Home PIV units - Anyone got one?

[Dos_Box]

I finally got up in the attic for a good look around for the first time since moving into my new home last year and found that the unexplained vent in the landing ceiling actually leads to a PIV unit.

These are Positive Input Ventilation systems which change the pressure and air circulation in your house to deliver some quite positive results - https://www.fixmyroof.co.uk/videos-and-guides/condensation-cure/piv-unit-system/#

 

 

I have only just found out what this is this evening and now have to figure out how the thing works. Modern PIV's have wall mounted or remote controls, but mine appears to be a bit on the old side and I'm not sure how it will operate or even how to get it running. There does appear to be some kind of control unit by the side of it in the attic, but I didn't take too big a look as I also had found the mother load of Christmas decorations and lighting!

If any of you out there have one of these any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Meldrew]

I installed a similar device in my old house. Looked the same, but was green, so maybe a different manufacturer. It worked a treat getting rid of condensation. There wasn't really any controls on it apart from a 'power' control where you specified the size of the house in rooms (or might have been bedrooms).

 

Meldrew

[caffrey]

Looks like a nuaire with a heater , been thinking about fitting one of these myself

[Dos_Box]

Looks like a nuaire with a heater , been thinking about fitting one of these myself

 

That one isn't mine (random net pic to demonstrate what they look like), but pretty similar. Will get up there tonight and investigate more.

I may have found the power switch by the loft door. It has been artex'd over!

[MkII]

Certainly looks like a nuaire, though the current generations have the heater in the main unit, and are green as said already.

 

The previous generation has very small buttons on the main unit with equally tiny red LEDs to set the fan speed. Pain in the bum if it's not next to your loft hatch setting it after a power failure.

The current generation has buttons on the ceiling grill, though annoyingly under a faceplate so also a little inaccessible.

Running costs without the heater (totally pointless imho) are roughly £5 per year.

My daughter's asthma symptoms pretty much cleared instantly after installation. It's supposed to cure airborne moisture and fitted as a solution to condensation type damp problems. The house atmosphere feels more healthy certainly.

Currently they retail for about £250. Our electrician fitted one in his own home after fitting ours.

 

There are wall mounted controllers but they don't set the fan speeds annoyingly, even in the latest models. They're listed on the nuaire website.

Edited March 23, 2018 by MkII

[Andrew_C]

Mine had an option to have an air quality sensor in a room. Not sure how important it is but the system works. I'll look for the instructions.

 

It will only run when the air temps are appropriate.

Edited March 26, 2018 by Andrew_C

[DCUK6]

Was looking at these when i moved into my flat. You can get compact ones for flats with no attic.

Supposed to be good. Would say if its got a heater then definatly make sure its activated otherwise its a cool breeze.

 

My flat suffered from damp really bad, it was completely sealed when i moved in.

 

Since added an extractor fan in the bathroom which really helped, and brought a good dehumidifier and all the problems have gone so not chased a PIV any more.

[Dos_Box]

I had a good look over the weekend. It is indeed a nuaire, a Drimaster 2000 to be exact.

By the looks of it The Clampetts (the houses former owners) had done to this as they had done to other costly/high end items in the house such as the cooking range i.e. treated it badly and when it stopped working, ignored it.

As you can see from the pics below, the electrics have been smashed (seriously, who goes in the attic to smash up electrics!) and if you note the filters on either end of the device? These should be white!

Thankfully, just like everything else they damaged, it should be easily repairable. The cooking range required me to buy 2 x new elements, some screws and heatproof oven paint. All for less than £50 and several hours elbow grease and I now have a fully functioning 8 burner range with two working ovens.

I just had an electrician in to fix a problem where the upstairs lighting circuit was tripping out last week. Turned out The Clampetts had tried their hand at wiring in the bathroom light and there was a mains feed into the Earth!

I'm going to give the guy a call again next month to get this back up and running. Two hours labour will be well worth the cost of getting the PIV up and running considering the benefits it has to offer.

Oh! And I eventually found the remote sensor in what is now my sons bedroom above the door where you wouldn't notice it!

