I just finally finished getting my Broan HRV ducted and set up and man do I love it. I left it on intermittent while I was away for Christmas and when I got home the fresh Vermont air smell in the house was so pleasant! In addition to that experience, we no longer have condensation on the windows in the morning when we wake up, and the control is just outside the bathroom so you can put it on turbo on your way in to do whatever you’re doing in there. It much more noticeable than you think it will be when you have good air quality in the house.
I’m planning to go with Broan when I install an ERV system in the new home I’m building. I really like how it is self balancing and self commissioning.
I have a Broan HRV and it does have a condensate line on it that drains into the sump area. We have low humidity in the house since installing it usually between 25-40% I’ve only had it in winter so far but I’ll be interested to see what it does come summer. I’m still searching to get a good thorough explanation of how ERVs and HRVs are different other than the vague explanation I hear from videos saying “ERVs deal with humidity” I don’t really know what that means yet.
@@CMCraftsmanThe ERV has an upgraded membrane which exchanges vapor. In a southern house with dehumidification, you might not care about a little extra vapor exchange, but in a northern house in the winter with no humidifier, you would prefer to not bring in super dry air. So not everyone NEEDS the vapor transfer function of an ERV.
You’d be surprised, though, at how much of the US needs dehumidification during portions of the year. Corbett Lunsford has several videos that go into depth on this topic on his Home Performance RUclips channel. It’s a nice complement to this channel.
Everything he states is so true. If people could understand and realize the benefits of building a tight home more would do it. They only care about the cost instead of the comfortability.
Do you have any experience with CERVs? ERV with integrated heat pump, which can heat, cool and dehumidify. There`s only two companies I found, Equinox and Minotair.
I’m planning to spec a CERV for my renovation. Seems like the ideal solution if you have the ducting, space, and budget for it. I recommend reaching out to them if you’re interested!
In western Canada it’s common to add humidifiers to natural gas or propane forced air furnaces. Mostly in older, non efficient homes. Otherwise the RH gets very low and can affect health and humidity sensitive objects like musical instruments. With a modern well insulated and sealed home would this be necessary? -34 C (-44C with wind chill) today. Not sure why I still live here in winter Lol.
I have a 4 yo fairly tight home. It was built with an air exchanger and a humidifier on the gas furnace. I’m in MN. There are days when the outdoor humidity drops to around 20% or less. I have to actually turn off the air exchanger, even with the humidifier running, or my interior humidity can drop into the low 30% range.
Whenever you're heating up the air, it's RH drops. The better insulated you are the less moisture will leak in for you. So you have to humidify by yourself. It's just science regardless of how old or new your building is.
Is there any way to have a pretty well air sealed house and not bring In outside air while maintaining good indoor air quality? Some older houses are very hard to air seal to the point that you need an hrv or erv and I have to imagine there are ways to be healthy in those houses
@@MichaelOConnor-jb3lv Short answer is no, long answer is that there are air recycling and generative systems that are used in places like the space station, but why wouldn't you want to bring in fresh filtered air?
@ thanks for the reply. Big fan of your page. Just to clarify. I am doing new siding on an existing house and plan to use a self adhered membrane to get it as air tight as possible. But bc it’s not new construction it might be very hard to get it so air tight via a blower door score that I need an erv/hrv. So my question is if I get it as air tight as possible but it is still too leaky to need an hrv/erv, that should get me to reasonably good indoor air quality, right? Best would be to get it super tight and filter the air from outside but that may be outside the budget and realm of possibility
@@MichaelOConnor-jb3lv The answer is simple. You don't need to be so airtight that you need an erv to install an erv and benefit from one. I would go ahead and install an erv and continue to track down leaks and air seal as needed if you don't start at the airtightness you want. You are correct that retrofit is more difficult. Depending how much you have opened things up on this home construction wise, retrofitting the erv ductwork may be a big part of that challenge. You really shouldn't cobble a erv/HRV into an existing ducted heating system, it should have it's own ductwork. But even a modest installation will be better than drafting air in through the insulation. We have a 100+ year old home that is far from airtight and adding an hrv substantially improved our iaq. Good luck!
@@MichaelOConnor-jb3lv for some reason, my earlier reply didn't post. You can still use an ERV even if your house is not extremely air tight and you will get clean fresh heat exchanged ventilation. We did that with our 100 year old house and it definitely improved indoor air quality. The challenge may be to install the separate ductwork depending on the house and renovations planned.
Excellent video. One slight quibble: the graphic at 3:15 is not quite accurate as the air streams in an ERV don’t actually mix; they bypass each other in the ERV core transferring much of the heat and humidity from one air stream to the other. One could be even more precise about the exact science involved, but this is probably close enough for the purpose of this video. Thanks for the excellent content as always!
