Combo heat pump + ventilator ?
Combo ventilator + heat pump?
We are planning an envelope overhaul of our leaky 1949 Cape near VT-NH-MA border. Among other items, we were planning to swap our oil furnace for Mitsubishi Hyper heat units. I cannot say how many condensers/heads because i have not yet started manual J to calculate heating loads. (Cooling will be zero because, due to family quirk, we refuse to ever cool house, preferring instead to leave all windows open June thru Sept; which we find very comfortable). Why Mitsubishi? Cuz it’s the brand local installers are most familiar with. Ducted vs ductless? Dont know yet, but our floor plan is quite “closed”, and we dont want to alter that. We were also planning to install a Zehnder HRV. Why Zehnder? Cuz “everybody says that’s a good brand”. Why HRV instead of ERV? Cuz the building scientist we hired said that, given the particulars of our situation, HRV was fine. I dont know how prices of ERV vs HRV compare, but we do not want any moisture added to our indoor air in winter, so that is pushing us towards HRV. In any case, I just finished reading Scott Gibson’s “Balanced Whole House Ventilation” article (Oct 8). He mentions there now exist combo ventilator / heat pumps. Can we use one of these in lieu of separate heat pump for heating and HRV for ventilation? The two brands he mentions are Build Equinox CERV and Minotair Pentacare. I suspect neither can provide enough heat in winter, even in a supertight house, to keep indoor temp at 75 F (70 F feels too cold) when outdoor temp dips to our 99% design temp of one degree fahrenheit. But i wanted to ask the GBA community if anyone in zone 6 has experience with either combo unit being used as primary heat source? One of the units mentioned in the article puts out 7k btu/h heat when outside temp is 17F, but i suspect we will have much higher heating loads than this after our house gets tightened up.
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Replies
"Can we use one of these in lieu of separate heat pump for heating and HRV for ventilation?"
No.
"The two brands he mentions are Build Equinox CERV and Minotair Pentacare. I suspect neither can provide enough heat in winter, even in a supertight house, to keep indoor temp at 75 F (70 F feels too cold) when outdoor temp dips to our 99% design temp of one degree fahrenheit. "
Bingo. Even at indoor temp of 68 it would be hopeless.
Thank you, Trevor