Thanks Darren for educating the community on summer/winter settings of the RTS push button control. We hope your home continues to breathe fresh air from one moment to the next.
Darren, thanks for this information. Hope you're well since this Episode is 5 years old? May I ask if one manages the "ERV" in a similar fashion? Off in the Summer and control settings in the winter? In the summer when the outside temperature is around or below 24°C. I usually keep the front and back doors open with the active screen doors and let the house air out. Thanks in advance and God bless. 🤟🏼🖖🏼🙏🏼
omg I always never touch my HRV cause I was nervous n we never got a explanation about it. can you still have your HRV off in summer and leave your windows open in Edmonton Canada???
Great video. Any tips on where to start troubleshooting. My wall control for my broan doesn’t sync it. It will start up on the high speed but won’t shut off when I turn the wall unit off. I can’t get them to sync.
Can I replace the dumb VANEE switch with a smart switch ..with gradient control … like for one of those light switches … then use Alexa Routine program to control how often to turn it on and at how much : 30% or max%. Think this could work
Hi Rick, if you're in a dry climate then you likely have the opposite problem, your home is TOO dry in summer and you may have a home humidifier installed. In this case you may want to reduce your HRV in order to converse moisture in your home. A home can feel uncomfortable if it's too humid or to dry, neither is great, and if your home gets to dry some finishes and cabinetry may shrink excessively and crack. In our climate our home HRVs are setup with a de-humidistat which means it runs to lower the in home humidity. In dry climates you are most likely setup with a humidistat which will attempt to raise the humidity in the home and may control a furnace based humidifier.
i need one for my crawl space its cold down there in summer- yes its a wet crawl space that's how it was designed but i want to provide year-round ventilation with this unit. is it possible?
Why are you saying that HRV's should be turned off in summer? The owners manual for my system says it is very beneficial to leave the system on year round and in the summer it adds to the efficiency of the AC unit by cooling the outside air being brought into the home?
I have the same question. During the periods that our AC fan is not running, such as at night when the temps are coo, the air in the house is very stagnant. Also we are in COVID19 world right now and we are being encouraged to bring in fresh air. So many questions about how our Superventor HRV system is or is not a benefit in this circumstance. Please help.
@@barbaraneebelmeier639 Agreed. During the summer where I live in Canada, it can get extremely humid one week and then the following week can be a very dry heat. This is not useful at all. Depends on location.
Hi kwesty1, you make a great point and it highlights the limitation of what we're able to offer here. Our video is meant for our local climate and houses that we built in Southeastern Manitoba. This won't work in other climate zones and you would need to check with your homebuilder about any differences. The HRV can provide you with fresh air all year round, that is 100% true, and that can be a benefit. What also wasn't mentioned is that an HRV is interlocked with the furnace, so in summer when the A/C calls for cooling in your home the HRV will also exchange stale air for fresh air at the same time. However, this relatively humid warm fresh air in Southern MB will then run over the cooled DX coils in your furnace and the moisture will condense on the coils and run down out to the drain, this acts to dehumidify the air which allows you to cool your home without making it humid and uncomfortable. In our climate if your house feels humid in summer and you try to reduce the humidity by running the HRV without the AC you will only be ADDING to the humidity level in your home, the opposite of what you are trying to accomplish. It's important to understand what relative humidity of an air body means. It's a measure of how much moisture an air mass is holding out of it's maximum, but the maximum amount of moisture that an air body can hold increases as it warms. So a 32 degree C air mass at 50% RH contains 15.4g/kg of water within it, and that same air mass at 10 degrees C and 50% RH has only 3.9g/kg. Almost 5 times less water. When you take that 32 degree C air and bring it into your home and cool it to 21 degrees, that same amount of water is now 99% relative humidity and you're going to get condensation on surfaces. I hope that helps to explain it more.
Hi Tom, you are totally correct, the location/climate is critical. In Calgary, AB you could run your HRV all summer and it's going to dry out your home, most homes there have humidifiers, we don't normally have that in Southeast MB.
Hi Barbara, yes, the air can get stagnant at night when the A/C doesn't run. We always want to have fresh air in our homes, you can certainly run the HRV on a timer every so often to get that. We have found that many new homeowners will attempt to dehumidify their homes in our climate in summer and turn down their HRV to 40% or less which causes the HRV to run continuously and makes the homes very humid.
BUT, how do you get fresh air into your house in the summer, then? I'm about to move into a brand new home, how do I get fresh air in and tackle off gassing from new materials if it is off during the summer?
