HRV revisit

[Coleus]

So i am looking to buy this unit

Lifebreath Heat Recovery Ventilation (HRV) RNC10 (123 - 177 CFM)

but unsure if this will help with my current 165 gallon tank in my house. My humidity level is 50% right now


Should i get a bigger unit? Anyone has this brand LifeBreath and do you like it?

[mark]

don't you select the units based on the size of your house?

[Coleus]

yeah i give them my house size and that is what they recommended it. I am not sure if i should go higher because of the fish tank

[The Grizz]

It wouldn't hurt to bump it a little for good measure, bigger is always better :biggrin:

[outacontrol]

It wouldn't hurt to bump it a little for good measure, bigger is always better :biggrin:

Have to disagree with bigger is always better, bigger usually costs more.
A bigger HRV will cost more and use more energy, kinda the opposite of there main purpose. If you want more air changes per hour open a window.

[The Grizz]

The higher the airflow the shorter running time as it would only kick in according to how you have it set up.

[vaporize]

have not heard this brand, I am usinga 200 CFM one I think, the largest from York that is still small enough to classified as residential. Loved it last winter but cost a bit, I think I paid $2000 how much is yours?

[Coleus]

Well around 2K as well. Also passive or power?

[vaporize]

Also passive or power?

No clue, but two settings, either run continuous or inter-mittenly

But around this time, it stop being very useful as outside temp is around 13-20C here in Toronto now.

[Coleus]

Passive: it uses the furnace fan to heat the coil

Power: it uses it owns fan to heat the coil



well want to have one in place before winter hit. Else i am going to forget again

[AquaticFinatic]

Just be careful if you go to big you may need to have a humidifier going as well. Then your paying to remove the moisture you have to put back. Go with what they tell you as they should know. Just my hvac 2cents.

[Coleus]

Just be careful if you go to big you may need to have a humidifier going as well. Then your paying to remove the moisture you have to put back. Go with what they tell you as they should know. Just my hvac 2cents.

now that would be bad lol. But also mean that i can have more fish tank

[cale262]

Just be careful if you go to big you may need to have a humidifier going as well. Then your paying to remove the moisture you have to put back. Go with what they tell you as they should know. Just my hvac 2cents.

I'm using a Lennox passive system which is controlled via a programmable electronic humidistat(Honeywell). you just set it to the humidity level you wish to maintain and it does the rest.

[mark0933]

I have been running a RNC155 for a couple of years and have no issues at all, I have a 2000sq ft house and 800G of tanks and it keeps the humidity right where you set it.

Mark

[wingedfish]

Lifebreath has been making hrv's for 20 years and are one of the top manufacturers. I've installed lots and try to run the exhausts to the problem areas such as bathrooms and kitchens. Tough to do in a finished house. Power over passive to actively control humidity issues. And go for the 2 speed that runs low (or off depending on what is needed) and steps to high when the dehumidistat calls for it. If the exhausts are in the bathrooms, a timer switch is installed to run it when using the bathroom. Once the temp climbs in spring they are detrimental to controlling humidity, especially if you use an air conditioner.


FYI, personaly I run 150 gallons of water in a 1000 sq foot 77 bilevel in one of the coldest climates in Canada, can buy wholesale and install myself, and still cannot justify the cost to benefit for an HRV. My house sits just over 50% humidity and for a few weeks a year I cannot see out the picture window do to condensation humidity issues. I live with it. If you or your family suffers from health effects do to airquallity issues, or your humidity runs higher than what you want, your cost to benefit ratio will sway to the hrv side. I would suggest that you research how they work and understand the benefits and pitfalls of the inherent design and compare to what your expectations are. No question they are a better investment than a dehumidifier.

[rayjay]

Lifebreath is made here in London, and, many other name brands as well that they just stick a different name plate on as other companies found it advantageous to have Lifebreath make HRV's for them.
When I bought mine many years ago, I spoke with the engineer there and he asked me for the size of the house, the square footage of the surface open water in the house, and the temperature of that water.
He came up with the 300DCS double core unit.
In my case, it JUST makes it and that's all, but I have a lot of water in my basement with my tanks and the culturing of rots, artemia and nanno.

