All SolarVenti units provide ventilation, supplementary heating and a powerful dehumidifying effect, but how efficient are they as an additional heat source for a property?

The answer is that they are surprisingly efficient; the ability of the larger SolarVenti units to heat air by between 30 and 40 degrees over the outside air temperature provides a substantial amount of free energy in the form of warmed air to the inside of any property. This free incoming energy supplements your existing space heating system, of whatever type, to a pleasantly surprising degree.

Is SolarVenti sufficient to heat a property by itself?

You DO need some other form of heating. A lucky few live in super insulated eco-houses, where SolarVenti alone may be sufficient. For the rest of us SolarVenti provides a valuable supplement to existing space heating systems. Those wise enough to use SolarVenti get a radical transformation of the internal atmosphere in their property and reduced energy bills too.

So how does SolarVenti help with my space heating?

The larger SolarVenti models have a substantial energy output as well as moving significant air volumes. This energy, which is captured directly from solar radiation across the spectrum, can be used to supplement the existing space heating system in any domestic or commercial building. The energy is input to a building in the form of heated air. This has two key effects:-

1. The incoming air is significantly raised in temperature, providing direct heat energy into your property. This free 'heat air' energy directly supplements your existing space heating system, meaning that your existing system has to work less hard to keep your property warmed. This is a direct saving which reduces your expenditure on gas, electricity, oil and logs etc.
2. The air input by SolarVenti units is warmed and dry and is forced into your property by the inbuilt impeller. This warm, dry incoming air displaces the existing air, however damp, inside a property. Over a period of a few days this has the effect of performing a powerful dehumidifying process and it dries out both the fabric of the building and its contents. Dry air takes far less energy to heat than damp air, and thus your existing heating system uses significantly less energy to reach the required temperature.

To give you an idea of the potential savings, one user of an SV30 (picture above) says that they have turned down their heating controls by 50% during the winter months. (See Customer Feedback)

Note that the UK averages between 1300 and 1600 hours of sunshine per year which varies with both location and latitude. For this table we have assumed that about 1,000 hours of those sunshine hours are actually usable.

There are many sources of information as to what the 'average' energy consumption of properties in the UK is. Unfortunately, most of them seem to contradict each other, which is perhaps not surprising given the seasonal differences that can occur in the UK as you go further north, and the fact that the types of property we live in are many and varied, as well as being insulated to many different levels.

To give you a feel for the potential energy saving that the larger SolarVenti units can provide we are assuming the following figures give a range which cover the average UK household consumption figures:-

3,300 kW to 4,900 kW per year

So you could save in the region of:-

With the SV14, up to 18% of 3,300 kW or up to 12% of 4900 kW
With the SV30, up to 48% of 3,300 kW or up to 32% of 4900 kW from your energy bills.