Just throwing this out there since this video only describes procedures for a very particular setup assuming that HRV's are used for no other purpose besides those described in the video. New modern homes that are very air tight would leave the HRV its pre-adjusted continuous setting and never turn it off regardless of season. The HRV in new air tight homes is not just for humidity, but for introducing fresh air into your home.
Hi Sean, you are partially correct, the HRV serves to balance humidity AND fresh air. In the particular climate of Southern Manitoba that this video was created for, running the HRV year round and not adjusting the settings could lead to permanent damage to your home. An example of this is that a comfortable humidity level in a home is around 40% RH. However in the cold winter months in Manitoba if you don't reduce your home humidity you will have excessive condensation and ice build up forming around your windows and doors. If this isn't maintained it can lead to the seals on the windows being damaged and you can get significant mold growth all over the house. It's important to also realize that the HRV is also interlocked with the furnace, so even if you set the humidity level way up in summer so that it doesn't call for air exchanges, as soon as your furnace or A/C starts it will start the HRV as well bringing in fresh air.
So if I have central air and HRV. Should I just be running AC to control humidity? Do I need a dehumidifier as I have a finished basement as well? Just purchased this home
Hi Robert, great point, you are right that northern homes may not having A/C. The basis remains the same, if the outdoor air relative humidity is higher than inside your home, and the air temperature is higher than inside your home (so likely anything about 20is degC in summer) then running your HRV in summer will make your house more humid. That can lead to increased discomfort and even promote mold growth. You could run your HRV at night when it cools off to remove humidity. Also, in newer homes the HRV is tied to the bathroom exhaust. So when taking a bath or shower the humidity in the washroom will exceed the humidity level outside, even in summer, which is why you would only run it on the timer to remove the excess humidity. It wasn't specifically stated, but these videos were designed for home owners in the southern region of Manitoba and the climate there. So these videos may not apply equally in dryer climates like Calgary, or Arizona etc.
Hi Ram, if your home humidity is low you should increase the setting on the HRV to the desired setting. However if you are living in dry climate the HRV will not be able to add moisture to your home. In this case you would likely need to install a home humidifier. Of course without knowing the specifics of your situation it's hard to be fully certain.
Thanks Darren for educating the community on summer/winter settings of the RTS push button control. We hope your home continues to breathe fresh air from one moment to the next.
Darren, thanks for this information. Hope you're well since this Episode is 5 years old?
May I ask if one manages the "ERV" in a similar fashion? Off in the Summer and control settings in the winter?
In the summer when the outside temperature is around or below 24°C. I usually keep the front and back doors open with the active screen doors and let the house air out.
Thanks in advance and God bless. 🤟🏼🖖🏼🙏🏼
Great video! Thanks for the tips as my builder didnt explain most of the things you said!
Hi! Any idea why my HRV filter is frozen.
omg I always never touch my HRV cause I was nervous n we never got a explanation about it. can you still have your HRV off in summer and leave your windows open in Edmonton Canada???
Great video. Any tips on where to start troubleshooting. My wall control for my broan doesn’t sync it. It will start up on the high speed but won’t shut off when I turn the wall unit off. I can’t get them to sync.
Can I replace the dumb VANEE switch with a smart switch ..with gradient control … like for one of those light switches … then use Alexa Routine program to control how often to turn it on and at how much : 30% or max%. Think this could work
What if you live in a dry state can you use during summer
Hi Rick, if you're in a dry climate then you likely have the opposite problem, your home is TOO dry in summer and you may have a home humidifier installed. In this case you may want to reduce your HRV in order to converse moisture in your home. A home can feel uncomfortable if it's too humid or to dry, neither is great, and if your home gets to dry some finishes and cabinetry may shrink excessively and crack. In our climate our home HRVs are setup with a de-humidistat which means it runs to lower the in home humidity. In dry climates you are most likely setup with a humidistat which will attempt to raise the humidity in the home and may control a furnace based humidifier.
This was really helpful. Thank-you!
i need one for my crawl space its cold down there in summer- yes its a wet crawl space that's how it was designed but i want to provide year-round ventilation with this unit. is it possible?
Just get a portable dehumidifier. Much cheaper and no plumbing is required.
I have old type controllers and don’t know how to use it if you can guide don’t know model but fan button at bottom and 5 lights up in line
Hi Santosh, these videos were designed for a specific group of homes we built in Steinbach, MB and the equipment they had installed.
