Shopping for HRVs
prairieburner
| Posted in Green Products and Materials on
Hello,
I’m shopping for an HRV and am a bit overwhelmed! I am using at HVI directory and there are so many I don’t even know where to begin.
Our house is 1500 sq with 3 human occupants and 3 cats in Northern Illinois.
I did a deep energy retrofit to our 1910 home so it is very tight; ridiculous amounts of humidity in the winter. I know that it doesn’t require a ton of CFM but, that being said, I know that the machine could potentially have a higher max cfm as long as the motor is scale-able. Our budget is also a BIG concern.
Does anyone know of an online buying source where I can filter by HVI or any other suggestions?
Thanks
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Replies
I don't know of any online retailers that include the HVI ratings in their listings. When I'm searching for a certain size H/ERV, I usually sort through the HVI ratings downloaded as a spreadsheet, sort & filter for what I'm looking for, then use Google Shopping to see if it's available online and what it costs. Some brands only sell through HVAC supply houses, though.
For what it's worth, here are my usual haunts:
https://www.supplyhouse.com/Heat-Energy-Recovery-Ventilators-18060000
https://www.hvacquick.com/products/residential/HRVs-and-ERVs/Residential-HRV-ERV
https://www.ervdirect.com/
You may still want to consider an ERV, despite the high humidity sources. Depends on how bad they are and what, if any, ventilation you have now. For example, the Panasonic FV-10VEC2 is a very nice unit, pretty efficient, and just under $1k. It's 50-100 cfm and boost mode. It's my go-to for small homes (I design & spec HVAC systems for high performance homes).