[Fornax]

Hi Exeric,

That's a good question, and I will not be mad at you at all.
I browsed through the article you linked and it has several legit points, and I guess we could even add more to them if we try.

I'll keep this short though, staying close to my personal situation : -)

Fact is that an HRV does recover some energy and has the potential to improve ventilation.

Often a comercially installed HRV indeed costs $4000-7000 to have one installed and in that case you need to be patient for your ROI (That's why I decided to go DIY). Also they are somewhat complicated to maintain, if outsourced this adds an anual fee for the mechanic visiting once a year doing the maintainance.

In my case I live in a somewhat moderate climate, my house is not a passive_haus, it's decently insulated but not realy special.
Currently I have exhaust-only ventilation, the fan is in good shape, and has been since my house was build in 1984. My wife believes in fresh air, and she is right at that, so there's a window partly open at our groundfloor all day..

Sidestep:
In a newly build Passive_Haus you 'need' an HRV, and every room requires an intake and exhaust. That's a lot of ductwork, and tricky to get the proportions right. Next to impossible to implement in an existing building.

In my situation I'll keep it simpler. The only intake will be in the livingroom, air warmed by the HRV will go there. Exhaust will come mostly from the semi-open kitchen (80%-ish) and the rest via existing ductwork from the toilet and bathroom (bathroom is upstairs).

Expected results in my situation:
As I mentioned above, my wife likes to keep at least 1 window partially open on our heated groundfloor. As a result the lower 1 meter (3 feet) is cold, the floor feels cold, our legs are cold, even at table/desk level it is fresh.
If my build of my HRV succeeds the windows can stay put, ventilation increases 3 times, and we save on energy (and thus coin) for heating.

My current exhaustfan isn't the most modern, replacing just the fan would save about 60,- euros per year on electricity. The whole HRV I am building is more expensive than that, obviously, and it does cost me a lot of time, materialcost will be some 700,- euro.

Quoted energy savings on heating are 30%, but let's asume 20%. We use about 1000 m^3 gas anually for heating, costing 0,64 euro per m^3. 200 * 0,64 = 128,-. Savings on electricity for replacing the current exhaustfan with the 2 used in my HRV is 40,-. That makes a roughly estimated anual savings of 168,- while improving the Quality Of Living.
Investment is: some time, love and 700,-. Financial profit expected after 4.2 years (neglecting the fact that I pay now and enjoy lower bills from now on).

So your initial question is legit. HRV is not a magic word, it is situational. If applied correctly it will do good, but that is no proof that an HRV is suited for the generic public, like with a mortgage people would need advice wether it is the right choice for them.