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Heating & Air Conditioning

HRV questions, will it work for me?

15 years ago

I am considering buying a HRV system due to a stale air problem in our house.

First off I live in southeast Wisconsin. The house is about 1600 square feet not including the basement.

My heat vents are near the ceiling level and my cold air returns are at the floor.

There is 1 cold air return in the 4' x 4' foyer.

the dining room is 8' x 12' open to the living room which is 16' x 12' The living room has 2 cold air vents the dining room has one.

the Kitchen has 1. (has a dual fan hood vent also)

the bathroom has none. (has a timed exhaust vent)

the two bedrooms have each 1 but they are located behind doors. (doors that are always left open)

the family room which is 20' x 13' has one at the entrance to the room at the doorway. (this room has the worst stale smell) This room has been remodeled so it has one heat vent near the ceiling and across from it and a new one on the floor level.

I had all new windows put in recently, extra insulation in the attic, new high efficiency furnace, all ducting cleaned. New cedar siding put on the outside with tar paper not Tyvec. My house now smells awful. The fireplace does not vent properly anymore, I now have to open a window when I want to use it.

Will a HRV system move the air properly in this house? Will it make it smell fresh again?

do they make noise? The quote is around $2200.00 I am at my wits end with stale smell in this house and I do not know what to do. Thank you for any help.

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Comments (2)

dan_martyn
15 years ago
I have an HRV in my house and use it often in the winter. An HRV is designed to introduce outside air into your house, while preheating the air using an exhaust air stream which flows through the unit. When I turn my HRV on I can smell fresher air within minutes. If your odors are only airborne odors the HRV will remove them. If your odors are coming from carpeting, furniture,... you will have to address these separately. My HRV is installed just under my bedroom in the basement and it makes no more noise than my furnace.

Get several quotes and review the equipment to be installed. Ideally the HRV exhaust would pull from toilet areas and kitchen area where most odors are generated.

Hope this helps,

Dan Martyn
sewnice50
Original Author
15 years ago
Dan,
Thank you so much for answering. I am glad to hear the unit isnÂt noisy.

The smell is coming down from the attic, it smells like stale smoky wet cardboard and I need to go up and see if there might be another reason for this smell, but it has been the same for about 10 years until a few weeks ago it got stronger. The insulation contractors added more insulation and filled open gaps up there recently and the smell coming down is worse than ever.

I think if I understand you, if I get a HRV the smell from the attic will still be around, even though I am getting fresh air.

When we got our new furnace, windows, and roof (all at the same time)I started to notice my attic starting to "collect an odor". I used to store my clothes up there but they started to smell so bad I had to empty the attic. It seems to me if my neighbors have a fire in his fireplace or outdoor fireplace, the smell is drawn into my attic. It reeks up there now. I thought the pressure of my house changed. I was told a HRV unit would fix this. What do you think?
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YES, YES and NO!!! An HRV or Heat Recovery Ventilator has four connections. The way it works is it pulls in outside and exhausts stale air. There is a heat exchanger inside which is square and has alternating plates which divide up the in coming and out going air streams. The heat is exchanged between the plates, thus warming up the incoming air stream. The four duct connections on the HRV are typically round. incoming air from the outside vent connects to one connection at the HRV (Say top) then on the opposite side (Lower), leaving the unit the incoming air duct is plugged into the return air duct. Now the stale air is typically pulled thru small vents located in ares where exhaust is typical like bathrooms and kitchen. these vents combine to one and are connected to the HRV (Say above the connection to return). The last connection is a duct which runs outside the house thru another exhaust vent. So YES, there are a whole seperate set of ducts, which can be easily run. And YES, it connects to the furnace/AC ducting, as mentioned above. And NO!, this is not a stupid question! Thanks for asking! Dan Martyn
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I don't understand why you say that that either device (the furnace in particular) would pull air in. Certainly the HRV will, but when that is off the inlet duct should automatically be dampered off. At least that's the way mine works (a Lifebreath 195ECM). The furnace fan should just circulate air within the house, unless there is an outside air inlet connected to it. A lot of how you should run your system depends on the nature of the house, mainly how tight it is, and on how the air distribution ductwork is set up. An HRV usually is installed to ensure adequate ventilation in a very tight house. In such a house, the HRV indeed should be on all the time, or nearly so, at a low flow rate matched to the proper ventilation rate as specified by ASHRAE 62.2 (or Canadian equivalent). In my system, the HRV dumps the conditioned incoming air into the return duct of the heat pump. There are three zones, and when none is calling for heating or cooling all zone dampers are open, so that air fed in by the HRV is distributed through the house. The heat pump fan does not have to be on to move the air. If you have windows open in the summer, then yes the HRV might as well be off to save power. Otherwise it can be left on to provide fresh air if the house is tight, because you won't get much ventilation at all from leakage in summer if the windows are closed. Furthermore, human occupancy produces a fair amount of moisture (cooking, showers, plants, breathing). Bringing in humid outside air will contribute to the humidity in the house, but without ventilation the air in a tight house could get humid just from human activity. A dehumidifier could be a solution if there is no AC installed.
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Furnace mounted humidifiers are convenient; they run when needed and add water automatically from a house water line. Obviously the portable units need daily refilling, etc. Both need periodic routine maintenance (which you should be able to do yourself even on a furnace-mounted unit) to clean mineral deposits, replace paper elements seasonally, etc. If you are satisfied with your portable humidifier, then why spend the added money for a furnace mounted unit? Also, don't run your HRV too much. Yes, a house needs air changes to be healthy, buy if taken too far will only serve to increase fuel costs for heating and dry the interior further. I suggest you do some web searching and double check your HRV setup for optimum change rate. www.buildingscience.com has some good resource material on air quality. I would guess the sediment in the pipes is probably dirt or dust that has settled out. Would that be your assesment? Or would it be water condensation? If you can see sediment, I would assume you have clear flex ducting going to the HRV unit, so you should be able to simply remove the hose clamps holding the flex duct in place and vacuum the insides of the duct with a shop vac. No need to pay for a service call.
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