 

 

 

 

 

[LeMarchand]

The Clampetts (the houses former owners)

 

Have The Beverly Hillbillies moved from California?

[Dos_Box]

Have The Beverly Hillbillies moved from California?

 

No, but we did find an old briefcase full of documents at the back of the attic.

They basically said Mr Clampett left school with pretty much no exam passes, lots of letters from the taxman saying 'Give us our money!!', letters from his friends to let him know they were now in prison and letters from lady admirers.

Whilst he was married!

There were from the late 90's/early 2000's (the school report was from much earlier).

It made for an entertaining few hours reading and had my teenage daughter laughing her head off.

It was a great lesson in 'This is why you have to do well at school'

Apparently being a scaffolder (steel erector according to his tax returns) is something you can tell your (now ex) wife is actually being a 'builder'.

[john]

Apparently being a scaffolder (steel erector according to his tax returns) is something you can tell your (now ex) wife is actually being a 'builder'.

 

That nearly sounds like a line from those dodgy spam emails people get.....

[mole]

I cannot wait to get my very own Nuaire PIV.

 

Unfortunately instead of buying one last year I bought a new BMX which admittedly is way more fun, and this year is filled with other money draining projects like painting the exterior and doing up (making safe and legal) the lounge electrics and bodged plastering/wallpapering.

 

soon though, soon.

[MkII]

Wow @ those filters lol

 

You can buy replacements cheaply.

 

http://www.nuaire.info/iandm/671109.pdf

[Dos_Box]

Yeah, they are pretty grotty, as I said, The Clampetts would run everything down and not care about stuff.

Everything they didn't care about can be fixed quite cheaply and easily though.

The 'official' filters are £50 a pair but do last 5 years.

[Andrew_C]

I checked my filters which are at least 4 years old, maybe 5, that life time could well be stretched significantly if you have a) roofing felt, and b) few coal burning houses/power stations nearby.

 

My look like the day they went in.

[mole]

Yea.

 

Finally given the go ahead to buy a PIV, getting a Nuaire Eco Hall Control unit (DRI-ECO-HC) from Juice Electrical as they accept Paypal credit.

 

Hopefully will get rid of the condensation, reduce the humidity-currently at 70% on average, and make the house fresher especially as son has asthma.

 

Planning to plug directly into a socket with a 1 amp fuse so no messing with the lighting circuit as that seems like a lot of hassle plus it gives me the option to turn it off as the socket I will use is not in the loft.

[mole]

So the Drimaster arrived and I have installed it, been in 3 days.

 

The first night was about 4 degrees overnight and the next morning there was about 70% less condensation on bedroom windows with the windows (single glaze sash) closed, 2nd night a bit warmer overnight bit still a good deal less condensation.

 

hall feels fresher, no "loft smell" maybe a tad cooler but nothing I'm bothered about and relative humidity dropped by around 8%.

 

I can post a more detailed post with pictures if anyones interested.

[Andycat]

 

I can post a more detailed post with pictures if anyones interested.

 

Yes please!

[mole]

OK,

So here goes....

History - end of terrace old (pre 1850) house, adjoining wall is cob and the rest (as the cob fell down 20 years ago!) has been rebuilt so only 20 years old. Floor I think is just built on the ground as under the stair whilst working on the understairs cupboard I just dug down into the soil, I think floor is just concrete onto ground.

 

Seven (out of 8) windows in total are single glazed sash windows. Loft has insulation but is only 100mm thick and when I can will upgrade to 300mm.

 

House is cold normally and loses heat fast, ie ok when central heating is on but within 10mins of CH turning off you can feel it. No mould visible in any of the rooms but there is a little dry rot on 2 areas of skirting.

 

Relative humidity was 70% + in all rooms and mornings the windows could be found running with water, even if left open overnight.

 

 

On a normal Autumn/Winter/Spring morning there was much condensation ranging from 150ml of water per window to 250ml per window - had to get a Karcher window vac to suck it up - the paint did not like the water and began to peel/come away from the glass.

 

 

Install:

Annoyingly the previous owners just boarded over the ceiling so I found I had original plaster and lathe ceiling and then 2 inches below new plasterboard - luckily though I found the old loft hatch to situate the Drimaster.

