Ubbink - what are they like?

[lizzieuk1]

Morning,

Ive no real experience of mvhr and its a bit of a minefield, so wondering on opinion of the Ubbink systems, are they good or bad or other? 

[JohnMo]

I used their duct (90mm) and various terminals and connecting plenums (90 to 125mm) no issues. Also used the foam 150 and 125mm ducts, again no issues. Ubbink also connects with various other brands if you want to mix other companies components.

[lizzieuk1]

25 minutes ago, JohnMo said:

I used their duct (90mm) and various terminals and connecting plenums (90 to 125mm) no issues. Also used the foam 150 and 125mm ducts, again no issues. Ubbink also connects with various other brands if you want to mix other companies components.

Thanks, good to know. 

How does £8.5k sound for full supply & install (for ref its 420m2, 3 storey house) One worry is I'm sure the guy said they use 50mm ducting, which sounds rather small but I may have misheard so will check!

[Jolo]

Are you asking about their air distribution system or their MVHR units? Their Ubiflux Vigor units are rebranded Brink Flair units (as far as I know both companies are owned by Ariston, so they're sibling companies, and stuff is cross-branded in different countries -- the Ubbink ducting is branded Brink in France, for example).

 

Like JohnMo I've also used their distribution duct (the green ribbed stuff, Air Excellent) and the grey foam main ducting (the weirdly spelled Aerfoam), along with their distribution boxes and vent terminal adaptors. I also used their wall and roof penetrations for the external connections, and everything fitted together neatly and easily.

 

Had no issues with it (as a first-time self-installer), although the Air Excellent is difficult to undo if you want to make changes -- once they're connected, they're pretty solid! This is a good thing, of course. While it's possible to ease the plastic clip back out, it's tricky in confined spaces. (Funnily enough, if you look at photos of Air Excellent installations in Poland, they use a metal clip which goes around the adaptor, instead of a plastic one which goes inside. The metal one looks easier to remove, though I've never handled one so that's just a guess!)

 

It sounds like you're having it installed by a third party though, so I doubt all that is much of a concern to you! It's solid stuff, and is very widely used as far as I can tell, so it's a sound choice IMO.

Edited Tuesday at 09:55 by Jolo
typo, and added a bit for clarity

[lizzieuk1]

4 minutes ago, Jolo said:

Are you asking about their air distribution system or their MVHR units? Their Ubiflux Vigor units are rebranded Brink Flair units (as far as I know both companies are owned by Ariston, so they're sibling companies, and stuff is cross-branded in different countries -- the Ubbink ducting is branded Brink in France, for example).

 

Like JohnMo I've also used their distribution duct (the green ribbed stuff, Air Excellent) and the grey foam main ducting (the weirdly spelled Aerfoam), along with their distribution boxes and vent terminal adaptors. I also used their wall and roof penetrations for the external connections, and everything fitted together neatly and easily.

 

Had no issues, although the Air Excellent is difficult to undo if you want to make changed -- once they're connected, they're pretty solid! While it's possible to ease the plastic clip back out, it's tricky in confined spaces. (Funnily enough, if you look at photos of Air Excellent installations in Poland, they use a metal clip which goes around the adaptor, instead of a plastic one which goes inside. The metal one looks easier to remove, though I've never handled one so that's just a guess!)

 

It sounds like you're having it installed by a third party though, so I doubt all that is much of a concern to you! It's solid stuff, and is very widely used as far as I can tell, so it's a sound choice IMO.

Thanks, that's all helpful info. 

We are weighing the options on install - happy to diy it but equally if the installed cost isn't much more then will go with that (we have lots of DIY to do on this one!)  

[Jolo]

51 minutes ago, lizzieuk1 said:

We are weighing the options on install - happy to diy it but equally if the installed cost isn't much more then will go with that (we have lots of DIY to do on this one!)  

 

It's definitely not a light bit of DIY! I would certainly consider having a company in to install it in our next house, instead of self-install. Though I'm happy with the results, it was a lot of work.

Edited Tuesday at 10:47 by Jolo

[JohnMo]

1 hour ago, lizzieuk1 said:

50mm ducting

Walk away that is way too small. I chose 90mm to limit number of runs and keep away from noise issues.

 

Costs depend on quality of stuff installed and layout of house and ease of piping runs. I used coander supply nozzles to reduce duct runs but about 50m+.

 

I found with some upfront planning and quite a bit of getting your head around stuff, quite straightforward in the end to self install.

[Post and beam]

I self installed my brink ducting. 200 sq metre 2 storey, with 90mm green ribbed semi rigid. Agree that it is a lot of work.Although its only semi rigid it gets to feel pretty rigid when trying to manipulate it through joists etc. I have 15 runs in total. I had to get a little creative with the routes up through to the loft from the ground floor. To the extent that even the Potton quality manager said, 'thats a good idea'.   It goes together easily and very securely by the way as has been said already.

[Nickfromwales]

Brink / Ubbink is all I’ve used in 99% of my clients builds. Zero issues. 
 

I’ve had great prices / service / design support etc from CVC Ltd (Oxon) and they have some good prices for kit on their box-shifting platform (Air-haus.co.uk).

