2

I bought a house with an HRV (Heat Recovery Ventilation). The air intake for it is in a closed compartment under a staircase outside the house, so any air going in first has to go through small gaps between the boards of the stairs. I doubt the pressure drop is significant, but this compartment gets rain, and it is dirty and moldy, and the only air circulation in it is the air getting pulled into the HRV and then into the house. Sure the filter does its thing, but still. The outlet is on the side of the house in a good clearing that should provide clean air.

I'm fairly sure I could swap the intake/exhaust by switching two ducts on the top of the HRV. Would this be better than the current setup? It seems like under the stairs would be a fine place to exhaust an HRV, but not a good air source. Am I missing something? I'm wondering if this was the intended configuration and someone made a mistake when installing it.

hamboy
  • 263
  • 2
  • 6
  • 1
    I have no TLA for the HRV – Ruskes Sep 12 '22 at 01:35
  • 1
    Presumably - "Heat Recovery Ventilation"? – HandyHowie Sep 12 '22 at 10:46
  • 2
    Consider that you'll be dumping fairly warm, moist air under the stair case. If it's already "dirty and moldy", that's not going to help. – FreeMan Sep 12 '22 at 12:20
  • Is"under the stairs" still outside the house or is it under the house (the crawl space of a pier-and-beam foundation? I cannot believe that any HRV system would be designed to take air into the house from under the house. Surely the system is intended to take in fresh air from outside the structure. I could imagine that air from inside the house could be exhausted into the crawl space under a pier and beam house because air from the living space would have to be drier than the air in the crawl space. – Jim Stewart Sep 12 '22 at 19:31
  • @JimStewart - yes, the stairs are outside, will update question. – hamboy Sep 12 '22 at 19:56
  • @HandyHowie, Ruskes - yes, Heat Recovery Ventilation – hamboy Sep 12 '22 at 20:01
  • Having both on a side wall is the typical setup. You want a place that is well aerated both to bring in fresh air and to take away the moisture from the house. – Jeffrey Sep 12 '22 at 20:08
  • Since the intake is outside the current setup might be acceptable. Can you can see that the current intake area is seriously moldy? Get advice from the mfgr of the unit. – Jim Stewart Sep 12 '22 at 22:22

0 Answers0