ERV intake vent location distance requirement below roof line
OutdoorWanderer
| Posted in General Questions on
Hello,
I saw other questions about ERV vent locations above roofs but wasn’t sure if there was a distance requirement below the edge of the roof. I have a vent that was installed by an installer on the gable end of my house and the inlet is ~32 inches from the closest part of the roof. See not to scale sketch 🙂 . The red is the vent and the blue line shows the ~32 inch measurement to the inlet. Not sure if this makes any different but vent is a combined vent where the output is on top and sent up while the inlet is on the bottom. Any thoughts?
Thanks
GBA Detail Library
A collection of one thousand construction details organized by climate and house part
Search and download construction details
Replies
There is nothing wrong with a gable vent, it is an excellent location.
The roof vent issue is when the intake is directly above the roof surface. There you risk brining in the smell of hot roofing material whenever the sun hits the surface.
OutdoorWanderer,
One thing to watch for is the code mandated separation from plumbing vent stacks.
If this is not already installed, think about both access to the intake and filtering the air at the intake. ERV intakes get filled with dust, pollen, and small flying bugs, etc. The filter inside the ERV may protect the ERV, but it will be filthy every month, and all that stuff will get into the duct on the way to the ERV.
Consider putting some screen or a filter at or near the ERV intake. However, that will require frequent cleaning, so make sure it is accessible.
Thanks all for the comments. Sounds like it is good. Just wanted to make sure it still wasn’t close enough to the rough to have the same issue as being on the roof.