Small Heat Recovery Ventilator units- apartment dwellers and small homes- fresh air better than filtration

September 25, 2008

Do you mean " heat recovery ventilator " ?

You are right in that HRVs are expensive compared to regular fans. But

there aren't any other fans that offer what they offer.

Fantech ( fantech.ca ) makes small HRVs which can be put in a closet

and use small 4 inch ducting. They are around $400.

You could mount the intake and exhaust hoods in a window.

Panasonic also makes a HRV that is about the same size as a large

bathroom fan. It sells on EBay for around $325. It also uses 4 inch

ducts.

As far as I can tell, its not designed to be window-mountable but I

would not be surprised if it could be done fairly easily .

Ecofirst, a UK company, makes a VERY small single-room HRV that can

mount in a 6 inch hole, and runs on low voltage (24v)

I had never seen one this small before and I don't know how well this

works, but it looks like it occupies a niche that I haven't seen

addressed elsewhere quite like this (assuming its affordable, it looks

like it probably is, but they dont list the price)

You'd still have to use your heat, but an HRV prevents most of it from

being blown out the window along with the stale air.

They replace stale indoor air with LOTS of FRESH air, warming it with

the stale air they are exhausting. which is a MUCH better approach

than filtration, also they don't need constant filter replacement.

(just cleaning)

Window mounting would have one big advantage in that the ducting runs

to the unit and out into the room, (if they were needed) would all be

very short, and the duct would be easy to reach, making it all very

easy to clean frequently.

That seems to make a huge difference for mold-hypersensitized people.

> My problem with that heat regulator that Live mentioned is its

> expensive, it has to be retrofitted not to mold according to

> May, I'm a renter, and I don't necessarily want to stay here and then

> what would I do with it? A used one might have mold, I figure.

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