When it comes to smart products one item that lags far behind is the humble extractor fan which you’ll find in the majority of bathrooms and many kitchens across the world. In our Vent Axia Low-Carbon Svara Smart extractor fan review we share why this might be the ideal extractor fan for your smart home!
Why do I need a smart extractor fan?
In the UK the majority of extractor fans in bathrooms are wired into the lighting circuit causing them to come on for a set runtime (e.g. 10 minutes) when the light is switched on. Alternatively, some extractor fans are ‘always on’ and run using a humidity sensor.
This causes two problems:
1. Humidity sensors in most extractor fans are unreliable and need their sensitivity tweaking depending on the season. For most fans, these controls are under the cover which means grabbing your screwdriver every time you need to adjust it.
2. When you add a smart bulb such as a Philips Hue bulb to your bathroom for some nice ambience your light switch always needs to be on. This means, in turn, your extractor will either always be on or, will run for it’s set runtime and then never again.
The Vent Axia solves these issues…read on for more!
Vent Axia Low-Carbon Svara Specification
Retailing at around £140 the Vent-Axia Svara has a whole variety of features. The key features are:
- IP44 Rated
- 3 Speeds (but even more adjustable in the app)
- Suitable for ceiling, panel and wall mounting
- Bluetooth 4 built in for smartphone connectivity
- Built in light and humidity sensors
- Timer options
- Low power at just 4W to run super cheap!
- Timer options
- Built in light and humidity sensors
- Bluetooth 4 built in for smartphone connectivity
- Suitable for ceiling, panel and wall mounting
- 3 Speeds (but even more adjustable in the app)
The Design
Coming in a choice of white or black with a grey rubber seal at the back the Vent-Axia Svara looks modern thanks to it’s rounded design and this sets it apart from the competition which we love!
Using the Vent-Axia Svara
We’ve had this installed for 4-5 months now and it’s pretty much perfect!
Once installed you pair it with the Vent-Axia smartphone app which is available for Apple and Android and it’s in this app you adjust all of the settings. When it comes to this app Vent-Axia have certainly gone for function over form which makes it easy to use but not the prettiest app out there.
From the home screen you simply click the fan you’re connected to via bluetooth and you’re presented with a list of settings.
The boot button allows you to easily run the fan at 100% for 15 minutes.
Within the humidity and light settings you can switch these modes on or off, choose the sensitivity, fan speeds and (for light) choose the runtime. Both of these work really well.
There’s also options for silent hours so that you’re ensuite fan doesn’t disturb you at night and automatic cycles which ensures the air in your room gets refreshed once every 12 hours.
Finally, there’s options to set a name for your fans (great if you have more than one) alongside choosing which units you see (percentage, RPM or Litres per second).
The Downside of the Vent-Axia Svara
The only downside of the Vent-Axia Svara is that it only connects via bluetooth. This means no out-of-home/out-of-bluetooth-range control and no integration with other smart home devices or services (e.g. motion sensors or voice assistants).
In our opinion, this isn’t much of a downside for this kind of device but if either of the above is a must for you then you probably want to look at a SONOFF WiFi relay for your existing fan.
Our Verdict
At a price-point higher than non-bluetooth fans we think this extractor fan is totally worth it especially for those with smart lighting in their bathroom. It looks great, is reliable and can easily be adjusted without having to reach for a screwdriver.
Use our links below to pick one up
