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MVHR ducting to outside


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Does anyone have any advice with regard to ducting the MVHR intake & extracts through a TF with 300mm cellulose?

What did you do with the external membrane?

My ducting will go through the wall into a small void in the roof overhang & then a bend in the duct to attach to external grills in the cedar cladding cloaking the underside of the overhang..

Internal wall is airtight OSB (the green stuff).

Thanks. M

 

 

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15 hours ago, Moira Niedzwiecka said:

@jack & @dogman Good tips, thank you both.

@dogman Where did you get your fire collars from? Ours has an ironstone skin, but that is below the cedar cladding.

Where the ducts exit the TF is in a roof overhang void.

@joe90 Thanks I'll read Jeremy's blog.

 

This is probably the most relevant entry about getting the big ducts out through the walls: http://www.mayfly.eu/2014/04/part-thirty-mvhr-details/

 

With hindsight (wonderful thing..............) I'd have fitted the ducts BEFORE the insulation was pumped in, but I wasn't sure where they were going to have to go.

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I went with the Roflex grommets that Jack linked to, plus some Airtightness tape:

 

image.thumb.png.e7fdb6b5c12090668a53838725a93ba6.png

 

This image is from the outside, and my airtight layer is the outside sheathing board. The membrane then just overlaid this with a hole in in for the duct.

 

You'd need to fix the grommet to the inside.

 

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19 minutes ago, JSHarris said:

I'd have fitted the ducts BEFORE the insulation was pumped in, but I wasn't sure where they were going to have to go

Same here Jeremy.

I am still not completely decided on what MVHR & where it will go.

I am thinking of going with the Xpelair Natural 180 supplied by BPC.

I will need an installer as I am not able to take this on myself but I am concerned that the ducting is done correctly.

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I am  sorry I don't see why there has to be a fire collar around a pipe that is going out side. These are to stop the spread of fire from one zone internal to another. It needs to be sealed for the air test. That can be done with expanding foam  (fire rated if you want).

This is my in/out for the MVHR. 

The plastic pipe would melt prity quickly anyway. 

Maybe I am wrong but these are my thoughts. 

20180307_104104.jpg

20180307_104046.jpg

20180307_104031.jpg

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1 hour ago, PeterStarck said:

It's normally recommended that there is a minimum 3m space between MVHR inlet and outlet.

Yup, a min of 1500mm is what ive read, but best practice 2000mm or more. 

@James H, can you rotate the grilles so they are at 45o to each other rather than both grilles 'aimed down' ? They are a bit close. What did the manufacturers literature state?

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7 hours ago, James H said:

I am  sorry I don't see why there has to be a fire collar around a pipe that is going out side. These are to stop the spread of fire from one zone internal to another. It needs to be sealed for the air test. That can be done with expanding foam  (fire rated if you want).

This is my in/out for the MVHR. 

The plastic pipe would melt prity quickly anyway. 

Maybe I am wrong but these are my thoughts. 

20180307_104104.jpg

20180307_104046.jpg

20180307_104031.jpg

 

These are really a fair bit too close together, IMHO, especially in what looks to be a sheltered location.  I think I'd definitely want  to shift one a fair bit further away if it were me.  Ours are around 2.5m apart, and I'm in the process of adding an extension to the intake to increase the separation distance even more.

 

Also, if fitting one above the other, then there can be an even greater risk of cross flow from intake to exhaust.  The exhaust air will usually be warmer than the intake air, as not all the heat is extracted by a conventional MVHR, so that air will tend to rise, so the intake always needs to be below the exhaust if mounting them to the lower limit in the regs, as well.

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14 minutes ago, JSHarris said:

These are really a fair bit too close together, IMHO, especially in what looks to be a sheltered location.  I think I'd definitely want  to shift one a fair bit further away if it were me.  Ours are around 2.5m apart, and I'm in the process of adding an extension to the intake to increase the separation distance even more.

 

Thats my struggle too, so I plan to put the intake on the north wall around 2m from the corner, and the exhaust on the east wall about 500mm from the corner - not ideal but otherwise I end up with two around 1400mm apart.

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2 minutes ago, PeterW said:

 

Thats my struggle too, so I plan to put the intake on the north wall around 2m from the corner, and the exhaust on the east wall about 500mm from the corner - not ideal but otherwise I end up with two around 1400mm apart.

 

 

This is what I did, I put the intake on the North wall and the exhaust on the East wall.  I'm now in the process of moving the intake to the East wall, as the imbalance caused by any slight breeze is audible at the MVHR unit, as it forces the fans to speed up/slow down.  My only option for a fix is to run some external ducting down and across the North wall, to position the intake facing East by a lot lower (probably around 3m away) from the exhaust.

 

There is a secondary advantage to doing this, in that by lowering the intake I can fit an easily accessible pre-filter box, that I hope will reduce the amount of crud that ends up at the intake filter.  I have some left over larch cladding, so intend to hide the extra external ducting in a larch box.  It's at the back of the house, in the alley between the house and the tall retaining wall behind, so won;t be visible from any normal external view.

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Thats interesting Jeremy.

I had planned to put the intake grill on the north elevation venting downwards from the underside of the soffit overhang & the exhaust on the west elevation on the triangle of cedar cladding.

The vents would be about 2.5m apart.

Would it better to have them both on the north under the soffit overhang?

I could still have them about 2.5m apart.

What is the max distance the intake & exhaust should be from the MVHR?

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10 hours ago, Moira Niedzwiecka said:

Would it better to have them both on the north under the soffit overhang?

Yes, from Jeremy's experience, all my intakes and exhaust are on the same elevation, roof vents.

10 hours ago, Moira Niedzwiecka said:

What is the max distance the intake & exhaust should be from the MVHR?

I don't believe there is a max, but the recommendations is to keep it as short as practicable, the longer the greater the pressure increase (resistance) so the harder the fans have to work to do the same job.

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15 minutes ago, Nickfromwales said:

Do you have a pic by any chance?

Here it is, yes there is a section of guttering missing, awaiting arrival of final bit.

IMG_0183.thumb.jpg.99d74340a64f6ce60d69b6a73efb30c0.jpg

The two on the right are exhaust and the 2 on the left inlet, nearly 4m apart. They are UBBINK UB16, Universal Tile Vents, supplied by CVC with a 180mm adaptor to go direct into my 180mm EPS ducting.  This is the NE face of the roof, so less useful for Solar and sheltered from the prevailing SW.

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When I was researching into how to install MVHR around eight or nine years ago I made a list of rules I found relating to connecting the unit to the outside. I'm sure these are not exhaustive and nor are they prescriptive, but it's what I used to install mine.

1. The inlet and outlet grilles should be 3m apart to prevent cross contamination of air. 3m was the distance I found mentioned most often.

2. The inlet and outlet grilles should be high enough (2m) to prevent interference by animals or children.

3. The inlet and outlet grilles should be on the same wall so they are affected equally by the wind.

4. The free flow area of the grill including insect screen should be at least as great as the cross sectional area of the duct.

5. The duct should be smooth wall to reduce air flow restriction.

6. Any ducting bends should be large radius of curvature or two 45 degree bends to reduce air flow restriction.

7. The ducting should slope downwards slightly to ensure any moisture drains to the outside.

 

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