Triton Body Dryer

[OnOff]

OK, my own place and I have a 9.0kW Triton Luxury Body Dryer been sitting here for an age awaiting my doing the bathroom - a complete gut job as in new joists, floor dug up / lowered for UFH, studded walls and insulation all around the "box" and a single room MVHR. (The dryer was an indulgence bought from a couple a few years back who had had THEIR bathroom done and didn't fancy the upheaval of running a new 6/10mm cable back to the board so I got it for a song). Now then, the new ceiling is 150mm deep joists set at 400mm centres giving 355mm between joists. The 355mm is the MINIMUM width to fit the body dryer between joists btw, so all good there. Cabling will be singles in galv conduit back to the board.

What complicates somewhat is that I'm intending to insulate the roof with more than a nod to Passivhaus ideas. (Thanks to ProDave I've been on the ebuild forum). On the underside of the joists I'll be putting a (plastic) VCL (vapour control layer) then 1/2" moisture resistant plasterboards. The joists will be filled in between with 150mm PIR (Celotex/Kingspan).  As well as the body dryer there'll be 4 down lights. All this AND I want to try and keep the ceiling airtight! A tall order maybe? The rough plan is to leave 150mm deep voids for the lights and body dryer, remove the plastic VCL from atop the plasterboard, line these "boxes" with fire resistant plasterboard. Then on top another piece of oversize fire resistant plasterboard and atop that 150mm slab of PIR taped round all the edges. BUT..........the body dryer sucks in cold and expels hot on the underside ONLY. There are NO vents or anything on the top side above the ceiling. All the instructions say is to "remove or roll back the loft insulation". It sticks up above the plasterboard by nom. 105mm so I'll have approx. 45mm to the plasterboard cover above. Rather than the line of centre noggins where the body dryer is I'll noggin either side to form the "box". Really wondering if it can actually get that hot on the top side considering it's plastic?





Top side which will be in the cavity:



Underside, round = air in, rectangle, heated air out:



Side view:



Seems a few years back Triton did do a "flat roof kit" along with a "concrete ceiling" one too. Can't find any of that info or anything relating as to how hot the top side plastic gets?

Any thoughts to my proposal?

Cheers

EDIT: I wired it to L,N & E via the commando just to test it and it's remote.

 

[ProDave]

Personally I would remove one headache, and skip the downlights. I hate them. Choose surface bathroom lights instead. but if you must I can't see a flaw, use LED lights for less heat?

Re the dryer.  I would mock it up with a box over the top, and run it for a while to ensure it is not going to cook itself inside the box.  The manufacturers "expect" the top to be open to a cold loft after all. If it runs cool then the box idea seems good.

P.S still waiting for handstand photo's :run

 

[OnOff]

Personally I would remove one headache, and skip the downlights. I hate them. Choose surface bathroom lights instead. but if you must I can't see a flaw, use LED lights for less heat?

Re the dryer.  I would mock it up with a box over the top, and run it for a while to ensure it is not going to cook itself inside the box.  The manufacturers "expect" the top to be open to a cold loft after all. If it runs cool then the box idea seems good.

P.S still waiting for handstand photo's :run

Yep, would go LED lights anyway. SHE wants down lights............unless I can find an "acceptable" low profile jobbie that she likes!

The body dryer, it auto cuts off after 10 minutes btw and then needs a reset on the remote. That's a good shout to run it in a mock up box - the only bug being I've not got a 40A breaker nor a spare way in the board and they're all C50's. The board change keeps getting put back and it's moving position anyway from outside to in (<3m too). Proper chicken and egg stuff doing anything here. About £20 cheapest I've found for a 40A C50? Seems a pity when I'll eventually be ditching the board.............well actually it looks like I'll be running two in tandem for a while as I run new circuits and ditch the old ones.

I'll have to shave before the handstand shots!

 

[NozSpark]

Heres a really stupid idea......

Why not phone Triton technical support?

 

[kerching]

buy a towel instead?

just a thought

 

[OnOff]

Heres a really stupid idea......

Why not phone Triton technical support?

I did ring a while back and was simply told that the product had been discontinued etc. However I emailed them via their website and they have now sent through the flat roof/concrete ceiling fitting instructions from a few years back:



Seems there is / was a cavity adapter to drop the unit lower so I've asked if that's available. Not quite sure what their "150mm available space" is meaning.............I do have 150mm space (joist depth) but as said above the unit only projects 105mm with 45mm clear. I'll put off cutting the ceiling until I know if the cavity adapter is available.