 

£8.5k supplied and installed for that size house is cheaper than I’d have done it for, by a LONG way. Are they quoting a single 600 unit? Or 2x 325’s? 

[Jolo]

1 hour ago, Nickfromwales said:

£8.5k supplied and installed for that size house is cheaper than I’d have done it for, by a LONG way. Are they quoting a single 600 unit? Or 2x 325’s? 

 

Yeah, estimates for our 80m2 house (supply and install) came in about that price, so for somewhere over 5 times larger that just sounds too good to be true. 

[Nickfromwales]

7 minutes ago, Jolo said:

 

Yeah, estimates for our 80m2 house (supply and install) came in about that price, so for somewhere over 5 times larger that just sounds too good to be true. 

Yup.
 

Sounds like it’ll be a barrel scrape solution for that money, afaic.

[MikeSharp01]

20 hours ago, Jolo said:

Like JohnMo I've also used their distribution duct (the green ribbed stuff, Air Excellent) and the grey foam main ducting (the weirdly spelled Aerfoam), along with their distribution boxes and vent terminal adaptors. I also used their wall and roof penetrations for the external connections, and everything fitted together neatly and easily.

 

Us too - no issues, quality gear I think.

[lizzieuk1]

12 hours ago, Nickfromwales said:

Brink / Ubbink is all I’ve used in 99% of my clients builds. Zero issues. 
 

I’ve had great prices / service / design support etc from CVC Ltd (Oxon) and they have some good prices for kit on their box-shifting platform (Air-haus.co.uk).

 

£8.5k supplied and installed for that size house is cheaper than I’d have done it for, by a LONG way. Are they quoting a single 600 unit? Or 2x 325’s? 

Thanks Nick, I've only had a rough overview cost so far, we thought it was quite cheap as well. From memory (bit hazy though) I'm sure he said they use 50mm ducting which rang alarm bells for me straight away! We're pretty sure we will self install a system now to both control quality and cost, also think we are wanting to add in some comfort cooling/heating so into the realms of insulated ducting etc.

[JohnMo]

22 minutes ago, lizzieuk1 said:

wanting to add in some comfort cooling

Have a good read up on that, then you will change your mind and keep a few grand in your pocket. Its useless in the UK.

[Mike]

56 minutes ago, lizzieuk1 said:

think we are wanting to add in some comfort cooling/heating so into the realms of insulated ducting etc

Prior to looking at active cooling solutions, consider passive measures to minimizing the build-up of summer heat within the building. In particular solar shading of windows and the use of wood fibre or hemp insulation to maximize decrement delay, plus the use of appliances with high energy efficiency ratings to minimize their heat output.

 

For active cooling, take a look at using underfloor central heating in cooling mode.

 

[Jolo]

3 hours ago, Mike said:

Prior to looking at active cooling solutions, consider passive measures to minimizing the build-up of summer heat within the building. In particular solar shading of windows and the use of wood fibre or hemp insulation to maximize decrement delay, plus the use of appliances with high energy efficiency ratings to minimize their heat output.

 

I agree -- if you can stop the sun from hitting the glazing, that makes a massive difference in the summer!

 

External sun shades are really common here in NL and we've gradually had them added to all the windows. One room that was previously a hot box from June to September became a comfortable shady space. 

 

Back on the original topic -- although we only turned it on at the end of the summer, having the MVHR in bypass mode helped a lot too, drawing out all the hot air and bringing in cool night-time air. It meant we could close the windows without suffocating (it can be noisy around here even at night due to a big road not far away).

[lizzieuk1]

On 29/10/2025 at 10:05, JohnMo said:

Have a good read up on that, then you will change your mind and keep a few grand in your pocket. Its useless in the UK.

I know previously it wasn't especially useful but wondering what the new offerings are like.

The Titon Cool plus Q has a 3.3kW total cooling, or Zehnder ComfoClime which has 1.7kW cooling and 1.7kW heating.

We were looking at heat coils for heat/cool on ff & sf (ufh on gf) but so far at 10k install that feels pretty steep! (Would be 8 coils to do so quite a few and not sure if we can do the install though still investigating that) 

[lizzieuk1]

On 29/10/2025 at 10:57, Mike said:

Prior to looking at active cooling solutions, consider passive measures to minimizing the build-up of summer heat within the building. In particular solar shading of windows and the use of wood fibre or hemp insulation to maximize decrement delay, plus the use of appliances with high energy efficiency ratings to minimize their heat output.

 

For active cooling, take a look at using underfloor central heating in cooling mode.

 

Thanks Mike, we're not too bad on the calcs for Overheating- just a small loft room that needs an extra 10L extract to pass. Roof will be blown cellulose & we've no huge areas of glazing. We will use the ufh on gf to cool but have 3 floors so wanting to get something on ff & sf if we can to offer a bit of extra heat/cool if needed - 8 heat coils installed coming in at 10k on first quote so feel there could he a better option! 

[lizzieuk1]

21 hours ago, Jolo said:

 

I agree -- if you can stop the sun from hitting the glazing, that makes a massive difference in the summer!

