SolarAirTech

We had the opportunity to speak with Dennis Wright, MD of SolarVenti (UK) about his company, what its products do and why people in the UK should start making the move towards greener technology. 

Qn: Is a Solar Ventilation unit a better solution than a conventional dehumidifier and if so why? 

Answer 1: Small conventional dehumidifiers work by blowing the stale damp air in the room past the equivalent of an ice cube. Larger ones have larger cooling coils equivalent to a couple of ice cubes and above this they may have the equivalent of a tray or more of ice. Regardless of this only the air that comes into contact with the cooled surface inside the dehumidifier has the moisture condensed out. It takes many many passes of that same air to get it dry. When the sun shines the Solar Ventilator unit pumps in large volumes of warmed dry air displacing the stale moist air. Even the smallest Solar Ventilator is much more effective. 

Answer 2: Conventional dehumidifiers can cease working in a number of ways such as the Bucket Filling Up, Power Failure, Fuse blown, RCB trips, Compressor Failure; the point being that any of these failures can invalidate the whole purpose of buying a dehumidifier and leave you with the cost and effort of restoring a damp environment back to normal once again. Solar Ventilation units very rarely fail and are a more effective solution. On balance, if you have access to the sun and the right aspect and if we have 'sized' the unit, a Solar Ventilator will outperform any dehumidifier for most domestic applications.

Not only that but it transforms atmosphere in rooms by displacing micro-organism-laden, damp smelly air and introducing sweeter drier air. 

Answer 3: A Solar Ventilation unit manages itself in a fit and forget manner. It has ZERO running costs and is outside your property not inside it taking up space. It also has no cables and tubes across the floor for you to trip over and no bucket to empty. 

Answer 4: Solar Ventilation is the only Dehumidifier solution for people that feel strongly about Green issues. Solar Ventilators consume no power and use only renewable energy from the sun making it not just carbon neutral but arguably a carbon negative solution. 

Answer 5: Normal dehumidifiers do not work well below about 5°C as the condenser turns into a block of ice - so just when you really need it it packs in. Most have a defrost setting or even a cut-out built in but the point is they are really inefficient at low temperatures so you need a warmed building for it to function properly - all very self defeating. Plus it is continually circulating the same stale air and microorganisms. Solar Ventilation units continue to operate efficiently at outside air temperatures that are below freezing. 

Qn: Are there enough hours of sunshine in the UK? 

Answer: YES! There are more hours of sunshine in the UK in the cold and cool months of the year than there are in Scandinavia where Solar Ventilation technology is an outstanding success. In a normal year England averages about 1600 hours of sunshine. The UK as a whole averages about between 1350 to 1750 hours of sunshine per year depending on location. 

Qn: How does a Solar Ventilator dehumidify? 

Answer: Warm dry air absorbs much more moisture than cold air. After a cold night all of the atmospheric moisture is lying on the ground as dew or frost leaving a very dry but cold atmosphere. A Solar Ventilator takes in this cold dry air and warms it before pumping it into your house where it sucks out moisture from the fabric of your property and replaces the colder damper atmosphere. 

Qn: Could I use a Solar Ventilator as the sole form of heating in my property? 

Answer: No. Solar Ventilation is designed as a dehumidifier. The fact that the larger units do indeed produce a significant increase in the temperature of the incoming air does not mean that you could use them as a stand alone space heating solution, at least not in the vast majority of conventional buildings. Since sunshine is not constant, you may need another source of warmth during evenings and overcast periods. That said, you can obtain significant energy savings for your space heating if you supplement it with one a larger Solar Ventilation unit. 

Qn: Where should I mount my Solar Ventilator? 

Answer 1: Providing you have a south facing wall which is not obscured from the direct sun by other buildings or by dense trees you have the ideal location. Even if your required location is not directly south facing, a Solar Ventilator will work providing it is south-west or south-east facing. 

Qn: How long does a Solar Ventilator last? What guarantee do you give? 

Answer: We can't give you a definite answer here but the original prototype SolarVenti units were installed in Denmark more than 10 years ago and they are still running perfectly and at no cost. If any component in a correctly mounted and installed SolarVenti fails within the first two years it will be replaced at no cost to you. Click on the warranty/guarantee menu option under the pricing menu for further details. 

Qn: How does a SolarVenti actually work? 

Answer: SolarVenti dehumidifiers are designed to make use of the significant relative humidity differences that occur during non summer months. On a cold clear winter morning, most of the water vapour in the air has dropped out as dew or frost, so the relative humidity is low. As soon as the sun hits the SolarVenti panel, it will start to suck in cool air, warm it and push it into your property. This incoming air positively displaces the existing damp air. Because the incoming warmer air has a greater propensity for carrying moisture, this picks up the dampness in your property and it is actively dispersed through any ventilation gaps in your house (air bricks, poorly fitted windows, under doors etc.) leaving your property nicely dry and ventilated with fresh, warmed air. 

Qn: Will my SolarVenti be effective in the summer months? 

Answer: In a good summer, the answer is no. (How many good summers do we have?) On most warm sunny days in the summer we all tend to open doors and windows to enjoy fresh warm air, so there is no need to have your SolarVenti on but if you are out at work during the day it does no harm, only good as fresh air is coming in. Because the amount of water vapour held in the air tends to be lower at night and higher during the day in the warmer summer months, the efficacy of a SolarVenti is reduced in a good summer. On top of that, as it raises the temperature of the incoming air, it may make your property too warm. Note that you CAN now use your SolarVenti unit to provide some degree of cooling during the summer months. Using a buried earth piping system and a secondary impellor, it is possible to reduce the incoming air temperature by between 5C and 10C. Details can be found under Cooling with SolarVenti. 

Qn: Is SolarVenti suitable for every situation? 

Answer: In short no. There are many properties in the uk where there is no suitable external place to mount a SolarVenti. If for example the South facing aspect is shaded by large trees or other buildings then a SolarVenti would not work in that situation. However if you have the right place to locate a SolarVenti then it will be the best way to get rid of a damp smelly atmosphere. 

Qn: Can SolarVenti solve all damp problems? 

Answer: Clearly the answer is no! There are many causes of damp and if you have water entering your property through a leak you need to deal with it. If you have rising damp you need to cure it. SolarVenti will help alleviate some of the consequences of these issues but the underlying cause needs fixing for the more serious situations. 

Qn: How can SolarVenti solve condensation problems? 

Answer: Condensation is a complex subject. It is caused by moist air encountering temperature differences! If the fabric of your house is damp then condensation will form on the coolest surfaces such as a single glazed window. If however you have a SolarVenti unit frequently displacing the stale moist atmosphere replacing it with a more sterile, sweeter, drier atmosphere every time the sun shines then the fabric of your dwelling, once it is dry, can absorb a lot of the moisture produced by day to day living during those periods when the sun does not appear. This can dramatically reduce condensation. If you look under customer testimonials (under the home menu) there is a letter from a customer that lives in a park home and has been measuring the humidity levels in his property before and after and it exactly illustrates this capability.