 

[pewter]

Im not sure if i have read it correctly, or if i am saying what you already plan to do.

What about kingspan insulation inbetween the joists of the pitch roof. Like you would for a loft conversion. might get 100mm between the pitched roof joists and then could put another 50mm or 100mm over the top of that (like in loft conversions).

Then the roof would be insulated and air tight, and just fit all the other bits between ceiling joists with no need to insulate between the ceiling joists.

Just an idea

 

[OnOff]

Im not sure if i have read it correctly, or if i am saying what you already plan to do.

What about kingspan insulation inbetween the joists of the pitch roof. Like you would for a loft conversion. might get 100mm between the pitched roof joists and then could put another 50mm or 100mm over the top of that (like in loft conversions).

Then the roof would be insulated and air tight, and just fit all the other bits between ceiling joists with no need to insulate between the ceiling joists.

Just an idea

Fair shout that but we are intending applying to convert the current hip ends of the roof to gables later on so everything will "go". At the mo the thing is to get a nice, WARM bathroom to "retreat" to as we do the rest of the money pit room by room. Trust me it's a mission! There is a dormer extension upstairs but it is sort of "structurally independent" of the downstairs as in it sits 200mm above the top of the downstairs ceiling joists on pad stones on the main walls. 

I have as you say been mulling over enveloping the whole lot but it's a bit too much to lay out tbh. 

 

[pewter]

Just a crazy idea.

instead of a lowered ceiling. build a raised frame above the ceiling. insulate the frame/box above the ceiling leaving a nice gap to fit the dryer and downlights. could also duct from main loft area to the input of the body dryer.

 

[OnOff]

Just a crazy idea.

instead of a lowered ceiling. build a raised frame above the ceiling. insulate the frame/box above the ceiling leaving a nice gap to fit the dryer and downlights. could also duct from main loft area to the input of the body dryer.

That's the thing...........the input of the body dryer is ROOM SIDE as is the outlet. There are no vents etc on the dryer where it is "loft side". For now I've constructed a 1m lg box in the new joists for it:



As PD said I'll probably enclose it as a "test" and see how hot the "box" gets before committing to this.

 

[pewter]

I have just re read, and understand that i didnt understand. :innocent

If you build your box enclosure, could you vent your box enclosure if it gets warm during the test.

If it did get hot and you had too much time on your hands, you could rig up another fan (to turn on when the dryer is on) to duct air around your drying fan box.

 

[OnOff]

I have just re read, and understand that i didnt understand. :innocent

If you build your box enclosure, could you vent your box enclosure if it gets warm during the test.

If it did get hot and you had too much time on your hands, you could rig up another fan (to turn on when the dryer is on) to duct air around your drying fan box.

I'm aiming for the whole ceiling and walls to be "airtight" for want of a better work and for the insulation to be continuous. So it'll be 150mm of PIR in between the joists then the same 150mm of PIR above the joists where the body dryer is......but overlapping that between the joists. If I vent the box in any way outside the insulation layer it'll defeat the object. Thinking out here I wonder if I could maybe install some soffit vents in the ceiling?  

 

[NozSpark]

looking at the installation instructions it looks like the dryer fits in a loose hole and then the trim seals to the roof,,,, so if you lower the dryer a bit so that the trim doesn't seal to the roof and then form your celotex box above (sealed) then the dryer will get ventillation around the back,,, naturally

 

[OnOff]

looking at the installation instructions it looks like the dryer fits in a loose hole and then the trim seals to the roof,,,, so if you lower the dryer a bit so that the trim doesn't seal to the roof and then form your celotex box above (sealed) then the dryer will get ventillation around the back,,, naturally

The only thing is the unit is proper powerful as in on the second fan speed it feels like it's going to take off! I reckon it needs to be secure. Maybe I could experiment with some spacers. That and cutting the hole neatly will be a must. Tbh the thing is so damn ugly anyway I don't think adding a couple of symmetrical vents will detract in any way!  :lol:

This Passivhaus / airtight business - I've even got to seal the conduit!

 

[OnOff]

Well............they still sell the kits to "lower" the units:

"Thank you for your email dated 07/02/2015 10:47 . 

We still sell the semi solid ceiling kit and the suspended ceiling kit, the price is £116.67 for the semi and £107.69 for the suspended, postage is £6.95. 

If you want to order that part please call us on 0844 9800 740 and ask for Alex. alternatively I can call you if you can provide me with your number.