Nuaire Drimaster Install

Molep · 24 Oct 2018 at 15:30

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 doubt partly due to loft insulation.

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.

http://imgur.com/L4LZkbA

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.

http://imgur.com/lG8NCQp
In the hallway below I can adjust fan rate etc...

http://imgur.com/QzxKrDD
More pics with questionable lighting:

http://imgur.com/zyIOCQi

http://imgur.com/7IB2fMD

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 1 amp fused spur, (needing an electrician to install plus the associate costs involved) thus my Email to Nuaire asking why not just use a 1 amp 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.

http://imgur.com/iROfYS1

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....

http://imgur.com/us076TA

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

PlacidCasual · 24 Oct 2018 at 15:50

Just looked it up, it's basically an air blower bring cold air in which as it warms will reduce in RH and displace warm moist air?

I have an old house but not with your level of problems I admit. We use a compressor type de-humidifier upstairs and a dessicant type downstairs. I do find there is some lag between use and results which I put down to the fact that all summer long here in South Wales the high humidity is soaking into structure of the house and furniture and as I lower the humidity running them in the winter some of this must evaporate into the house. I found last year with a cold dry winter that by November the house had settled and we were getting low humidity because even cold air at 70% RH is going to be dry by the time it gets to 20°C.

Looking at the Drimaster, did you not consider a solution using a heat recovery system? I ask because surely hot air is being displaced as you blow in cold and so that is heat leaving the building.

robj20 · 25 Oct 2018 at 07:49

Ive looked at these a few times, but like my desiccant dehumidifier for now. Bring the RH down to 55% if i leave it on for 48H, tend to run it for 2H per night and it keeps condensation to a minimum and RH at around 65%.

I don't like the idea of heating the house then purposely blowing cold air in and pushing the warm air out.

The best solution i found was to just keep the heating on so that no rooms go below 18c over winter.

Doobedoo · 25 Oct 2018 at 18:33

I looked at the nuaire piv system but wasn’t sure just how effective it would be.

Decided to settle for a Meaco platinum dehumidifier which costs less and is very effective. Another plus is I can dry my clothes indoors whilst costing considerably less to run than a tumble dryer.

SeatIbiza · 25 Oct 2018 at 21:37

is it venting to the loft? Have you got a major source of moisture? DPC? Maybe not 1850...

Doobedoo · 25 Oct 2018 at 21:41

No it draws filtered air from the loft and circulates it through the house, it promotes air circulation bringing in fresh air to replace stale air.

Relentless81 · 26 Oct 2018 at 07:59

My last house had terrible condensation problems, 1930's and fully sealed up by the previous owner inc cavity's, we had two dehumidifiers going all winter and these had a noticeable effect on the bills and although they helped they didn't solve the issue so I always wondered about the OP's solution

Just going into the first winter in the new house and so far so good, previous house would have had soaking windows by now but there is only a little condensation on the upstairs windows nothing out of the ordinary, the bathroom however is soaking even with a large extractor fan and huge radiator so we have to keep the bathroom door closed in the evenings which stops the humid air getting into the rest of the house, if we forget we wake up to more condensation.

I honestly think the reason there is less condensation in the new house is because of the open cavity and air bricks, yes this lets cold air in and it costs you a little more in heating bills but its better than waking up to a lake on every window every morning and running dehumidifiers constantly, I'm sure they gave me a sore throat all winter too, not to mention the extra cost

Buffman · 26 Oct 2018 at 10:09

Doobedoo said:
I looked at the nuaire piv system but wasn’t sure just how effective it would be.

Decided to settle for a Meaco platinum dehumidifier which costs less and is very effective. Another plus is I can dry my clothes indoors whilst costing considerably less to run than a tumble dryer.

In terms of outright costs a drimaster is fairly expensive but at 20watts or so it costs barely anything to run, unlike a dehumidifier.

Im quite pleased with my drimaster, a bit of a "fit and forget" solution. I imagine problems could be resolved with removal of the cavity wall insulation etc.

samcat · 26 Oct 2018 at 10:30

Have looked at these in the past and thought they were overpriced.. Very easy to 'diy' something similar, use 150mm/200mm kit, carbon filter in loft attached to a Systemair RVK or similar good quality fan that is suitably sized using a straight duct. Suspend this lot so its not transmitting vibrations into the house.

Then run some noise reducing flexible duct to a suitable ceiling vent.

Use a speed controller to reduce the speed/noise.

Simples, and should be possible to do it for ~ £100-150 for very good quality kit.

robj20 · 26 Oct 2018 at 12:50

The Craig said:
In terms of outright costs a drimaster is fairly expensive but at 20watts or so it costs barely anything to run, unlike a dehumidifier.

I'm quite pleased with my drimaster, a bit of a "fit and forget" solution. I imagine problems could be resolved with removal of the cavity wall insulation etc.

Its not that simple.
These drymasters will cool your house down, so extra cost in heating. The heat one of these is an extra 500W.
Dehumidifier especially desiccant ones heat your house so reduce heating.

samcat · 26 Oct 2018 at 13:15

robj20 said:
Its not that simple.
These drymasters will cool your house down, so extra cost in heating. The heat one of these is an extra 500W.
Dehumidifier especially desiccant ones heat your house so reduce heating.

I wonder if rather than running the air intake permanently running it for a few hours in the morning after the house is empty would help. Could run at a higher speed as noise is a non-issue. Force an air exchange, move the moisture out..

But what I really want is MVHR, so permanent air exchange with heat recovery... Luckily our house we could retrofit it quite easily!

Buffman · 26 Oct 2018 at 15:25

robj20 said:
Its not that simple.
These drymasters will cool your house down, so extra cost in heating. The heat one of these is an extra 500W.
Dehumidifier especially desiccant ones heat your house so reduce heating.

True, measuring it would come into play also.

However as gas is far cheaper than electric (dehumidifier) and radiator designed for heat transfer I imagine overall the operational cost of a drimaster far lower.

Assuming you have gas heating ofc!

Doobedoo · 26 Oct 2018 at 16:34

The Craig said:
In terms of outright costs a drimaster is fairly expensive but at 20watts or so it costs barely anything to run, unlike a dehumidifier.

Im quite pleased with my drimaster, a bit of a "fit and forget" solution. I imagine problems could be resolved with removal of the cavity wall insulation etc.

That’s why I chose the Meaco due it’s low energy requirements coupled with the fact that it’s more flexible, as I can use it to dry washing indoors and can also move it into other rooms if I need to or even take it elsewhere if I wanted too.

The best feature (amongst many) of the Meaco 12l Low Energy Dehumidifier is the fact that it operates on very low energy. We compared the Meaco 12L energy usage with its competitors and the Meaco 12L actually used the least power of all.

Utilising only 165 watts in operation and featuring the Meaco energy-saving feature Control Logic using the Meaco 12L dehumidifier will save you bundles in operating costs from the moment that you use the unit.

https://byemould.com/2016/04/08/meaco-platinum-low-energy-12l-dehumidifier-review/

I only really use it whilst cooking etc and quite often leave it on overnight when it is naturally more humid and because I’m on a economy 7 traffic I’m only paying 7.5 per kWh at night, so it doesn’t cost much to run at all.