It is only necessary now because we are pushing for high efficiency with a requirement of controlling indoor temperature at will. This means tight air sealing and insulation, as well as huge energy requirements for heating and cooling. It was always necessary, but people used to just open a window if they wanted fresh air. Very old buildings in colder climates were very leaky, built with stone and had fireplaces that would run all day to barely keep you warm. Basically all these dilemmas exist because of the creation of air conditioning and mechanical systems. People like the comfort they provide, but they use insane amounts of energy and we have needed to radically transform buildings to be able to satisfy the insatiable appetite for indoor climate control. So why do we want to make it necessary? Because we want to control the indoor environmental conditions regardless of outdoor conditions. Thus we have an insatiable appetite for energy and are having to find ways to accomplish those things more efficiently, and that’s… very hard.
In addition, in much of human history, homes were very uncomfortable and drafty. Lots still are. My neighbor heats with a wood stove. It’s a lot of work. I heat with two heat pumps. I can go to work to pay the electric bill and not deal with the dust and the inconsistencies of the stove going out and needing to bring in wood.
Hygiene Hypothesis is medical theory that suggests children need to be exposed to germs to "educate" their immune systems to fight infections. Without this exposure, the immune system may not develop properly and may become intolerant. It's supported by animal studies that show animals raised in sterile environment develop weaker immune system to fight common infections and develop autoimmune disorders. Sterile environment is hard to achieve though, but still good idea to raise your children in dirt(outside).
@@cmoullasnet Comfort isn't a necessity, and it's critical to distinguish the two. If you mandate comfort, on the margins, you'll mandate homelessness. This type of system seems to be taking things to an extreme that is unnecessary for most people. It's likely to be mandated because it has good intentions and will be very profitable for a few corporations and many technicians.
You want to breath in your blown insulation from your attic via its access panel? Have you looked in your window jams? This air is being pulled into your house as “fresh” air.
I just finally finished getting my Broan HRV ducted and set up and man do I love it. I left it on intermittent while I was away for Christmas and when I got home the fresh Vermont air smell in the house was so pleasant! In addition to that experience, we no longer have condensation on the windows in the morning when we wake up, and the control is just outside the bathroom so you can put it on turbo on your way in to do whatever you’re doing in there. It much more noticeable than you think it will be when you have good air quality in the house.
I’m planning to go with Broan when I install an ERV system in the new home I’m building. I really like how it is self balancing and self commissioning.
Very informative. I was contemplating installing a heat recovery unit but not a dehumidifier. Well timed. Thanks.
I have a Broan HRV and it does have a condensate line on it that drains into the sump area. We have low humidity in the house since installing it usually between 25-40% I’ve only had it in winter so far but I’ll be interested to see what it does come summer. I’m still searching to get a good thorough explanation of how ERVs and HRVs are different other than the vague explanation I hear from videos saying “ERVs deal with humidity” I don’t really know what that means yet.
@@CMCraftsmanThe ERV has an upgraded membrane which exchanges vapor. In a southern house with dehumidification, you might not care about a little extra vapor exchange, but in a northern house in the winter with no humidifier, you would prefer to not bring in super dry air. So not everyone NEEDS the vapor transfer function of an ERV.
You’d be surprised, though, at how much of the US needs dehumidification during portions of the year. Corbett Lunsford has several videos that go into depth on this topic on his Home Performance RUclips channel. It’s a nice complement to this channel.
Everything he states is so true. If people could understand and realize the benefits of building a tight home more would do it. They only care about the cost instead of the comfortability.
Had this discussion the other day. Will be sharing your video. Thanks for the short simple explanation.
Do you have any experience with CERVs?
ERV with integrated heat pump, which can heat, cool and dehumidify.
There`s only two companies I found, Equinox and Minotair.
I’m planning to spec a CERV for my renovation. Seems like the ideal solution if you have the ducting, space, and budget for it. I recommend reaching out to them if you’re interested!
Just curious what you think of evaporative coolers in dry climates. They are low energy consumption and effective most days through the summer.
In western Canada it’s common to add humidifiers to natural gas or propane forced air furnaces. Mostly in older, non efficient homes. Otherwise the RH gets very low and can affect health and humidity sensitive objects like musical instruments.
With a modern well insulated and sealed home would this be necessary? -34 C (-44C with wind chill) today. Not sure why I still live here in winter Lol.
I have a 4 yo fairly tight home. It was built with an air exchanger and a humidifier on the gas furnace. I’m in MN. There are days when the outdoor humidity drops to around 20% or less. I have to actually turn off the air exchanger, even with the humidifier running, or my interior humidity can drop into the low 30% range.
Whenever you're heating up the air, it's RH drops. The better insulated you are the less moisture will leak in for you. So you have to humidify by yourself. It's just science regardless of how old or new your building is.
Is there any way to have a pretty well air sealed house and not bring In outside air while maintaining good indoor air quality?