[Coleus]

WingedFish, normally how much do you charge for just installation? It seems like in Calgary, installer charge roughly 1K


I am not sure about all the CFM stuff but i guess LifeBreath RNC 10 should do the job because it is s little bit bigger than RNC155. also it has defrost port which i don't know if it is that useful.

[mark0933]

FYI, personaly I run 150 gallons of water in a 1000 sq foot 77 bilevel in one of the coldest climates in Canada, can buy wholesale and install myself, and still cannot justify the cost to benefit for an HRV. My house sits just over 50% humidity and for a few weeks a year I cannot see out the picture window do to condensation humidity issues. I live with it. If you or your family suffers from health effects do to airquallity issues, or your humidity runs higher than what you want, your cost to benefit ratio will sway to the hrv side. I would suggest that you research how they work and understand the benefits and pitfalls of the inherent design and compare to what your expectations are. No question they are a better investment than a dehumidifier.

Is your house an older house by any chance? My house is 10 years old and I had such a large amount of condensation on the back window (because new houses are built more energy efficient and air tight than older ones) that it actually rotted the floor under the back door - yes it was only particle board but it rotted in about 3 years, so I guess I justified the whole house rotting vs $2K pretty quickly.

Mark

[Delphinus]

I run a Lifebreath HRV. Best investment I ever made for my house. I had not even 150gallons at the time and six months into my new house the humidity at 40%-50% in the winter was causing weeping windows and mildew on drywall and ceilings. It was either "fix this now" or "sell the tanks and stay with a nano tank."

It fixed it.

Never looked back either. Best decision I ever made was to get a HRV.

I did go one model size larger than what the vendor recommended, whether this was necessary or not I don't know but I needed a silver bullet solution and the difference of a couple hundred dollars on the overall price tag wasn't enough not to do it at the time.

[Coleus]

Tony, what model do you have ? Trying to pick out the one that suit my house. Also, open couple windows yesterday and my tank ph jump from 8.1 to 8.2 at the highest peak. So hopefully HRV will help with that too beside the humidity problem

[Delphinus]

I'd have to check when I get home, I don't remember the specific model anymore (I put it in in 2006! OMG that's 5 years already, what the heck ?! How did this happen.)

[Coleus]

Man i got different price for different unit. but it seems like i will be out 2K for sure lol.

Anyone have a good experience with fantech?

[wingedfish]

Another avenue you might try is Hoyme (http://www.hoyme.com/) They are manufactured right in Alberta and are fresh on the market. I seen one for the first time this past fall and was impressed. It is passive and I have no experience with them as of yet but worth checking out.

[wingedfish]

WingedFish, normally how much do you charge for just installation? It seems like in Calgary, installer charge roughly 1K

Depends on the job, some are quick with a mechanical room on an outside wall and don't need it pretty. Some are not.


also it has defrost port which i don't know if it is that useful.
The defrost is needed for when your moist humid stale air freezes to the heat exchanger. this will block the air exchange in cold weather, the real time to need it. For a reefer, a defrost mechanism is a must.

[bob the nano]

May I suggest a venmar eko 1.5 HRV. It's a compact unit that uses variable speed dc blowers and can be setup for many different homes. Because the blowers are variable speed the system can make up for difincies in your ductwork and makes retrofitting it into old duct system easy. There are 3 settings that can be used to size the hrv for your needs up to a maximium of 153 cfm. Because the blowers react to static pressure in the duct work to make sure they deliver the cfm they are set for you can use a smaller unit and be confident that you are actually getting the air exchange required. here's a link to the info page.... http://www.venmar.ca/AfficherProduit.aspx?page=361&langue=en&id=124 . Another plus is it's extremely energy efficient compared to a standard model . I have serviced most major brands of air exchangers and that`s the one I recommend most to my customers for its ease of install, low operating costs, and its ability to accommodate many different homes.

[Nate]

Just had one put in my house by a hvac neighbor. Have a 450 gallon tank and he was very concious about things like where to put in the intake, where to put the humidistat to make it more efficient, etc. Installed it for a hell of a deal and I will be having him install them for all of my customers tanks that require them now. Pm me if you want his number and make sure you tell him Nate sent you and you are likely to get a pretty sweet deal.