 

External sun shades are really common here in NL and we've gradually had them added to all the windows. One room that was previously a hot box from June to September became a comfortable shady space. 

 

Back on the original topic -- although we only turned it on at the end of the summer, having the MVHR in bypass mode helped a lot too, drawing out all the hot air and bringing in cool night-time air. It meant we could close the windows without suffocating (it can be noisy around here even at night due to a big road not far away).

Yes, we are going to look at external blinds - still in early stage of costing these, but had experience of them at my parents place in France so know they work well. 

 

Good to hear the mvhr has helped - the Zehender comfoclime looks interesting as can actively cool or warm incoming air which could help fill the gap of wanting some comfort  cool/heat on ff&sf rooms.

[JohnMo]

24 minutes ago, lizzieuk1 said:

Titon Cool plus Q has a 3.3kW total cooling, or Zehnder ComfoClime which has 1.7kW cooling and 1.7kW heating

You to look at the exact flow rates and temperature required to get that output.

 

Just checked the datasheet and outputs when you compute them are based on 45 to 55% humidity outside air - not sure we get that very often in the UK? Plus you need a massive flow rate.

 

So science hasn't changed just the prices of equipment - Titon unit is only £8k

[JohnMo]

Heating at passive house flow rates is limited to about 10W per m² of floor area. So heating is possible to fully heat a passivhaus or knock the cold off a more normal house. I would just do a single heat bank water coil upstream of the manifold.

 

Then add something like this for £500 

https://bpcventilation.com/products/cold-water-duct-cooler-range?variant=53736023261510&country=GB&currency=GBP&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22309731029&gbraid=0AAAAADpzxaVuRiJvI1F3wJ3DAy6JrgNmt&gclid=Cj0KCQjwmYzIBhC6ARIsAHA3IkR7VeYyluH-E6sPvQvoP7NgX-nTx-8L6YP-l9OAvZNbuLjgrusSh0QaAtYIEALw_wcB

 

This has the capability to cool and heat as it has condensation drains etc. But this is all you need to heat, depending on dT between coil and air for kW output.

 

To cool you would need an oversized MVHR unit and in cooling mode it would be wired to run full speed. Still won't be great cooling due to UK humidity.

[Nick Laslett]

1 hour ago, lizzieuk1 said:

Yes, we are going to look at external blinds - still in early stage of costing these, but had experience of them at my parents place in France so know they work well. 

 

Good to hear the mvhr has helped - the Zehender comfoclime looks interesting as can actively cool or warm incoming air which could help fill the gap of wanting some comfort  cool/heat on ff&sf rooms.

When I enquired with Paul Heat Recovery about the Zehnder ComfoClime, they actually recommended the ComfoPost as a better solution. They are both quite pricey, but the ComfoPost is a bit simpler and cheaper than the ComfoClime. 
 

General consensus here is that these solutions are not that effective at providing any real cooling. 
 

We have the ComfoPost, but it is not commissioned yet. I’m happy if it only takes 2°C off the room temps in summer. The ASHP is doing the heavy lifting in my cooling approach. 

[lizzieuk1]

33 minutes ago, JohnMo said:

Heating at passive house flow rates is limited to about 10W per m² of floor area. So heating is possible to fully heat a passivhaus or knock the cold off a more normal house. I would just do a single heat bank water coil upstream of the manifold.

 

Then add something like this for £500 

https://bpcventilation.com/products/cold-water-duct-cooler-range?variant=53736023261510&country=GB&currency=GBP&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22309731029&gbraid=0AAAAADpzxaVuRiJvI1F3wJ3DAy6JrgNmt&gclid=Cj0KCQjwmYzIBhC6ARIsAHA3IkR7VeYyluH-E6sPvQvoP7NgX-nTx-8L6YP-l9OAvZNbuLjgrusSh0QaAtYIEALw_wcB

 

This has the capability to cool and heat as it has condensation drains etc. But this is all you need to heat, depending on dT between coil and air for kW output.

 

To cool you would need an oversized MVHR unit and in cooling mode it would be wired to run full speed. Still won't be great cooling due to UK humidity.

Thanks JohnMo, all good info. Wonder if there's a way of dehumidifying along the route to help the cooling?

[JohnMo]

6 minutes ago, lizzieuk1 said:

dehumidifying along the route to help the cooling?

Stick Aircon in - in the house that is, not the airflow.

 

Leave ventilation to do ventilation.

 

Or if ASHP just install fan coils in the upstairs rooms for heat and cool.

[Jolo]

54 minutes ago, JohnMo said:

Then add something like this for £500 

 

Ah that's interesting, I'd been wondering if something like this existed!

 

I'd been pondering how our Flair will behave when the outside temp drops and the built-in pre-heater turns on. I know this is a heat exchanger protection thing, rather than a room temp thing, but I'm not sure if it uses a ton of electric, as it's just a resistive heater as far as I know. But because we have radiator pipes running past our unit and ducting, I'd wondered if it was possible to merge them somehow...

 

Purely speculation though -- I'm trying to resist fiddling with the MVHR any more and concentrate on other stuff, such as boxing in the green ducts!