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

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.

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

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.

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.

What is something simple to start with if getting into HA? I already have a NAS.

I have an unused Pi4 4GB model lying around, I might try run HomeAssistant on it. Sounds like a fun project.

Do you have any old x86 computers lying around?. I am running a NAS serving a dozen docker containers and a VM on an ancient 4th gen intel cpu. I never got into the home assistant stuff but maybe I'll also give it a go! I use PhotoView to share photos with family through CloudFlare zero trust tunnel.

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.

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.

Thanks for further details. I would definitely invest in getting HVAC installed in that instance or if cost is an issue then at minimum install simple positive pressure mechanical ventilation from the outside into the bedrooms. This should fix your problem. It sounds like windows aren't enough because the house is well sealed, so you need a mechanical solution. Please don't get DVS from the attic.

I live in a new house with HVAC and leave the mechanical ventilation on when not heating or cooling and it keeps moisture levels low. I also got HVAC retrofitted into my previous house which made a massive difference in moisture. I'll never live in a house without HVAC in the future if I can help it.

VPS (Ubuntu on 4 virtual cores, 10GB ram, 100GB NVME)

• Mediawiki with semantic mediawiki and various plug-ins and 650 pages
• Orthantic and OHIF (radiology images)
• Moodle (docker)

Cloud container provider (different to above VPS provider)

• 3 x mediawiki sites

Homelab (Unraid on i7 4790, 16gb RAM, 3 x 10TB HDD, 4TB external disk, no cache disk yet, RTX 3070, fractal define 7 mid tower)

• Plex
• Komga (comics)
• Audiobookshelf
• Kavita and Calibre (books)
• Photoview (family photos)
• Filebrowser (work)
• Cloudflared (zero trust tunnels)
• Heimdall (dashboard)
• Krusader
• Plugins: docker compose manager, docker patch, unassigned devices

Have ordered an N100 mini PC from aliexpress with plans of installing OPNsense and running a couple VMs on it.

My gaming computer for interest, not currently hosting anything: 5800X3D, 7900XTX, 32GB ram, 2TB NVME, 2TB SSD, 4TB HDD, fractal meshify midbtower case.

I also have a Pi 4 and a Pi 3 that I don't have any use for currently. Open to ideas. I already run Adguard on phone and Ublock origin on desktop browser, and don't see any current use for Pihole.