September 2009 - Central Vacuum and Mechanical Heat Recovery Ventilation Systems Arrive

Today the central vacuum and mechanical heat recovery ventilation systems that we ordered last weekend arrived. Both units were bought from Regavent. The Central Vacuum came in at just under £1000 and the Heat Recovery System at just under £2500.

Central Vacuum System

We wanted the central vacuum system because of the number of dogs we have and the dust / hair that they can generate. The main vacuum unit containing the motor and the fan is located away from the main living areas and in our house will be in the boiler room. There are plug in sockets within the walls of the house where the vacuum hose is connected when needed. Ducts within the walls then carry the dust and dirt to the main unit back in the boiler room.

Supposedly (if the marketing literature is to be believed) a central vaccum system is:

• quieter than a normal vacuum because the main unit lives in the boiler room
• cleaner, because the dust is completely removed from the room and can't be recirculated
• lighter, because you don't have to drag the main unit containing the motor and fan round with you as with a normal vacuum cleaner
• more powerful, because the unit is much larger than a normal vacuum as you don't have to drag it round with you

The Univac Millennium Central Vacuum System

Oh, and the installation instructions that came with it are in Swedish ..........

Så här monterar du

which the online translator translates as "So here am installing yous"! Sounds like fun already ......

Mechanical Heat Recovery Ventilation System

The other thing we puchased was the Mechanical Heat Recovery Ventilation system. The idea behind this type of system is that it extracts the stale air from the house through a serious of ducts to a central unit in the loft. The heat exchanger within this central unit then removes the unwanted air whilst retaining about 70% of the heat. At the same time fresh air is drawn from the outside where it is then warmed by the heat retained and the pre warmed air is then ducted to the living areas.

We decided to go for this type of unit because the house we are building should be very well insulated which could lead to more stale air being retained than normal and possible moisture build up. This unit looks to deal those issues whilst not losing the 'good' heat within the house.

Theory sounds good anyway! Can't report on practice until the house is complete.

A diagram showing the theory (not our house) is below