Air exchangers to control large tank humidity.
- Thread starter Volcano1
- Start date
ReefWaters
Premium Member
I am also very interested in this.... Anyone?
tgunn
Active member
I installed a VanEE 2001 Gold HRV. I ran separate intake ducts to the bathrooms, kitchen and fish room, and hooked up the fresh air line that comes out of the HRV to the cold air duct for the furnace.
The difference it makes is dramatic. I went from 75% humidity in the winter to 20-30% with the HRV. It works wonders! Tank aside I would never go without one of these in my house again. The house is just that much fresher year round.
No corrosion issues with the unit as it has a plastic air exchanger core. The unit is very quiet. It cost me around $1400 CDN for the unit and all the stuff needed.
It doesn't seem to affect the heating bill at all in the winter. In the summer I occasionally turn it off entirely if we have a REALLY hot day as I find the humid air it pulls into the house can make the A/C work overtime.
The main control is in the hallway near the tank; this has a humidistat that automatically ramps up the air exchange in relation to the general humidity in the house:
Each bathroom in the house has a vent that feeds the HRV.
There is also a push button to put the HRV on high for 20 minutes. This is SO much nicer than rattly bathroom fans.
A vent just in the kitchen helps ventilate the adjacent living room where the tank is:
There's also an air intake in the fish room to suck out the nastiest air.
The HRV itself hangs near the furnace in the basement:
This unit requires two 6" ducts to the outside spaced 6' apart. I had to cut holes in the foundation for this; messy work, but easy enough to do with the right rented tools:
Tyler
The difference it makes is dramatic. I went from 75% humidity in the winter to 20-30% with the HRV. It works wonders! Tank aside I would never go without one of these in my house again. The house is just that much fresher year round.
No corrosion issues with the unit as it has a plastic air exchanger core. The unit is very quiet. It cost me around $1400 CDN for the unit and all the stuff needed.
It doesn't seem to affect the heating bill at all in the winter. In the summer I occasionally turn it off entirely if we have a REALLY hot day as I find the humid air it pulls into the house can make the A/C work overtime.
The main control is in the hallway near the tank; this has a humidistat that automatically ramps up the air exchange in relation to the general humidity in the house:
Each bathroom in the house has a vent that feeds the HRV.
There is also a push button to put the HRV on high for 20 minutes. This is SO much nicer than rattly bathroom fans.
A vent just in the kitchen helps ventilate the adjacent living room where the tank is:
There's also an air intake in the fish room to suck out the nastiest air.
The HRV itself hangs near the furnace in the basement:
This unit requires two 6" ducts to the outside spaced 6' apart. I had to cut holes in the foundation for this; messy work, but easy enough to do with the right rented tools:
Tyler
8BALL_99
New member
I used one for a little while in my equipment room. My equipment room is separate from the rest of the house though. So I really didn't need to keep any of the heat. I ended up replacing the air exchanger with two 6" inline fans. One turned as a exhaust the other turned as a intake. Works pretty much the same way except I don't recover any of the heat. I use the fans in the winter time to exhaust the humidity and cool my equipment room along with the tanks. In the summer the room has its own AC that cools the room and takes out the humidity. If you need something to just help with humidity they work pretty good. In my case I ended up needing something to deal with the heat more the moisture..
Will
Will
Toyota Guy
New member
are these stand alone units or do you need to have central air to use these?
tgunn
Active member
You don't need to have forced air HVAC to use the units. It just makes it easier to install. However it is possible to duct them in as you see fit.
I'm lucky in that I have an unfinished basement so I was able to run ducts up through the walls. If you have access beneath (crawlspace or basement) then with a little work you can run the ducts through the walls as I did. You just need a drill and reciprocating saw.
To locate where a wall is in the basement I typically pry the baseboard off, and using a small drill bit in the drill, I drill a hole through the floor as close to the wall as possible (this will be covered by the baseboard so no big deal). i then fish a wire or something into the hole so i can find it in the basement. That way I know where the wall is and I can drill up into the wall cavity.
Tyler
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