Nuaire drimaster heat experiences

That’s a decent price, where was it from?

I’m in a stone end terrace, and the front of the house doesn’t get any sun

The front room and bedroom are the coldest rooms in the house

I’ve been having terrible problems with clothes in the wardrobe smelling mouldy, and some things like the suede on my desert boots actually had fuzz growing on them

I’ve just ordered a drimaster but after reading this I’m not sure I’ve done the right thing!

Reviews on amazon looked good 😕

Is your loft hatch well sealed? If not it’s probably just circulating the air from your loft into your landing and sucking it back through again…

Is your loft hatch well sealed? If not it’s probably just circulating the air from your loft into your landing and sucking it back through again…

Yep, went at it with draught excluder as part of the bodging installation process.

I’m sure I’ll get there with it, just looks as though I’ll need some work on the loft ventilation.

Any update on these?

My parents live in a fairly old house that I think is twin brick contruction with no cavity.
It’s always quite damp and condensate-y in the house, which isn’t helped by the lack of door on the kitchen & no proper extraction for steam when cooking.

I keep telling them to look at one of these & see if it helps.
For the cost of one of the basic models, it seems like a low-risk option, to be honest. If it doesn’t work, then it’s not a huge investment to have wasted & they can just turn it off.

Stumpy, the walls are less relevant, than having a dry loft space.

Best thing we have ever done in our house !

Timmys – any change as yet? If you loft has any sign of condensation though it will not work properly. Does stuff in the loft feel damp, do boxes etc go soft?

Even with the unit running, currently we are at about 70% humidity, the outside weather definitely influences this, if we get a dry spell it will probably drop to about 60%.

FunkyDunc – Member

Stumpy, the walls are less relevant, than having a dry loft space.

FunkyDunc – I mention the walls as I think they are one of the reasons the house is always quite damp. There is no cavity to create a barrier/air gap.

They get mildew on the backs of their curtains, their windows are dripping with condensation throughout the winter and in the spare room where there is a bed pushed right against the wall, the wallpaper is peeling off behind the bed, as it gets that damp.

I think they should try one of these, but they never seem to get round to sorting it out….

Our house is of similar construction, and it helped massively.

As I say though you need the loft to be right for it to work.

Does anyone have one of these fitted where the boiler is also in the loft? Is that safe or would the nuaire 365 need to be used?

FunkyDunc – Member

Our house is of similar construction, and it helped massively.

As I say though you need the loft to be right for it to work.

Yeah, I should probably stick my head in the loft at some point and see what’s what. I doubt anyone’s been up there since 1995….

Update as requested, all with fan speed at 4 (of 6):

Around day 6 things suddenly seemed to improve – I guess loft funk had finally been cleared, humidity droped from ~70% to ~60% in the main problem room (near the drimaster outlet).

Day 7 I installed the loft ventilation things linked in one of my previous posts. That was the first time I had actually been up in the loft since installation and it certainly felt ‘fresher’ up there even before I installed the vent things.

Days 8 – 10; things seem to be steady at ~60% in problem room.

Days 10 – 12 (last couple of days); problem room suddenly smells musty again and humidity as back up to 70-75%. There hasn’t been any significant rain (though it has got colder), fan still running at 4. 😕 Bit perplexed.

I’m undecided if I should have the window open in the problem room. I don’t know if that creates too much of a ‘path of least resistance’ and all the air i’m pumping in just exists straight out of the open window without circulating. Maybe windows should be shut to try and great proper positive pressure in the whole house? The windows in the problem room do have trickle vents so there is still ventilation without opening a window.

To answer specific question above. The loft always felt humid but not to the extent that cardboard felt particularly ‘soft’ (but probably softer than in the house). I defiantly remember seeing condensation on the underside of the felt but only a couple of times in 4 yrs of living here. The loft insulation seems to be what looks like very finely shredded newspaper which seems to be an actual thing upon googling it (Warmcel). It looks horrible and seems like perfect flammable rodent nesting material but apparently is legit! I wonder if it absorbs moisture and therefore is acting as a bit of a reservoir of dampness. The loft funk smell seems to be diminishing though.

I’m in this for the long haul though and still optimistic that things will improve.

Not wired mine up yet as been busy and still warm. I think you need a mixture of:
1. High volume cooker hood. Venting outside of house.
2. High volume (>150m3/hr) bathroom extractor. Venting outside and with a 20 mins over run. Get an in line ducted fan that goes out the roof. Wall mounted fans are to low e traction.
3. Set central heating to 20 degrees or near.
4. Trickle vents on windows
5. High roof slate breather vents to dry attic.
6. Washing on the line outside.
7. Small dehumidifier next to indoor washing.
8. Install hit and miss vents in old chimneys
9. Go electric hob if possible reduces gas moisture.
10.Pull all loft insulation 1ft back from roof membrane. If rockwool touches a cold damp proof membrane it will condensate.
11. Try a nuaire or better a full house heat recovery unit (>£900 plus)

Finally got around to ordering one today, went for the heat version . Hopefully I’ll have it installed by the end of next week depending on when it arrives and I’ll report back in a few weeks.

