Quote:
Originally Posted by abogart
My idea is...obviously not a very efficient design, since there is no actual heat exchange going on, but it's better than opening windows on a cold day... I suppose a HE could be added eventually between the fresh outside air and the stale air entering the basement. That could make for a cold basement, but the difference would be less energy consumed to heat the supply air to the house.
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You live in a pretty chilly part of the country, come winter. The benefit to you would be greater than they would be for me, since the area I live in has milder winters. An HRV is definitely on my list.
There are commercial HRVs available for around $600 that can be integrated into your forced air system. The effort to integrate the HRV into your current system would be comparable to the above described project.
I would go that route myself, but I have decommissioned my forced air system and will need another approach.
In the DIY HRV thread, I posted plans for a simple homemade HRV that first appeared in a POP SCI magazine... pretty straight forward.
People I have talked to who have installed HRVs report an immediate positive personal benefit due to indoor fresh air in the winter time.
I'm in a position that is different from yours right now... I have tightened my house up to the point that sufficient fresh air is no longer being supplied by infiltration during the winter season.
I have decommissioned the forced air system and heat the living space with a small mini-split, so I don't have the furnace sucking in fresh combustion air through the prior infiltration points any more.
The $600 commercial HRVs that would work for your situation won't work for me.
So I'm looking at replacing the forced air ductwork with a fresh air delivery system like a Passive House style HRV system that will pipe in .35 ACH 100% fresh air (with recovered heat) to the living area, or perhaps some kind of direct-vent HRV which could be cheaper and easier.
If I go with the heat-recovered fresh air system, the size of the ducting would be significantly smaller than that of a whole heating system.
My results are not in yet.
-AC