Filter cleaning on Villavent VVX-400 (EU6)

[Dougie Nisbet]

I've moved into a house with a Villavent fresh air system and it's about time I found my way around it. I've been looking back through the newsgroup and found a few very useful postings.

My setup extracts stale moist air from the bathroom. The bathroom has a Vent-Axia Humidistat (looks like

although mine has no model info on it.) Usually I hear the fresh-air kick-in after a

10 minute shower or so. More often it doesn't kick in until I've been out the shower for several minutes.

The Vent-Axia (when I remove the cover) has an adjustment that is currently set fully-anticlockwise.

I've got two problems at the moment.

1. I've examined the filters and the inlet one is filthy. According to the poster in this needs to be cleaned every couple of months. How is that done? According to the villavent website the EU7 is about 50quid but no mention of the EU6. I see it mentioned on so I'm about to give them a ring. The question really, are they cleanable or is it best to bin them? I've just spent a pretty mucky half hour trying to pluck bits of black stuff from the filter and I'm not sure how much difference I've made.

1. The setup has been working ok for the few months we've been here, but for the last 4 days the unit has been running constantly. I've tried adjusting the control in the humidistat to both stops while the unit is running and it has no effect so perhaps it is the main unit itself that needs cleaned out? When I've put it all back together again I'll find out. I would like to explore the possibility of being able to manually start the system so that I can force it to extract air from the bathroom rather than just rely on the automatic workings of the humidistat. Is that feasible?

Thanks,

Dougie

[Dougie Nisbet]

Not looking too good. I've cleaned the filters and re-assembled everything. The Vent-Axis humidistat appears to be ok. When I turn it and check the terminals the power appears and disappears on the neutral when the dial 'clicks'. Following the wiring back to the VVX-400 there's a junction box nearby that contains a relay, marked RS 351-926 which would appear to be

Perhaps that's faulty. I'm not sure how to check it.

[The3rd Earl Of Derby]

Never seen a relay like that before?

If you can remove the relay and apply the appropriate voltage to its + & - contacts you will see/hear it clicking, however just because it does this doesn't mean its fully working as the make'n'break contacts could be pitted and not making a successful switching bond.

Cheap enough to replace if in doubt.

-- Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite

[Dougie Nisbet]

My logic, for the moment, is that it is faulty, and that it is always supplying the villavent, as that is running constantly. Next step I suppose would be to identify the output terminals and test them while adjusting the humidistat but given that the villavent is running all the time then it does look like it's always live. Unless the villavent is WAD but I can't see how, although I've not totally ruled that out. Nearly totally. Yes, I think I have.

Any pointers? It has a Radio Spares part number but I couldn't find it on the UK site. Oo-err, hang on. scratch that. It is there. I'm talking tosh. For a few quid I might as well get one and eliminate it from the enquiry.

Dougie