Dedicated to content focused on Building performance, air tightness and insulation consistency. Efficiency Matrix, Tighthouse and ecoEVO contributing to reducing our operational footprint, affordably. Effective ventilation strategies coupled with Building envelope performance is key to healthy and energy efficient living.
I just removed the grill in my mum's 3 year old "high end" build to see exactly this. I was shocked! Do the A/C manufacturers not make prefab'd enclosures with the return air incorporated? This practice is crazy!
The don’t care. The building envelope is our problem. Like Evap cooler manufacturers, they just want to sell the unit, the cooling benefits in summer on dry days and the look it gives you.
Just applied at the principals to a tee for our bathroom with a 150mm in line fine with a back straight damper, semi rigid ducting and an exhaust to the roof. Still the fan is quite loud and the bathroom still does build up steam and moisture on the walls. I am wondering how much the ceiling grille performance can effect this as we currently have a 600x100 linear grill across the shower door opening
Also wind can easily pass over 20Pa pressure and make the shitty fan not move any air at all or go the wrong way. Anyway those fant who blow straight in the attic should be ILLEGAL!!! Those would never be approved for use here in Norway at least!
Great points. I’m concerned that condensation sucked through the vent into the cold ducting will condense in the ducting, pooling somewhere along the ducting.
In a perfect world ducting should be insulated to the point of exit, and travel to its highest point as quickly as possible before taking a consistent path down to the exit point. In a ceiling space with a pitched roof that's usually easy and even uninsulated ducts won't have pooling and any condensate will quickly evaporate back into the air passing through. Unfortunately some (a lot) of tradies can be interesting in their approach
So what is the Australian building standard for intalation of ventilation fans in SA? We have a new house that is lest then 12 months old and they have installed the basic ceiling fan in the wc that vents straight into the roof space. Is this standard procedure or should they have used a different product?
@@mr_mysterious_6174 you would hope for the replacement air to be coming from the house, so it should be able to leverage more from living area heating systems. Unless you leave your bathroom window open.
@@ecoevo People living in not-so-well-insulated homes may want to keep their bathroom always warm without heating the whole house. This can be achieved with infared heaters that can be programed to keep the bathroom at a set temperature. If the fan is always running the heat would be lost.
In Australia it's pretty much a given that the makup air will be coming from outside. With this in mind, would it be better to have a dedicated ERV/HRV and dehumidifier system to provide makup air..... OR just crank the heating/ cooling to condition the infiltrated air (keeping in mind I've already paid to condition the now exhausted air from the bathroom). Either way it sounds like it's going to put a nice sized hole in my pocket. But with the ERV route it at least feels as if I'd have some control of the makup air like filtration and such.
Would also be nice to see some retrofit product recommendations for these cheap fans. Changing from big round hole in a ceiling to a small one (or smaller square) is not a small task, with plastering and repainting
Great video! I'd be interested to see ERV/HRV systems and their use cases here in Australia. Perhaps also dedicated make-up air for these fans and range hoods
I just installed a centrigufal fan (not a Panasonic) and - even after adding a speed control to slow it down to suit the room size - its motor is noisy. The airflow is fine and not intrusive, but the hum from the motor is quite alarmingly loud. I think for this reason, I would next time use a mixed flow inline fan inside the roof space instead of one of these mounted right on the ceiling.
When you build an air tight house, ventilation is very important, but also is an energy recovery system. It would be a big waste to shoot out the nicely heated or air-conditioned air to outside.
Australia isn't up to that standard. Air tight houses require air exchangers that detect moisture, CO2 and other pollutants such as when cooking with gas. I wish that is standard though.
You care about CO2 in a house, but insist on a gas stove which is WILDLY INEFFICIENT that puts out not just CO2, but CO as well, something that is DIRECTLY NEGATIVE TO YOUR HEALTH. Not to mention, CO2 at those levels just isn't a problem. And don't get me started on the EMF crap. This guy's a F***ing moron. Came here for useful info and just didn't get any of that.
Canadian living in Melbourne. I get really cringey feeling how wrong heating system is in Australia. I ripped the whole system and installed like it’s in Canada where temps are sometimes -40s. I bill is reduced almost 30%. 1. Heat Vent on the floor level. 2. Intake vent on the ceiling. 3. Each room with same setup. HINT: Warm air lighter than colder air.
That's not a real test. They are in the exterior. Material heat with the sir temperature, they should build a storage, paint all around it, and measure the temperature inside . Has to be in the morning and wait until middle of the day to see which one stay cooler, my garage door was green, getting hit by the sun light, garage temperature was about 125 f. Painted white,temperature dropped to 98, 109 at most.
This is exactly what our return is like in Melbourne. When we had our system serviced last the person chucked our return filters and didn’t replace them 😮. Off to buy these products.
