Yeah I always coveted one but couldn't justify the cost over second hand dell or lenovo SFF PCs.

What do you mean exactly you ventilating. Mechanical ventilation?

Modern houses NEED mechanical ventilation. It's a travesty that new houses in NZ don't come with mechanical ventilation as standard, as is done in the rest of the developed world.

It's pretty obvious if you think about it. Seal the house well, well insulated, double glazed. How will the moisture leave without ventilation. This is why modern houses NEED mechanical ventilation. Older houses don't need mechanical ventilation because the house is already leaky.

And not the silly DVS thing. I don't want rat infested air from my attic thank you. I don't care how good the filters are. Ventilation from the outside please.

What this looks like is intake vents in the soffit, a duct, and fan that pumps fresh air in for positive ventilation. Our you can do negative pressure where it pumps out, or balanced where you have air coming both in and out. You can install a mechanical heat recovery system if the house gets cold.

Full HVAC includes ducted heating/cooling.

TLDR: your house is humid because it's well sealed and the builders couldn't be bothered putting in mechanical ventilation because we are 20 years behind the rest of the world.

If you already have mechanical ventilation then it is likely not installed properly. Just putting it in doesn't necessarily mean it's sized correctly for example.

The article honestly reads like it was written by an AI tool.

Oh wow genuinely interesting. Thanks, I've learned something. I had the wrong impression.

That duress feature is neat!!

So more of a "cattle" than "pet" approach in general?

Oh that's a slightly different thing I think. It is referring to ventilating the attic with the outside. Not ventilating the attic with the living space which is what the DVS/HRV thing is. Ventilating the attic with the outside is generally a good thing for various reasons. I might have messed up the terminology. But I don't think attic ventilation between the attic and outside will solve your problem.

There is some British stuff on Usenet (e.g. nzbGeek) but yeah in general I have concluded that British TV doesn't have broad appeal and so it is hard to find even if willing to purchase.

You could also try using a VPN with the BBC iPlayer app. I've done this before.

There is also the acorn TV app which is a paid streaming service, $8 a month, and probably the best option if you're really into regularly watching British TV as there isn't really a great alternative option.

I run 4 websites on my one VPS, and 2 websites on another more restricted cloud container service. Three wordpress, one DICOM server and viewer (radiology image database), one moodle, and one complex git mediawiki setup. Plus some sandbox stuff. Get about 10,000 unique views a day in total across all sites.

I don't know enough about network security to run that safely nor how to get great uptime at home as I run it all single handed and my day job has little to do with computers (am a medical doctor). I do expose some docker apps to the internet that run on my home server but they are only used by friends and family.

When I've needed temporary simple static web pages I've used jekyll on github pages and found it great.

This is one of those things I didn't know I needed. I have so many usb sticks lying around with various troubleshooting isos. This is a game changer.

Positive pressure is definitely not as good. But if you plan ahead you can always modify into a balanced system later. In my last house when I installed positive pressure I also added an additional vent in the soffit in case I wanted to turn it into a balanced system in the future. But the positive pressure solved the condensation problem so didn't end up upgrading to balanced. You could also do balanced without mechanical heat recovery.

Maybe as an experiment try blow a fan pointed out an open window and see if it makes any difference to the humidity?

Get a static ip if at all possible. The work arounds with a dynamic IP are simply not as good. Or if your ISP and router fully support IPv6 you could alternatively go down that route.

Why do some ISPs charge a monthly fee and others a one off fee? I paid one off with my ISP several years ago for my static IPv4.

Oh wow mechanical heat recovery systems have jumped in price. They were 2-3k a few years ago. The way mechanical heat recovery works is kind of like penguin legs. The inflow and exhaust airflows pass by each other. So the warm exhaust air passively heats the cooler inflow air. So they are quite basic things that are very cheap to run. I guess another kiwi tax. Done some googling for pricing and it does appear 5-6k is the going rate now. E.g. another option: https://www.smooth-air.co.nz/home/hex390

What about something like this: https://www.smartvent.co.nz/why-smartvent/ that should also improve the humidity. Doesn't say price though. They seem to have a variety of options including positive pressure which should be much cheaper than a heat recovery system. https://www.smartvent.co.nz/smartvent-positive-advance/

Here's some more information about heat recovery systems and why DVS/HRV from the attic are shit. https://www.smarterhomes.org.nz/smart-guides/heating-cooling-and-insulation/ventilation-and-heat-recovery-systems/

Yeah looks like I'll be waiting for a sale and buying new.

This is my favourite comment. I laughed out loud. Thank you.

You mean a split system? A heat pump usually refers to a split system which doesn't have the V in HVAC as it just recirculates air. HRV is the ventilation from the attic thing, please don't get that.

HVAC generally refers to ducted aircon with mechanical ventilation. The "heat pump" sits in the attic. Fresh air is taken in from the outside through the soffit. Ducts run from the "heat pump" into each room.

If a ducted system is too expensive then you should install plain mechanical positive pressure ventilation from the outside (not HRV/DVS) Depending on your house it is possible to DIY this using stuff from Bunnings. You could even link the fan to your Home Assistant and get it to activate when the humidity reaches a certain threshold. This should fix your problem. If it causes the house to get cold by doing this then you could install a mechanical heat recovery device.

I installed ducted air con and instead of having a separate system for ventilation, for cost effectiveness I routed it from the outside through the air con system. So the aircon pulled the air from both the return vent in the house (90%) and from the outside (10%). You only need a small amount of mechanical airflow from the outside to reduce moisture levels. And had another vent hole with cover on the soffit for future but not ducted into the air con.

Oh cool. I'm going to try the temp sensors. Thank you!

That should work if you bring it to the soffit instead of a different room. However youre paying extra for the temperature sensor. Don't get the air from the attic, it's not healthy air, I don't care how good the filters are, it is something unheard of elsewhere in the developed world. I would rather have nothing than air come in from the attic. Please rid yourself of the idea of venting from the attic.

I have these links saved in my bookmarks when I first researched this 10 years ago and retrofitted a ducted HVAC system in my previous house.

https://www.energyvanguard.com/blog/Case-Closed-Get-Those-Air-Conditioning-Ducts-out-of-the-Attic

https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy10osti/48163.pdf

In many countries in Europe houses actually have to have their ventilation/insulation performance tested and pass the test (e.g. blower door for air tightness). We have gotten better at insulating but our builders still don't generally understand the importance of mechanical ventilation. Cue Mouldy homes chapter 2.

Balanced heat recovery mechanical ventilation > positive pressure ventilation > negative pressure ventilation > nothing > air from the attic.

Just my opinion. I don't work in the industry. Just a geek.