Recommendations for a HRV or ERV
I’ve asked a couple questions already regarding ventilation for a 1400 square foot house I am in the middle of building. Like most topics it takes a few discussions to start to come around to the solution that makes the most sense.
This is a budget minded project, I am half tempted to install bath fans and call it a day. but in the back of my mind I want to do better than that.
At the moment I am considering the Intellibalance ERV and ducting with a mix of rigid and flexible 4 inch pipe. This option looks like it’d run about $1000 plus all the pipes and registers and time to install.
The Lunos spot fans look interesting. I figure I would want 4 of them for a 3 bed house of this size. That will run me $2000 but saves a lot on piping cost and the time doing it. They look like a slam dunk for simplicity. Not sure about motor noise though.
Thanks for your patience trying to help me arrive at a good solution on this. I wish it was in the budget to hire an HVAC company to install the top of the line euro unit, but that is not the case. Cheers.
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Replies
Joe,
I had a Panasonic ERV (not the IntelliBalance), and it was quiet and reliable but seemed to underperform on the CFM delivery. I understand the IntelliBalance system is much better and would probably consider one if I were in your position. Since you only need something like 50 to 60 CFM, it would serve the entire house with capacity to spare.
The Lunos units have an excellent reputation, but they are on the pricier side. Based on the dollar figure you cited, I am guessing you are considering the Lunos eGo HRV and not the Lunos e2 HRV. Would 4 of these suffice? Is the e2 the best product for this application? I'm not sure. Maybe one of the professionals will chime in.
I put a Venmar Eko 1.5 ERV in my similarly sized home. I love it. I have two bathrooms which I used for the stale intakes. I also installed booster switches in the bathrooms which boost the CFM to the higher speed. I ran fresh air supplies to my three bedrooms. I used 6" rigid duct and 4" for the branch lines. I bought all the tools to balance the unit myself and bought a hand held anemometer to check the flows at the grills.
We are getting ready to build another new home for ourselves and I will probably go with another Venmar unit with a similar setup with booster switches in the baths.
I am wondering where people find space for their ducting?