June 17, 20224 yr Hi all I have been quoted £10k ex VAT for a supply and install for a MVHR system for my house I have been in contact with BPC and they quoted just over 4k and 5k for the premium ducting, these are for vent axia/zehnder units I am an electrician and pretty competent at most trades would this be something I could install myself? My only worry is that would it setting up etc.? Would the kit from BPC come with installation notes? All help/advice appreciated
June 17, 20224 yr Hello, many here - including me, a complete amateur - have DIYd their MVHR system install and commissioning. It can be fiddly but is not very technical. If you can rope in a helper or two then it will be much, much easier. Expect a bit of trial and error initially. Many threads on the site explaining the process with tips and advice - go have a good search. BPC will not give you overall install instructions but the MVHR unit itself comes fully documented and is more or less a switch on job. BPC provide a suggested duct route based on whatever plans you provide them. Up to you to commission and balance, again not difficult once you have an air flow meter in your hands (used to be one available to borrow from the site). Key to success is having made provision in your building design for routing of duct - while the 75mm flexi stuff will snake easily through web joists you can get scuppered by a steel or soil pipe blocking the way. Also, as you get closer to the unit and many ducts start to congregate, it can get congested. The external intake/exhaust ducts also are much larger (mine were 180mm) and also need room for insulation. Manifolds will need space also. I made no such provision and had to make it up on the hoof which added to the time and my frustration but nothing else was happening on site that month so was not a big deal. Dodged a few bullets wrt routing, with a bit of forethought I would have requested penetrations in steels etc to make life easier. Good luck!
June 17, 20224 yr 24 minutes ago, richo106 said: Hi all I have been quoted £10k ex VAT for a supply and install for a MVHR system for my house I have been in contact with BPC and they quoted just over 4k and 5k for the premium ducting, these are for vent axia/zehnder units I am an electrician and pretty competent at most trades would this be something I could install myself? My only worry is that would it setting up etc.? Would the kit from BPC come with installation notes? All help/advice appreciated Almost everything can be DIYed in my experience, even the stuff that apparently cannot! Its just a case of buying or borrowing the right tools! MVHR would be very high on my list of easily DIYed items.
June 17, 20224 yr I was going to DIY our MVHR install but then the supplying company offered me an install for £1200 and I thought it was too good to turn down as I already had plenty else to do. if the quote to install was £4-£5k that you're being quoted then I would've done it myself.
June 17, 20224 yr 3 minutes ago, Thorfun said: I was going to DIY our MVHR install but then the supplying company offered me an install for £1200 and I thought it was too good to turn down as I already had plenty else to do. if the quote to install was £4-£5k that you're being quoted then I would've done it myself. That seems unusually reasonable for an MVHR installation. Nice!
June 17, 20224 yr Author Thanks for the quick replies, I will definitely look to DIY this. The difference between the vent axis and zehnder unit is around £800, was things am i looking out for when deciding which unit to go for? any particular types on filters? I am planning to DIY the upstairs UFH also Thank again
June 17, 20224 yr I to was quoted £10k. In the end after quite of research I did my own system. Got surplus mvhr units (2x) from eBay and sourced everything else, ended up spending around £3k.
June 17, 20224 yr My filters are g4, you are better off with f7 on the supply side g3 or g4 on the extract.
June 17, 20224 yr 5 minutes ago, richo106 said: I am planning to DIY the upstairs UFH also we DIYd our basement UFH and will do the same with our GF UFH. it is definitely a good one to DIY as you'll save a small fortune.
June 17, 20224 yr Download LoopCad for a free trial. Also found these on the internet, so you work out flow temps spacing etc.
June 17, 20224 yr We diy'ed our MVHR, I'd definitely do that again. It's a very fiddly and bespoke process - for a pro or an amateur I think. We ended up with rectangular plastic pipes neatly at the back of existing built in cupboards, round metal pipes in the loft. The unit is in the loft, on the wall. Most of our pipes are 150mm, one long loft run is 200mm, ducts are 150mm. Big pipes => slow airspeed => quiet and efficient! Or many smaller pipes, I'm sure that's good too. I recommend humidity and CO2 sensors, let it control based on these rather than a user (=wrong most of the time) - I think some units now come with, ours (VA Sentinel+BH) had humidity inbuilt and 0-10V analogue inputs that I added a CO2 sensor to later.
June 17, 20224 yr Ours was £1500 for the installation (151m2 floor area; 12 room radial system), I thought our main contractor would have done it themselves but they took this install quote from the supplier instead to reduce their own hassle. £4-£5k seems steep - is that a new build or to retrofit it, including gaining access into walls etc and making good??
June 17, 20224 yr Just been through my pricing again two Titon MVHR units - £250 and £320 each Direction grilles x2 £340 (total for both) Everything else £1200 So around £2110
June 17, 20224 yr Another here who self installed my mvhr. If choosing this route, I highly recommend using a radial ducting system (BPC sell this) where each inlet and outlet has it's own pipe back to a plenum box near the MVHR unit. Much easier than rigid ducting and branches. For setting up, the forum had an anemometer to loan for measuring the flow rates at each terminal, I am not sure if it is still available or if it got "lost"? Here is my blog entry http://ardross.altervista.org/Wilowburn/mvhr-ducting/
June 20, 20224 yr Author On 17/06/2022 at 18:34, ProDave said: Another here who self installed my mvhr. If choosing this route, I highly recommend using a radial ducting system (BPC sell this) where each inlet and outlet has it's own pipe back to a plenum box near the MVHR unit. Much easier than rigid ducting and branches. For setting up, the forum had an anemometer to loan for measuring the flow rates at each terminal, I am not sure if it is still available or if it got "lost"? Here is my blog entry http://ardross.altervista.org/Wilowburn/mvhr-ducting/ Thank you very much Love the blog!
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