Qn: Why is SolarVenti a better solution than a conventional dehumidifier?

Answer 1: 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.

Answer 2: A SolarVenti 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.

Answer 3: SolarVenti is the only Dehumidifier solution for people that feel strongly about Green issues. SolarVenti consumes no power and uses only renewable energy from the sun making it not just carbon neutral but arguably a carbon negative solution.

Answer 4: 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 cutout 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 stale air.

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

Answer: YES! there are more hours of sunlight in the UK in the cold and cool months of the year than there are in Scandinavia where SolarVenti 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 SolarVenti 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. SolarVenti 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 SolarVenti as the sole form of heating in my property?

Answer: No. SolarVenti 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 of the larger SolarVenti units - see Energy Saving.

Qn: Can I install my SolarVenti myself?

Answer: YES! Any DIY savvy person can easily install a wall mounted SolarVenti. The only essentials are a drill and a screwdriver. If you are mounting your SolarVenti on a brick wall you can hire a core drill to cut neatly through the wall (102-107mm or 127-132mm depending on your SolarVenti model) from your local tool hire shop. Alternatively, you can use a standard masonry drill to go around a marked circle where you require the hole to be and use a chisel to remove the remainder.

Qn: Where should I mount my SolarVenti?

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, SolarVenti will work providing it is south-west or south-east facing.

Answer 2: If your only possibitity is to roof mount your SolarVenti, please contact us as you will require a special roof mounting kit and almost certainly a trained installer.

Qn: How long will my SolarVenti 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 whatsoever.

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. Because 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, slightly warmed air.

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

Answer: In reality no. 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 switch your SolarVenti on. Plus, as the amount of water vapour held in the air tends to be much more similar at night and day during the warmer summer months, the efficacy of a SolarVenti is much reduced. On top of that, as it raises the temperature of the incoming air, it can also make your property far too warm.

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