 

I opted for the Drimaster Eco Hall - no heater and can adjust the settings at the vent in the hallway rather than in the loft.

 

I also wired mine up so I can turn off the power via a plug downstairs (I Emailed Nuaire prior to this to see if this was feasible) via a 1amp fuse.

 

 

In the hallway below I can adjusted fan rate etc...

 

 

More pics with questionable lighting:

 

 

 

 

I used a junction box to join my feed from socket to the power adaptor on the Drimaster - the manual states to run it from the lighting ring via a 1amp fused spur, (needing an electrician to install plus the associate costs involved) thus my Email to Nuaire asking why not just use a 1amp fused plug to socket saving an electricians bill, time off work to let electrician and ease of having the option to turn it off if required in etc. etc......

 

 

So first day after install (Monday 22 Oct) there was about 1 inch of condensation on 1 bedroom window and the other bedroom window had 70% condensation which I was a little miffed about. Second day showed no condensation on one window and about an inch on the other. This morning showed none on either.

 

No sure on the weather if we would have had condensation anyway without the Drimaster today but so far it seems to be getting better and better.

 

Relative humidity has gone down to on average 65% so a bit disappointed about that but am hoping it will drop further.

 

 

The landing does seem a little cooler but the rest of the house does not seem to be affected by the coolness, it is very quiet - ours is currently on level 3 (out of 6) and can hardly hear it standing underneath it.

 

Here is a awesome paint drawing of its location - i could not get it directly above the stairwell due to access, sloping roof, etc....

 

 

 

 

I'm going to see how it goes as the weather gets colder/central heating kicks in etc......

[Dos_Box]

I would guess that your house has residual damp within walls and other areas and until it has dried out more, you will still see relatively high mositure levels, but it would be good if you could keep us posted on the humidity etc. over the next few weeks or so.

Even so, it's nice to see it working fine. I've still not got around to fixing mine as the temps this summer made working in the attic a no go!

[caffrey]

Think I might install one of these after I finish my current (long) project

[jinnantonnixx]

@mole

Really interested in this gizmo. We've had a bit of a cold snap recently, have you noticed any problems with the temperature of the house?

[mole]

Hi.

yeah from some reviews I read some people have noticed their landing was a bit cooler, but with dry air taking less energy to heat it offset it.

 

I have noticed it a little cooler in the landing area, but not what I would call cold. I have not noticed it being any cooler in any of the bedrooms or rest of the house. It certainly feels fresher.

 

Also during the day with sunlight on the roof tiles warming the air it normally goes into standby mode from 1pm to 5pm (ish)

[mole]

So an update for the past week or so.

 

I monitored 2 single glazed sash (12 panel) windows, both bedrooms.

 

I did not monitor too much the weather - temp, wind speed/direction, RH outside etc etc...

 

Thurs 25th Oct - 1 cm light condensation bottom of panes on both windows.

Fri 26th Oct - Both windows completely dry. Relative humidity at 65%

Sat 27th Oct - 1 window completely dry, other one 60% covered in light condensation.

Sun 28th Oct - 1 window completely dry, other one 2 cm at bottom, relative humidity at 55%.

Mon 29th Oct - Both windows 60% light condensation, relative humidity at 55%. (Cold snap - previous day condenser drier on twice, cooking roast, did not leave the house so guessing a much higher level of moisture in the house)

Tues 30th Oct - 50% light condensation both windows cold overnight/morning (0 degrees). Temp was 16 degrees in bedroom with no heating on.

Wed 31st Oct - 1 inch of light condensation on one window, 3 inches light condensation on other.

Thurs 1st Nov - No condensation on any windows

Fri 2nd Nov - Both windows 80% light condensation, RH 60%.

Sat 3rd Nov - Both windows no condensation.

Sun 4th Nov - Both windows no condensation.

Mon 5th Nov - Both windows no condensation.

 

 

What I can say is that during the above on at least 8+ of the days both windows would have been streaming with condensation with them being left ajar overnight with RH being 70% on average.

So, so far so good.

[woodham]

watching this thread cheers