DIY ventilation heat exchanger

[AC_Hacker]

Originally Posted by abogart

I like the dehumidifier idea (posted near the beginning of this thread). What about placing the evaporator coil in the cold/stale air going out, and the condenser in the cold/fresh air coming in? Basically putting a small HP on the outside air portion of the HRV system. Dehumidifiers don't use much electricity. It seems to me like that would greatly improve energy recovery. The HP would not only be using the heat energy from the incoming air from outside, but also the heat that the HRV doesn't recover. To me, it seems like this system would produce much more heat than an air-air HP located outside. Ductwork could be made to reverse the system during the warmer months.

EDIT: oops, got my condensers and evaporators confused

This is an excellent idea, and a small dehumidifier would supply all the required parts.

-AC_Hacker