Is the Panasonic Intelli Balance 100 ERV a reasonable new construction DYI project?
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| Posted in Mechanicals on
The Panasonic Intelli Balance 100 ERV seems to be rather new on the market, and I am looking for information on ease of it being a DIY installation project during new residential construction.
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We don't know anything about your skills. You should study the manufacturer's installation instructions to determine whether you would be comfortable performing the required work.
Here is the link: Installation instructions for WhisperComfort Energy Recovery Ventilator.
-- Martin Holladay
The link I provided isn't for the Intelli-Balance -- sorry. Here is a link to a Matt Risinger video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgUQq0jbqO8
-- Martin Holladay
Looks pretty easy, just make sure the intake and exhuast are sealed properly and insulated. See ftp://ftp.panasonic.com/ventilationfan/fv10ve1/fv-10ve1_en_installation.pdf
It's one of the most efficient ERV around and I'm surprised at how cheap it is. I wish they would offer a bigger version of their single hole wall cap though...
Also, an external wall mount, big intake filter would be nice too.
Excellent point, you would not know that. We have installed a couple of bathroom fans from start to finish in an old home. I was assuming with new construction that this would be even easier. Thank you for the links; I had watched them last week. Before committing myself physically to the task I was just curious if anyone in this forum may have installed one and had any particular insights that might help me better commit psychologically :) Thank you.
Nina - Not sure where you are located, but make sure to check out the effectiveness chart. This unit is only effective for part of the year in most of North America.
Source: ftp://ftp.panasonic.com/ventilationfan/fv04ve1/whispercomfort_updated_sellsheet.pdf
Ethan,
That link is for the WhisperComfort. Not the IntelliBalance. The latter is supposed to work in "all" climate zones, according to Panasonic.
Nina, It's no different of an install than any other ERV.
I came across this thread searching for info on the Intelli Balance 100. I like that the Supply air and Exhaust air can be independently controlled via the knobs.
What I don't like about it is it doesn't have an interlock to run when the air handler runs (it looks like it does the opposite: turns on the air handler when the ERV wants to run)
Does anyone know of any other ERV's that have independently controlled DC motors like this?
Nina,
I installed this unit about two weeks ago after I was getting way to many questions from my HVAC guy. It is new construction and I have never installed any HVAC piping so there was some new things I had to figure out. I ending up spending about 30 hours to install four fresh air drops and three pulls out of the bathrooms. I mainly used 4" and 6" pipe sections and also used some insulated flexible pipes. I covered all of the pipe runs with insulation. I buried all the runs either in 14" joist that I cut 8" holes into or ran them in the joist bays. If you add chases for the pipe runs, it could simplify the installation quite a bit.