Intellibalance-100 with Boost: Actual Experience using for Bathrooms?

lifeisgoodsteve | Posted in General Questions on January 12, 2023 07:00pm

Hi All,

Read the past posts I could find on the Intellibalance and have a friend who loves his.

Since the boost feature came out, who has experience using it as your sole bathroom exhaust fan?

How well is it working for you and would you do it again or get a separate bathroom exhaust fan?

Thanks,

Steve

Answer

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Mtn_hombre | Nov 26, 2024 02:49pm | #1
Steve, did you ever get any feedback on this? I'm doing a new build and considering using the ERV as the only bathroom vents, with boost switches to temporarily kick up the ERV flow rate when the bathrooms are in use. Generally I've seen positive feedback on this approach.
jberks | Nov 27, 2024 10:04am | #2
I would take into consideration that an ERV retains moisture, (and you spend more money for that special core) where in a bathroom you want to get rid of the moisture.

I'd suggest a similar HRV, with ECE motors and a boost switch. HRV's don't retain the moisture.

I like the energy recovery approach to bath fans, and I wish these super simple units (recovery ventilators) were cheaper so it can be more adopted. For example, I am in the middle of a reno, and for the shower exhaust fan, I opted for exhaust only because it was a $1000 difference from an HRV to the bath fan. The ROI would take me years if I bought the HRV. Also the house is old and super leaky so I made a conscious decision.

If I was building a proper home, I would splurge on a smaller HRV for the bath.