Any updates?

I have a little update – Reduced the speed to 2 now it’s completely silent, no loft smell now, the house air is much fresher which is nice, does make the landing a little chillier as you’d expect as there is colder entering the house.

I’ve not had any condensation on the windows since it’s been in, early into condensation season of course but early signs are good, will see how we get on through the rest of the autumn/winter and into spring.

Thanks forge197 – definitely into condensation season for me!

I have a little update – Reduced the speed to 2 now it’s completely silent, no loft smell now, the house air is much fresher which is nice, does make the landing a little chillier as you’d expect as there is colder entering the house.

Is there no recirculation or heater element in these things?
It’s only going to get colder hereon in.

The drimaster heat has a heating element that comes on below a threshold.

The theory is that even with the cooler air coming in, dry air is easier to heat than damp air.

I’ve noticed no difference in our heating bills but even if it does cost more to heat, having a dry house is worth it.

The drimaster heat has a heating element that comes on below a threshold.

That makes sense, I think I’d rather recirculate or control the volume of air entering and reduce the overall heating bill too.

Week 4 here. So playing about with fan speed. For my 3 bed terrace. 2 kids, wife who loves washing. Fan speed 4 would leave around 1 inch of moisture on upstairs windows (still a massive improvement). Fan speed 5 leaves nothing. So I guess fan speed needs to be tweaked against not only size of house but moisture generation. This would seem at first far to fast / Hugh for a small 3 bed but it works. Don’t notice the cold (although it has not got proper cold yet!)

Quite happy so far and like not having to mop the windows down every day.

Is there no recirculation or heater element in these things?
It’s only going to get colder hereon in.

I have the heater element in the Nuaire (connected to a timer) but don’t think it really heats it much will see as it gets colder how effective it is, though the house seems to heats up faster and keep the heat more so than previous, downstairs is great, just a little edge on the landing, which has no heating on it.

@Murray – did you get one or are you on the fence?

I have the heater element in the Nuaire (connected to a timer) but don’t think it really heats it much will see as it gets colder how effective it is

Not to a temp controller?

Comes on at 10 degrees or less, its on a timer to Control when it can be on and off, I’ll see what’s it like in depth of winter and if needs to be on more but not much point adding heat when not needed it’s only a small heater so it won’t heat the house think it warms the air just a couple degrees not convinced it makes much difference overall, doesn’t seem too!

That makes more sense than a timer, you’ll need the air to be coming in at something like 16-18 degrees which means that unless you can control the air flow the heater will be needed, especially when the temp get closer to zero. There needs to be a way of tempering the air.

Going to see how it goes I am not sure the onboard heater would get the heat that high 🙂

May end up better to turn the inbuilt heater off and run an oiled rad on the landing to warm the air will see

First winter with it so will see what works best and most efficient.

I’ve had mine running for a few weeks now and it has definitely made a difference. No condensation to speak of anywhere in the house. I had to put some vents in the soffit and some felt lap vents in to get air into the loft though. I was initially worried about spending the money on one but so far I’m glad I did.

So my report….

Wired up my Nuaire Drimaster Heat (£280) a few days ago.

– Before the fan the windows were dripping with small pools on the sills in the mornings. I live in a small terraced house (64m2) which is largely made from pebble dashed brick and clinker concrete, so does not breathe well. We have UPVC double glazing and trickle vents on windows (currently closed).

– Electrician Installed fan by wiring up two different plugs (total cost £60). The fan is 20 watt on a standard 3 prong plug. The heater unit is on a 500 watt wired on a standard plug. Installed a double socket in the attic off the main ring main sockets. I have the option to turn heater on/off or run heater on a timer plug. Running the fan on its own for 6 months will be cheap (estimate around £15 max).

– First 2 days ran on fan setting 1 with heater element off and central heating off. First impression = This thing is total junk. Windows still wet and house just felt colder. Made absolutely no difference to a cold house, almost made it worse as the fan lowered the temperature even further (my loft is draughty and chilly – 2 breather slates).

– Last 2 days – Upped fan speed to setting 2 (there are 5 fan speeds) and turned on gas central heating (6pm to 10:40pm @ 20 degrees and 5:30am to 6:30am). Really big improvement. Widows are dam near dry this morning and it was 3 degrees last night. Impressed so far. You need to set central heating to 18 to 20 degrees, this raises the dew point of the incoming colder air and raises the potential relative humidity.

