MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
Our current one has died, so looking at replacing it....
The Airflow Icon 30 looks very good, I like the way it closes up as we get quite a lot of wind against the wall it will be in and often get a cold back draught from the existing one (the self closing vanes on the outside are next to useless as just rely on gravity).
Any have any experience of them?
Not that exact one but have fitted similar and they are generally good but sometimes the mechanism for the closure do stop working.
Yes, had one of those Airflows for about 12 years in the downstairs WC, it does the job; not too noisy, keeps bathroom smells out of the hall and doesn't admit drafts when it's closed. It takes a minute or so for the bimetallic strip to warm up and open the flaps and every year or so I take off the cover and vacuum it to remove dust.
I have two of those and had to remove the blades that make up the closing mechanism as they wouldn’t open anymore. This it was due condensation as they are mounted on the ceiling as oppose to an outside wall.
Anyone know if I should fit a condensation trap on the ventilation pipe in the attic space?
^^^^^ The Melrose every time. Ours packed up two weeks ago after five years of daily abuse in our en suite (my wife is half warm-water mermaid). Ten minutes later and just using a single cross-head screwdriver to undo the coupling device for the vent pipe, a quick clean around the blades and it is working again. Quickest DIY job in history.
Step one in that video should have been to remove and throw away that expanding plastic piping and replace with metal non-expanding ducting. With insulation sleeve around it. Will increase efficacy of the fan, stop water collecting (and sometimes freezing) in the ridges.
I stayed in the Serena hotel in Kampala, which must have had a South African mine extractor on the roof because the bathroom vents, which were easily a foot square, were sucking so powerfuly that if you dropped a piece of bog paper by the door the draft through the gap picked it up and it fluttered up towards the fan grille! The entire hotel stank of overheated groundnut oil from the kitchen chip fryers because the fan was sucking everything from the ground floor up the lift shafts and into the rooms. I had an interesting chat with the engineering manager and it was quite good watching him putting two and two together and realising that if the kitchen caught fire, the building would become smoke-logged in minutes. I'll be there in about 6 weeks so look forward to seeing if they turned the fan down a bit. The building used to be Amin's secret service HQ so maybe they are still trying to suck out bad vibes from all the torture and murders.
Step one in that video should have been to remove and throw away that expanding plastic piping and replace with metal non-expanding ducting. With insulation sleeve around it. Will increase efficacy of the fan,
Can you recommend a make or online retailer for the ducting you’re Can you share a vent tile between 2 extractors? Or will this potentially take the steam from one bathroom and shove it into another?
Heat recovery one if you’re feeling eco friendly? No idea how good they are mind.
Heat recovery works well but is not easy to fit to an old house.
MVHR works well for new builds
While we're all here, can I hijack with a question about vent tiles? Our first floor ceilings go into the roof space by 18" or so, so a wall vent won't work brilliantly. There's an extractor fitted already into the ceiling directly above the shower, but it vents into the not-very-well-ventilated attic.
A vent tile would be the answer, but the bathroom's on the south west side of the house, so gets all the wind and rain.
Any ideas about the best vent tile for a spot like this?
Edit: ooh! it's close to the chimney and there are 2 pots not being used. Is that a goer? ignore that. probably not!