MVHR & wet room windows… any thoughts on fixed vs opening?

[fatgus]

Does anyone with MVHR have fixed bathroom windows?
 

A couple of potential suppliers have suggested it, so we’re giving it some consideration… I’d guess MVHR negates the need to open? 🤷🏻‍♂️

 

Or would it be a daft mistake?

[JohnMo]

Think about summer cooling also, opening windows allows cross flow ventilation.

 

We mistakenly have two bedrooms without opening windows believing MVHR was the saviour for cooling blah blah. Get opening windows you can leave them shut or open if you want. Fixed are fixed closed always 

[marmic]

daft mistake!  we have a mix of fixed and opening - but every room has an opener. .  The MVHR extraction is excellent and it's never damp whatsoever but the occasional stinker might need some extra air.    In fact the bathroom window needed a rare open this morning 🤣     not experienced summer yet -  in theory we won't overheat, but if we get weeks of hot weather I think night cooling will be necessary.  Handing and positions of openers I considered carefully to maximise cross flow 

[fatgus]

2 minutes ago, JohnMo said:

Think about summer cooling also, opening windows allows cross flow ventilation.

Good point 👍👍 We’ll have plenty of opening windows for cross flow night time cooling of the bedrooms & living area in the summer, but the arrangement of the wet rooms means there would be no air flow in that area of the house, other than via the MVHR.

 

11 minutes ago, JohnMo said:

We mistakenly have two bedrooms without opening windows

 

We ( or more accurately, I ) made a similar mistake of having only french doors in our current bedroom (ground floor). Lovely view of the garden, but it’s a right pain in the summer… they’re crap doors that are either closed or flapping about in the slightest breeze. We should really put a window in…

[fatgus]

6 minutes ago, marmic said:

daft mistake!  we have a mix of fixed and opening - but every room has an opener. .  The MVHR extraction is excellent and it's never damp whatsoever but the occasional stinker might need some extra air.    In fact the bathroom window needed a rare open this morning 🤣     not experienced summer yet -  in theory we won't overheat, but if we get weeks of hot weather I think night cooling will be necessary.  Handing and positions of openers I considered carefully to maximise cross flow 

😁👍👍👍

 

Opening it is then!

 

We’re probably going for top hung, so there’s presumably not much we can do to maximise cross flow? The positions are determined by both the internal layout and my obsessive need for consistent spacing between windows 😬

[Simon R]

53 minutes ago, fatgus said:

Opening it is then!

Well, yes, but possibly no. If you have havefever, it may be worth planning in one or more small A2A units to run off solar. 

It also means the house is at a nice temperature when you come home with out having to leave windows open.  A single 3.5kWh unit keeps out 180m2 structure very comfortable.

One more thing to consider!

 

[Oz07]

Opening

[Conor]

We've four bathrooms, only one has an opener, it's never opened.

[fatgus]

26 minutes ago, Simon R said:

Well, yes, but possibly no.

😂

[fatgus]

34 minutes ago, Simon R said:

Well, yes, but possibly no. If you have havefever, it may be worth planning in one or more small A2A units to run off solar. 

It also means the house is at a nice temperature when you come home with out having to leave windows open.  A single 3.5kWh unit keeps out 180m2 structure very comfortable.

One more thing to consider!

 

We hadn’t really thought about aircon, but it’s an interesting thought. Most of our glazing and three of the four bedrooms (fourth will be largely unused) are on the north east elevation, so we shouldn’t have overheating issues in the summer and we’re hoping that slab cooling will keep it comfortable. Will look into the A2A options though…

[Dreadnaught]

Another one here. Three bedrooms have openers. Only opened for window cleaning (tilt & turn). 

 

Two bathrooms. No windows, only large (non-opening) rooflights. All fine.

[MPx]

I'd say it depends which way the windows face.  I've had plenty of bathrooms with no windows at all and there has never been an issue with any of them (albeit all have had "extractor fans" not MVHR).  Last place we had 4 bathrooms.  One totally intrernal, which was fine.  Other 3 with one fixed floor to ceiling window in each.  Two of them absolutely fine, but the heat gain through the west facing window in the summer evenings was horrendous.  I doubt just having it opening would have been the answer, I suspect an external louvre or similar was really required.  If you live in the countyside as we do, its beautiful...but if you open your windows you do invite in a lot of lodgers (particularly after dark with the lights on) and not all of them are welcome.   Opening windows other than in very controlled situations is greatly overrated in my view.  Bring on the MVHR!