I have just found your channel. I am in Melbourne and have just checked our ducted heating return and ours is partly open to the roof and massive gap around the floor point too. I will be showing my apprentice son this and your other videos on your channel because our house is an icebox. But also so he understands how to renovate & build better houses going forward. Thanks so much for doing these videos.
I thought this video would explain how you can have "breathability" to stop the buildup of CO2 in an airtight home. It seems to be more about moisture (important, but not the same thing). How can you justify creating airtight homes that just build up CO2? Is the only way around to install expensive air filtration systems?
There are 3 options, operate your windows, install a push pull ventilation system, or retrofit something to your existing ducted system. Relying on leaks from mouldy wall cavities is not a good source of fresh air.
Thanks for these excellent videos! After seeing so many north American and UK videos lately covering energy efficient homes, it's great to see many of the same ideas discussed in an Australian context. I do have one question: because I have no experience or knowledge of building - and I'm really not a home handyman type - how can I be sure when I'm talking to a building or renovation provider that what they are offering meets the current best practice standards, and that their knowledge is up to date? I've had a bad experience with a "cowboy" builder in the past, and I would genuinely like to know if there's some kind of certification or verifiable qualification I can use to check whether my builder can meet this best practice. Sorry if this is an obvious question! I'm genuinely quite confused by the amount of information I need to hold in my head when discussing these topics with a builder.
Seeing examples like this of poor quality rental homes (and this far from the worst example!) makes me quite furious at the state of Australia's rental market. Yes, been there, queue of people looking at the property with maybe 10-15 minutes max to "inspect" it. No option to have things tested. No guarantee that the heating and cooling systems that appear to be in place will even work. And the law just let landlords get away with it. Just imagine if there were enforceable standards on landlords before a property could be leased? And if property managers had a duty to verify the quality of the housing stock?
what kind of worker should i hire to install a vented hood? i need the hood to be vented through a double glazed window in kitchen. so i think I'll need some kind of glass worker. but i don't know what qualification worker i should look for?
@@ecoevo Haha I just watched that one too! I'm so sad I found these only after I just got a new colourbond roof put on in monument... considering painting white now.
@@DATApush3r Monumental! Having a warmer roof allows for better drying of condensation that can form in your roof too. So it’s not all bad. Make sure to focus on good coverage of the insulation being abutted to your ceiling. m.ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-uLs1eHbOmn0.html
@@ecoevo Subscribed! we are in a similar situation with the same vintage of home in VIC with the Tas Oak floors. We are having issues with condensation on the windows (double-glazed) leading to mould issues. The subfloor earth/ground is unfortunately damp in winter due to being at the base of a hill, so whenever it rains it's a problem. I've been told by the Spray foam contractors that they can spray the subfloor perimeter joist to seal any drafts going up through the gaps into the base of the wall cavity, and that combined with an entire subfloor spray foam should stop the moisture from getting into the house... I'm doing quite a bit of research and due diligence before deciding on it, Im not convinced that its that simple. Did your spray foam smell at all after the required setting time? Any fishy smell in the house? Any regrets or would you have done it differently today? might be a good video to revisit? I'm also looking the the heat transfer system you have, its a great cost-effective idea. Thanks, great content!
@@bluedunn374 no fishy smells. Make sure you contract an experienced operator. If it’s very humid under your subfloor, close cell would be a good idea. Also installing your hot water pump under the subfloor if there is room could help dry out the subfloor. It would be a good idea to add subfloor ventilation too. We did a video with spray foaming the roof of a garage with closed cell foam too.
3:39 is my bedroom window. Single glazing, 1950s brick house. I rarely have the blind up due to the room's position in relation to the street but, if I leave it too long, mould forms quickly. Is there anyway to stop/reduce the amount of moisture produced at these junctures during winter or am I stuck doing a daily wiping/drying of the window (or stop breathing and heating up the room)?
Great video. I gotta get onto this. My original plan was to liquid nails some R4 polyester ceiling insulation i have but im guessing the xps is a better option. What thickness is the xps foam. Also is it worth putting the r4 polyester over the top of the entire hole after adhering the xps the the lid in the roof space?
My evaporative cooling is on its last legs and I will be replacing it with a couple of reverse cycle split systems instead. Until I can have the old evap cooling removed I'll be sealing the vents as demonstrated. I've used the contact method before but the insulation bag is a great idea I'll put in place too now. Last year I replaced the windows with triple and double glazing and the improvement in comfort is amazing. Gas bill for heating down 33%. Shows how low performance builder's spec (Aust. 1990s) brick veneer homes are, but can be improved. Landlords should not be allowed to refuse a tenant from making simple reversible improvements to their home that will improve the comfort and reduce their energy bills.
