears to be passive.

I'm not really sure whether it's worth the extra plumbing and door cutting of a full DCV system when you can just stick a couple of wall mounted extract fans in wet rooms. Maybe if you have bathrooms/ensuites with no external walls?

Actually the two vents in question are in our siting room and main bedroom. We have electrical fan vents in both bathrooms and the work fine.

The main thing I want to do is reduce the wind / cold through the bedroom and sitting room vents, without increasing our risk of mould.

listermint

hooplah wrote: »

I'll check those vent covers out, thanks. The reason he put on the large square cover is that he knocked some of the internal plaster off, so things didn't look so neat!

Could you link to a suitable baffle for inside the vent? I'm not really sure what I am looking for.

thanks!

He could have cleaned that up with simple polyfilla lazy job and gave you an inferior result.


id change out that rectangular crap first and you can fit these, choose a suitable diameter one.


https://www.ebay.ie/itm/202219859031

Alkers

hooplah wrote:

Thanks for that. Do you know of anything that would work for humidy control in passive vents in a bedroom. Or would something like that always have to be part of a bigger system?

I think it is more along the lines that the ventilation area is not sufficient to meet building standards if relying on the vents alone - which are intended to take air into the house.
If your airtightness is below a certain level, they will recommend you install the extracts only and that you don't need the inlets

Lumen

Interesting that the Aereco EHT inlets have equivalent area of 4471mm2 but part F requires 5000mm2 for a habitable room.

Also "Equivalent areas to be increased by 40% where air permeability is less than 5m3/(h.m2)"

Alkers

Lumen wrote: »

Interesting that the Aereco EHT inlets have equivalent area of 4471mm2 but part F requires 5000mm2 for a habitable room.

Also "Equivalent areas to be increased by 40% where air permeability is less than 5m3/(h.m2)"

Yes, that's what I was getting at but I was on my phone last night. So for the EHT vents to comply you need to have mechanical extraction as opposed to an entirely passive system.

Lumen

Yeah, or window vents.

Alkers

Lumen wrote: »

Yeah, or window vents.

They also make a humidity controlled window vent in the aereco range

dathi

Lumen wrote: »

Interesting that the Aereco EHT inlets have equivalent area of 4471mm2 but part F requires 5000mm2 for a habitable room.

Also "Equivalent areas to be increased by 40% where air permeability is less than 5m3/(h.m2)"

and as it a sitting room part J comes into play if there is a fire place or stove the opening cannot have a close-able cover

1.2 Air supply to appliances
1.2.1 Each appliance should be:
(a) room sealed, or
(b) contained in a room space or compartment
which has a permanent ventilation opening.

Lumen

dathi wrote: »

and as it a sitting room part J comes into play if there is a fire place or stove the opening cannot have a close-able cover

1.2 Air supply to appliances
1.2.1 Each appliance should be:
(a) room sealed, or
(b) contained in a room space or compartment
which has a permanent ventilation opening.

I've read several interpretations of "room sealed", the safest/clearest one of which was "if it's capable of manual refuelling from within the room in question, then it's not room sealed".

But that pretty much rules out every type of stove commonly fitted, and many people seem to interpret it as "having an external air supply and well-maintained door seal".

What is your opinion?

dathi

the description of a room sealed appliance is
12. Room sealed appliance: appliance
whose combustion system is sealed from
the room in which the appliance is
located and which obtains air for
combustion from a ventilated uninhabited
space within the premises or from air
outside the premises and which vents
the products of combustion directly to
open air outside the premises;
at it most restrictive reading as the door can be opened to refuel it is not sealed to the room while a common sense reading would say that the fire chamber is sealed from the room under normal firing , that is assuming no secondary air wash air is drawn from the room ( some stoves with external air supply do) it goes on to say in
1.2.7 Openings should not be
located within a fireplace recess except on the
basis of specialist advice.
which i would take to mean that if the installation manual askes for external supply to be fitted then the manufacturers instructions would make it comply how ever you would still have to comply with part F ventilation requirements