Hello
This is my first post. I am building my home on Ward’s Island in the harbour in Toronto ON.
It will be super insulated and sealed. It also has radient floorheat (Warmboard).
I want to install a heat recovery ventilation system. In all the literature that I have seen the fresh air return is brought to the return air plenum of a hot air furnace.
Where do I bring the fresh return so I won’t get cool spots in a house with no ducts.
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Replies
Welcome to Breaktime.
Whoever is going to/did install your heating system should be specing your HRV and getting the ducting to where it should go.
Quality repairs for your home.
Aaron the Handyman
Vancouver, Canada
We have no heating system. The air system was planned such that everywhere would get fresh air, circulating to the return ducts to head outside. If your exchanger is reasonably efficient you won't notice anything, except unusually fresh inside air.
PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
In the past I have seen super insulated homes that have the HRV connected to the Bathroom fans and a humidistat and switched by but not vented to the kitchen exhaust.
Thuss any time the bath fans or kitchen fans are on the hrv will run and relplace the outgoing hot moist air with warmed dry air.
the system will have its own central supply register and use the bath vents as returns with a possible additonal return vent for balance.
Mr T
I can't afford to be affordable anymore
That sounds good, if complicated.
We're strictly KISS. Our high mass house (the other extreme from super insulated) allows us to be considerably less than maximum performance without sacrificing creature comfort. I simply set up two returns such that air flow would be easily continuous from the multiple fresh air vents, including inside closets. No expert here, but my planned air paths worked as hoped.
We constantly monitor humidity. Summers we exhaust during showering, during winter, not. We have enough trouble keeping reasonable humidity levels in the winter as it is. Manual switches work fine for us. With reasonable sized housing, 20k cu ft in our case, I've found that the occasional extra input from an exhaust fan or two was unnoticeable in the overall air system.PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
Ward's Island, eh? Not deterred by the lack of long-term ownership, or has that been resolved now?! Beautiful little cottagey places there, and the odd monster. Are you replacing one of the old places? Beautiful place to live, I imagine! Except for the people like me who'll be traipsing through your neighbourhood "visiting" in the summer!
Since you're building new and tight, you will have to be concerned about ventilation in your radiant-heated ductless house. Unlike ours, which will have a big vent system called "the old house" still attached to it...Without tearing it down and starting again, I won't be able to get the old place tight enough to have to worry about it.
Does the HRV system you're looking at actually have its own fan, or is it just the heat recovery exchanger? An option to consider if it's the latter is going with a two-speed fan for either a kitchen or bath vent, leaving it to run continuously at the lower speed when you're not cooking/bathing to provide ventilation.