OT: HRV/ERV systems for home

kckku

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Aug 2021
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Off topic:

Does anyone have a HRV or ERV system for their home? If yes, why did you get one? and how do you like it?

I am thinking of getting one but want to find out if it's worthwhile.

Apparently new homes built since 2017 (in Ontario where I am) have been mandated to include these. Not sure if this is true.

Thanks.
 
I dont have either one of these units but they are used on new homes due to the "tightness" of the building envelope. In other words sealed much better than the old days. Much much less air infiltration. Usually used with spray foam insulation homes as this is widely accepted as the best type of insulation.
 
Apparently, HRV are better for climates in the northern hemisphere (so I gather), here in the UK there is very little enthusiasm to install these, there are problems, if your home is not up to the latest insulation recommendations then it takes ages to get even a reasonable temperature, in cold spells this gets worse, any type of heat distribution that is existing (Radiators for example) usually needs upgrading due to the lower heat transfer, expensive compared to other types of installation. I only have experience of one such system, this was air heat recovery, ended boosting it with electric heaters, in saying the above, the rising costs & worries about other ways of generating heat including more modern innovations I do believe that it is becoming more viable but only if you insulate well.
 
I am part of the crew for the local Habitat for Humanity. Our most recent build had to meet strict local code for tightness, and consequently required a ventilation unit, so we decided go with a model that included a heat exchanger to warm up the incoming air. All we needed to do was balance the incoming and outgoing airflow. Our first check of the balance was by a seat of the pants method. We shut all the doors and windows and left the HRV unit running for several hours and then checked to make sure that we could still open the entry door and that it didn't get yanked out the hand of the person opening it. We followed up that quick and dirty method by actually measuring the airflow in the ducts.
Now that the owner has almost a full heating season behind her I'll be interested to learn how much gas she used.
 
Last edited:
I'm inclined to connect one to the bathroom exhaust fan when I renovate it in a few years. Just hate the idea of losing all that warm air.
 
I'm inclined to connect one to the bathroom exhaust fan when I renovate it in a few years. Just hate the idea of losing all that warm air.

I always wonder where the air is being pulled from when running the bathroom or kitchen exhaust fans. I imagine it's more effective to pull fresh air and then expel wet humid air to the outside using one of these ventilation units. It's just not very practical to open a bathroom or kitchen window in the winter time when it's below freezing. The wife complains (obviously) and I don't want to waste money reheating the house after I close the window.

I actually measured CO2 levels in my house and it's been hovering between 1000 - 1100 ppm for the last few days. I think normally it's better to be 700-800 ppm.

If I open the window and run the kitchen exhaust fan, I can drop this down from 1100 to 800 in about 20 minutes. It isn't great because the house cools down real fast.

Trying to figure out a way to improve indoor air quality. Everyone has terrible pollen allergies in my house too so opening the window in Spring isn't a very good option either.
 
Apparently, HRV are better for climates in the northern hemisphere (so I gather), here in the UK there is very little enthusiasm to install these, there are problems, if your home is not up to the latest insulation recommendations then it takes ages to get even a reasonable temperature, in cold spells this gets worse, any type of heat distribution that is existing (Radiators for example) usually needs upgrading due to the lower heat transfer, expensive compared to other types of installation. I only have experience of one such system, this was air heat recovery, ended boosting it with electric heaters, in saying the above, the rising costs & worries about other ways of generating heat including more modern innovations I do believe that it is becoming more viable but only if you insulate well.

We use natural gas furnaces here in Ontario. I imagine the combustion process also produces some CO2 emissions. It will be interesting to see if there's any drop in CO2 in my house in the Spring when the furnace is off.
 

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