NF: HRV Lifebreath brand

[John Bacon]

One of my co-workers is trying to get a discount on a HRV system by getting a group of us to all buy one. My son has asthma so I think it would be a good idea to have one. The one she is looking at is the Lifebreath Heat Recovery Ventilation (HRV) RNC10 (123 - 177 CFM). Is anyone here familiar with this brand and model? Is it one that you would recommend or one that I should avoid?

 

What would be a typical cost of an HRV unit plus installation for a ~2,000 square foot house?

[Twocoda]

during the framing stage of a house the unit and install comes in around 3000.00 not sure what it will cost for a house that is already completed...the air returns for the unit should be located up close to the ceiling (hot air rises) in the kitchen and bathrooms...if you have exhaust vents already in the bathrooms and maybe an over head exhaust above the stove they will need to be eliminated as there should be no breach from the interior to the exterior and the unit should have the control over the air exchange to the entire house..if your intentions are using the cold air return vents to the furnace for the HRV ( and unless they are up high on the walls ) IMHO its not money well spent

[John Bacon]

Thanks for the information; there is a lot of things there that I had not considered. I do have three bath room vents and an exhaust fan in the kitchen; if the vents to the outside are to be eliminated I assume that I would have to vent the bathrooms and kitchen exhaust to the HRV unit in the basement? If I did that I should probably put the stove against and inside wall instead of an outside wall.

 

This sounds like a lot more work than I was intending to take on.

[Tinman]

There are several different ways to install an HRV, one being a dedicated system and one being non dedicated. Dedicated is having all bathroom vents and kitchen attached to the system and interlocked with the furnace blower motor. A non dedicated install would be installing to the duct work itself. The ideal way is dedicated system, but non dedicated is good as well. This can be interlocked to the furnace as well.