Void and Pantry and More

[Mr Blobby]

This week its all about MVHR.  Most of the plan is sorted and I've read all the topics on here but a few stupid questions remain.  Please help...

 

1. Voids

From our ground floor kitchen we have a void that runs up through the first floor and into a vaulted ceiling with a velux.  There are no openings in the void above GF so it is effectively airtight to the rafters.

 

The void sits above the dining table and between the kitchen and living space.  There will be kitchen extracts on one side and supply valves to the other side of the void.  There will therefore be some passage of air across the bottoom of the void, but what about higher up where there is no ventilation?   Should there be a supply or extract valve near the top?  Would there be a condensation risk without ventilation?  Would natural convection currents control humidity and I don't need to worry about this?

 

2. Pantry

Should the 2m sqaure pantry have an extract or supply valve.  The pantry has a single door to the kitchen with an extract about 2.5 metres away in said kitchen.

 

3. Fancy valves

I quite like the look (and claimed acoustics) of some of the outragously expensive supply/extract valves like Lindab airy or Frankische or ergovent.  Are they worth the extra dosh?  Does anybody on here have them?

 

4. Balancing at the manifold

I read on here somewhere that its better to balance at the manifold because there is less noise.  Is that true? 

 

 

Edited January 4 by Mr Blobby

[Conor]

1. Don't bother. You've almost no condensation risk.

2. Don't bother. We don't have either of our store rooms ventilated. Only one we do is laundry cupboard.

3. Can reccomend the Lindab airy.

[dpmiller]

2. I put a supply in the pantry in the hope of keeping heat from the surrounding rooms at bay. It helps... a little.

[ProDave]

Do NOT have an extract in the pantry.  That will just draw warmer room air in and warm the room, which is not what you want.  It is not routinely occupied so does not need an air supply.  Just leave it, and keep the door shut as much as possible.

 

Against all expectations our pantry, partitioned off from the corner of the kitchen / diner seems to be sitting about 2 degrees lower than the main room.

[Conor]

(we insualted our store room walls, no UFH, and keep the door closed, two of the walls are external so it keeps a little cooler than the rest of the house, but truth be told it's really hard to have any different temp zones in a well insulated house)

[Mr Blobby]

On 05/01/2024 at 08:26, dpmiller said:

2. I put a supply in the pantry in the hope of keeping heat from the surrounding rooms at bay. It helps... a little.

 

On 05/01/2024 at 11:25, ProDave said:

Do NOT have an extract in the pantry.  That will just draw warmer room air in and warm the room, which is not what you want.

 

This is a really good point.  I hadn't thought of it this way, that a supply would stop the warm air from the kitchen entering the pantry but it makes complete sense now you explain it.  🤔

Supply in the pantry it is.  Thank you.

 

On 05/01/2024 at 06:56, Conor said:

1. Don't bother. You've almost no condensation risk.

 

That's the answer I hoped for.  So no supply/extract in the void then.

 

On 05/01/2024 at 06:56, Conor said:

2. Don't bother. We don't have either of our store rooms ventilated. Only one we do is laundry cupboard.

 

A freind of ours who lives in a new build down the road with MVHR complains of condensation in their unventilated pantry so I naturally want to avoid the same. 

 

A large ventilation company in Northern Ireland, who did our neighbours ventilation plan, also drew up a ventilation plan for us and similarly excluded any pantry ventilation. 

On our ventilation plan this company also omitted an extract from the plant room (where the DHW tank sits) but has added an extract on the landing at the top of the stairs.  Which we won't be implementing.

 

On 05/01/2024 at 11:37, Conor said:

but truth be told it's really hard to have any different temp zones in a well insulated house

 

Agreed, it would be impossible to reduce the temparature in the pantry with the sort of insulation we have, we just want to keep the kitchen humidity out. 👍

 

Edited January 12 by Mr Blobby

[Conor]

6 minutes ago, Mr Blobby said:

 

A freind of ours who lives in a new build down the road with MVHR complains of condensation in their unventilated pantry so I naturally want to avoid the same.

 

 

I think they have other issues then. More likely some sort of water ingress. Only one of our two MVHRs is functional at the minute, we've no hint of condensation anywhere. I even checked the roof steels the other day as they are partial cold bridges... No hint there.

 

(I'll not talk about the damp wall in the basement tho!!!)

[Mr Blobby]

12 minutes ago, Conor said:

 

I think they have other issues then. More likely some sort of water ingress. Only one of our two MVHRs is functional at the minute, we've no hint of condensation anywhere. I even checked the roof steels the other day as they are partial cold bridges... No hint there.

 

(I'll not talk about the damp wall in the basement tho!!!)

 

They've had other problems with their build, including leaky plumbing, so you are probably right that the root cause of their pantry condensation is not the ventilation.

[Mr Blobby]

On 05/01/2024 at 06:56, Conor said:

3. Can reccomend the Lindab airy.

 

Please tell me more.  What's good about them over the 5 quid vents?

 

Need to decide this quite soon 🤔

 

[Mr Blobby]

15 hours ago, Mr Blobby said:

 

Please tell me more.  What's good about them over the 5 quid vents?

 

Need to decide this quite soon 🤔

 

 

 

I get a sense of deja vu here 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️