Trickle vents

MouldyOldDough

What are the advantages of having trickle vents on Double glazed windows ?

They constantly leak - causing drafts and cold spots

They claim to stop pressure build up - from what ?

it seems that somebody is making a lot of money from something unnecessary and energy wasting.....

FreeBear

MouldyOldDough said:

What are the advantages of having trickle vents on Double glazed windows ?

Trickle vents also allow noise from outside to get in - Building regs acknowledge this by allowing replacement windows facing sources of high noise (e.g. busy main road or a major airport) to omit trickle vents.

Fitting trickle vents is a cheap & quick way of complying with the ventilation requirements within the building regs - Despite what some people tell you, not the only way. In my opinion, there are better methods of providing background ventilation.

DullGreyGuy

MouldyOldDough said:

What are the advantages of having trickle vents on Double glazed windows ?

They constantly leak - causing drafts and cold spots

They claim to stop pressure build up - from what ?

it seems that somebody is making a lot of money from something unnecessary and energy wasting.....

Building regs requires a property to have ventilation with a minimum specified based on the number of bedrooms https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/61deba42d3bf7f054fcc243d/ADF1.pdf 

It's to keep a flow of fresh air and reduce the risks of a build up of mould or other airborne pollution that may be hazardous to the occupants. Trickle vents are just one of the simpler ways of achieving the required flow rates and naturally people can ignore the health advice and close them. 

grumpy_codger

MouldyOldDough said:

What are the advantages of having trickle vents on Double glazed windows ?

I don't think they have anything to do with double glazing.

Green_hopeful

Other methods of ventilation include opening the windows wide and letting the air circulate to remove moist stale air and replace it with dry fresh air for a short period. I did it this morning because we had some condensation on the bedroom windows. It was down to 60 percent relative humidity from 71 percent in 8 minutes and the temperature had dropped less than half a degree. The trickle vents on our bedroom windows don’t seem to make any difference anyway. 

EssexExile

Trickle vents are the work of the devil, best avoided if at all possible. They let noise in, they even make their own noise if the wind is in the right direction, and they let the cold in. Most of them look like cheap and nasty afterthoughts. Whenever I've had them I've stuffed them full of insulation material. There are better ways to ventilate a home if more ventilation is needed.

MouldyOldDough

How do they prevent pressure from building up ?

I am now worried that my rooms without trickle vents are all going to start exploding from internal pressure !!

MysteryMe

My new windows have trickle vents, they don't leak, look fine and I have not noticed any increase in noise either, that must depend where the property is located.  They don't bother me one bit.

If they do bother you, don't have them. Not a difficult problem to solve is it?

koalakoala

MysteryMe said:

My new windows have trickle vents, they don't leak, look fine and I have not noticed any increase in noise either, that must depend where the property is located.  They don't bother me one bit.

If they do bother you, don't have them. Not a difficult problem to solve is it?

Same here. I love knowing fresh air is coming in.  But I have no noise here, apart from helicopters, and they don’t fly at night
Wouldn’t be without them

FreeBear

MysteryMe said: If they do bother you, don't have them. Not a difficult problem to solve is it?

Unfortunately, if the old windows have trickle vents, any replacements will need them too in order to comply with building regs. If the old windows don't have trickle vents, you need to make sure there is sufficient background ventilation in place before having all the windows replaced. The alternative is to have just a few windows done at a time, but.... Most installers are not familiar with the finer details of Building Regulations and have been hoodwinked by some suppliers in to believing that trickle vents are now a legal requirement for all replacement windows. Had this problems when having the last few windows replaced here a couple of years back. Finally found an installer that was prepared to sit down with me and read the Approved Documents and agreeing with my interpretation.

Doozergirl

Green_hopeful said:

Other methods of ventilation include opening the windows wide and letting the air circulate to remove moist stale air and replace it with dry fresh air for a short period. I did it this morning because we had some condensation on the bedroom windows. It was down to 60 percent relative humidity from 71 percent in 8 minutes and the temperature had dropped less than half a degree. The trickle vents on our bedroom windows don’t seem to make any difference anyway. 

That's a different method of ventilation.  You're purging.  

Houses require background ventilation constantly.   Your trickle vents will definitely be making a difference, in fact, arguably they aren't enough.  It's certainly not a reason to not have any.