My thinking: You have got to run these with a healthy blast of central heating. The fan heating element (500W) is very small, roughly similar to the element in an electrical kettle. I would pick heating via the house rather than the element as it’s too small and you may get some heat loss to the attic which is wasted heat. The fan heating element can be set using a screwdriver slot – heating element will kick in from 2 to 12 degrees depending on the setting you choose.Definitely rig the heater up on a plug so you can run on a timer. You do not want a 500w element on all day and night in winter.

House feels a little cooler so sure but well worth it being drier. Air in house feels a bit dryer and fresher. Installing the fan and ducting is easy and takes around 1 hr. Wiring I would recommend an electrician only. The set up and instructions are easy to follow and changing the fan speed and heating element are really easy to follow.

Fan comes with all parts and just has a live and neutral coming out the fan unit, you need to wire the heating element separately.

Coconut I had our heater on a fused spur timer, I am minded to turn it off and see the difference as you say it’s not really big enough to warm to a large degree.

Since dropping our fan to speed 2, no noise can’t hear it, no loft smell, fresh air in house, and most importantly no condensation so far.

I was sceptical and really reticent to invest, we’d done the whole dehumidifier thing last couple years, windows on trickle but still had some condensation, so far it seems to have gone not a single drop and the air in the house just ‘feels’ nice. Need to do the whole Winter now for the long term prognosis, early indications are positive.

This is all interesting stuff….

I keep telling my parents to look into one of these as they have lots of the symptoms described but they are dragging their heels.
They are also dragging their heels about getting a new heating controller with a wireless thermostat (their heating has no thermostat at all, so when it’s on, it’s on all the time…..!)

I am almost tempted to buy them one, take it round & say ‘there you go, just get someone in to install it’……

Stumpy01 – Your parents would recoup the £300 to £400 cost in a year or two if there using central heating with no therostat. Early days for me but seems a really decent little machine. I was very sceptical and did not trust the reviews, but now do.

coconut – Member

Stumpy01 – Your parents would recoup the £300 to £400 cost in a year or two if there using central heating with no therostat.

Yeah, it’s not the cost…..it’s just getting them to realise that it might help the condensation situation in their house & that it’s probably worth a bit of time & effort getting one sorted.

Same with their heating. The cowboy that installed it years ago didn’t fit a thermostat & reckoned that you control it solely via TRV’s and the timer control.
So, when it is on it just runs & runs & runs…..so it gets turned off. Then the house cools down and it gets put back on and off and on and off….
My Dad just trots out the same line that ‘the people who installed it, reckon it doesn’t need a thermostat’…..so they’ve just used it like that for years. I dread to think what their heating bill is!
I have been trying to persuade them to replace the current controller with one that has a wireless thermostat (as there is no wiring for a ‘fixed’ thermostat into the system).

I’ll keep trying!

All boilers have a connection for a thermostat in them, it’s usually very easy to find once you unscrew the control panel. Find the instructions on the internet, its only 2 wires to connect. A wireless thermostat would still need the receiver connecting into these connections anyway.

newrobdob – Member

All boilers have a connection for a thermostat in them, it’s usually very easy to find once you unscrew the control panel. Find the instructions on the internet, its only 2 wires to connect. A wireless thermostat would still need the receiver connecting into these connections anyway.

Yeah, but once we’d connected a normal thermostat to the boiler we would have to chase wires into the walls etc. to a suitable spot for the thermostat and then re-decorate.

Our wireless thermostat talks directly to the controller, not the boiler.
So the controller is wired into the boiler & the controller tells the boiler when to fire using a combination of the time set for being ‘on’ and demand from the thermostat.

My parents have a controller wired into their boiler. So replacing the controller with a wireless controller & thermostat like ours (Honeywell Sundial Rf pack 2) would give them the control over the system that I think they should have, without them having to have wires chased into the walls.

?? No need for any wires or chasing in. Remote therostat with x.4 batteries, talks to sensor which clips into a valiant boiler.

Good luck.

Ah, really. I didn’t know these things existed…! Got any product names or links I can Google?

Cheers for the heads up!

Yeah I have a Valliant Eco Tec Pro gas boiler and bought a VRT 392F remote thermostat.

I have this:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vaillant-VRT392F-remote-wireless-boiler-control-set-with-transmitter-/192017045455?hash=item2cb51b97cf

Stick batteries on once ever 2 years or so. Place anywhere in the house you like (ebay picture 1), other part (ebay picture 2) clips straight into the front face of most valliant boilers, but check this first. Think it was around £140 new from plumbing center.

Ah, really. I didn’t know these things existed…! Got any product names or links I can Google?

I’ve been using this for years – works very well