The Outbuildings are getting a Vent-Axia Lo-Carbon Sentinel Kinetic BH MVHR unit<\/a> which will ventilate the heated-and-insulated half of the building. There will be Extract vents in the Shower Room, the Utility Room, and the Plant Room (one in each) – and Supply vents in the Workshop (three). The Vent-Axia unit is rather less fancy than the PAUL Novus MVHR unit in the House, but should be capable enough for its less demanding role – especially since any fan noise or inter-room noise transmission is really not an issue. The replacement filters are much<\/em> cheaper than for the more ‘advanced’ MVHR units.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These Vent-Axia units are relatively common and several other people have explored the options for integration with home automation ‘hub’ applications such as Home Assistant. The manufacturer has also been helpful in publishing documentation that describes the (limited) integration capabilities – most notably this: Sentinel Kinetic Range BMS Capabilities<\/a> (PDF). There is no option to (directly) control the unit via a smartphone app.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In summary, the integration options boil down to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n All of these options (apart from the last one) could be robustly integrated via KNX module(s):<\/p>\n\n\n\n The main question is whether there is any real requirement to force the unit out of ‘Automatic’ operation – given that its built-in scheduling options seem reasonably comprehensive. Some owners report that they had multiple (manual) ‘Boost’ switches installed but never use them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As the MVHR unit is being installed in the Plant Room, that’s the easiest location to retro-fit any of the integration options. Probably best to see how it performs with just its built-in controller before planning to integrate it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Introduction The Outbuildings are getting a Vent-Axia Lo-Carbon Sentinel Kinetic BH MVHR unit which will ventilate the heated-and-insulated half of the building. There will be Extract vents in the Shower Room, the Utility Room, and the Plant Room (one in … Continue reading Integration Options<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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