Some older houses are very hard to air seal to the point that you need an hrv or erv and I have to imagine there are ways to be healthy in those houses
@@MichaelOConnor-jb3lv Short answer is no, long answer is that there are air recycling and generative systems that are used in places like the space station, but why wouldn't you want to bring in fresh filtered air?
@ thanks for the reply. Big fan of your page. Just to clarify. I am doing new siding on an existing house and plan to use a self adhered membrane to get it as air tight as possible. But bc it’s not new construction it might be very hard to get it so air tight via a blower door score that I need an erv/hrv.
So my question is if I get it as air tight as possible but it is still too leaky to need an hrv/erv, that should get me to reasonably good indoor air quality, right? Best would be to get it super tight and filter the air from outside but that may be outside the budget and realm of possibility
@@MichaelOConnor-jb3lv The answer is simple. You don't need to be so airtight that you need an erv to install an erv and benefit from one. I would go ahead and install an erv and continue to track down leaks and air seal as needed if you don't start at the airtightness you want.
You are correct that retrofit is more difficult. Depending how much you have opened things up on this home construction wise, retrofitting the erv ductwork may be a big part of that challenge. You really shouldn't cobble a erv/HRV into an existing ducted heating system, it should have it's own ductwork. But even a modest installation will be better than drafting air in through the insulation. We have a 100+ year old home that is far from airtight and adding an hrv substantially improved our iaq. Good luck!
@@MichaelOConnor-jb3lv for some reason, my earlier reply didn't post. You can still use an ERV even if your house is not extremely air tight and you will get clean fresh heat exchanged ventilation. We did that with our 100 year old house and it definitely improved indoor air quality. The challenge may be to install the separate ductwork depending on the house and renovations planned.
Excellent video. One slight quibble: the graphic at 3:15 is not quite accurate as the air streams in an ERV don’t actually mix; they bypass each other in the ERV core transferring much of the heat and humidity from one air stream to the other. One could be even more precise about the exact science involved, but this is probably close enough for the purpose of this video. Thanks for the excellent content as always!
@@MichaelJ674 You're absolutely correct, thanks for catching that! Somehow we didn't notice this in editing. Cheers.
👍😊🙏
I'm surprised you didn't mention kitchen exhaust hoods and cooking fumes/vapor.
That’s a whole separate topic. You can use a fresh air system to exhaust your bathroom but not as a range exhaust.
Agreed, it’s a side topic best covered in a separate video.
@@MichaelJ674but it would be a good topic to cover. You don't want to pull grease through an ERV/HRV, but you need the right amount of make up air.
Make a video about building in a sub Arctic rainforest like southeast Alaska
He wants to increase subscribers, not lose them 😂😂😂
Liked#6 N Subscribed!!!
Between 40-60% humidity is where the least amount of growth is for molds and viruses.
👍👍👍
Why do we want to make something necessary when all of human history it has not been? What could be some unintended consequences?
It is only necessary now because we are pushing for high efficiency with a requirement of controlling indoor temperature at will.
This means tight air sealing and insulation, as well as huge energy requirements for heating and cooling.
It was always necessary, but people used to just open a window if they wanted fresh air. Very old buildings in colder climates were very leaky, built with stone and had fireplaces that would run all day to barely keep you warm.
Basically all these dilemmas exist because of the creation of air conditioning and mechanical systems. People like the comfort they provide, but they use insane amounts of energy and we have needed to radically transform buildings to be able to satisfy the insatiable appetite for indoor climate control.
So why do we want to make it necessary? Because we want to control the indoor environmental conditions regardless of outdoor conditions. Thus we have an insatiable appetite for energy and are having to find ways to accomplish those things more efficiently, and that’s… very hard.
In addition, in much of human history, homes were very uncomfortable and drafty. Lots still are. My neighbor heats with a wood stove. It’s a lot of work. I heat with two heat pumps. I can go to work to pay the electric bill and not deal with the dust and the inconsistencies of the stove going out and needing to bring in wood.
Hygiene Hypothesis is medical theory that suggests children need to be exposed to germs to "educate" their immune systems to fight infections. Without this exposure, the immune system may not develop properly and may become intolerant. It's supported by animal studies that show animals raised in sterile environment develop weaker immune system to fight common infections and develop autoimmune disorders. Sterile environment is hard to achieve though, but still good idea to raise your children in dirt(outside).
@@cmoullasnet Comfort isn't a necessity, and it's critical to distinguish the two. If you mandate comfort, on the margins, you'll mandate homelessness. This type of system seems to be taking things to an extreme that is unnecessary for most people. It's likely to be mandated because it has good intentions and will be very profitable for a few corporations and many technicians.
You want to breath in your blown insulation from your attic via its access panel? Have you looked in your window jams? This air is being pulled into your house as “fresh” air.