Why are you saying that HRV's should be turned off in summer? The owners manual for my system says it is very beneficial to leave the system on year round and in the summer it adds to the efficiency of the AC unit by cooling the outside air being brought into the home?
I have the same question. During the periods that our AC fan is not running, such as at night when the temps are coo, the air in the house is very stagnant. Also we are in COVID19 world right now and we are being encouraged to bring in fresh air. So many questions about how our Superventor HRV system is or is not a benefit in this circumstance. Please help.
@@barbaraneebelmeier639 Agreed. During the summer where I live in Canada, it can get extremely humid one week and then the following week can be a very dry heat. This is not useful at all. Depends on location.
Hi kwesty1, you make a great point and it highlights the limitation of what we're able to offer here. Our video is meant for our local climate and houses that we built in Southeastern Manitoba. This won't work in other climate zones and you would need to check with your homebuilder about any differences. The HRV can provide you with fresh air all year round, that is 100% true, and that can be a benefit. What also wasn't mentioned is that an HRV is interlocked with the furnace, so in summer when the A/C calls for cooling in your home the HRV will also exchange stale air for fresh air at the same time. However, this relatively humid warm fresh air in Southern MB will then run over the cooled DX coils in your furnace and the moisture will condense on the coils and run down out to the drain, this acts to dehumidify the air which allows you to cool your home without making it humid and uncomfortable. In our climate if your house feels humid in summer and you try to reduce the humidity by running the HRV without the AC you will only be ADDING to the humidity level in your home, the opposite of what you are trying to accomplish. It's important to understand what relative humidity of an air body means. It's a measure of how much moisture an air mass is holding out of it's maximum, but the maximum amount of moisture that an air body can hold increases as it warms. So a 32 degree C air mass at 50% RH contains 15.4g/kg of water within it, and that same air mass at 10 degrees C and 50% RH has only 3.9g/kg. Almost 5 times less water. When you take that 32 degree C air and bring it into your home and cool it to 21 degrees, that same amount of water is now 99% relative humidity and you're going to get condensation on surfaces. I hope that helps to explain it more.
Hi Tom, you are totally correct, the location/climate is critical. In Calgary, AB you could run your HRV all summer and it's going to dry out your home, most homes there have humidifiers, we don't normally have that in Southeast MB.
Hi Barbara, yes, the air can get stagnant at night when the A/C doesn't run. We always want to have fresh air in our homes, you can certainly run the HRV on a timer every so often to get that. We have found that many new homeowners will attempt to dehumidify their homes in our climate in summer and turn down their HRV to 40% or less which causes the HRV to run continuously and makes the homes very humid.
BUT, how do you get fresh air into your house in the summer, then? I'm about to move into a brand new home, how do I get fresh air in and tackle off gassing from new materials if it is off during the summer?
Just run your HRV in auto all year round and monitor your humidity in the summer.
Why my hrv lcd off? Or blackout
How do i shut this thing off
Put it to 100
Thank youuuuuuuu soooo much 🙏 ❤ 💖
Just throwing this out there since this video only describes procedures for a very particular setup assuming that HRV's are used for no other purpose besides those described in the video.
New modern homes that are very air tight would leave the HRV its pre-adjusted continuous setting and never turn it off regardless of season. The HRV in new air tight homes is not just for humidity, but for introducing fresh air into your home.
Sean Stumpf I kind of agree but in the summer my house really does stay more comfortable with it off. I turn it on from October to April...
Hi Sean, you are partially correct, the HRV serves to balance humidity AND fresh air. In the particular climate of Southern Manitoba that this video was created for, running the HRV year round and not adjusting the settings could lead to permanent damage to your home. An example of this is that a comfortable humidity level in a home is around 40% RH. However in the cold winter months in Manitoba if you don't reduce your home humidity you will have excessive condensation and ice build up forming around your windows and doors. If this isn't maintained it can lead to the seals on the windows being damaged and you can get significant mold growth all over the house. It's important to also realize that the HRV is also interlocked with the furnace, so even if you set the humidity level way up in summer so that it doesn't call for air exchanges, as soon as your furnace or A/C starts it will start the HRV as well bringing in fresh air.
So if I have central air and HRV. Should I just be running AC to control humidity? Do I need a dehumidifier as I have a finished basement as well? Just purchased this home
Hi i just have question, so should i turn off my hrv in summer while using my ac on in summer months?
Statement for summer setting assuming you have air conditioning is not good. Many homes in the north do not have air conditioning but have HRV's.
Hi Robert, great point, you are right that northern homes may not having A/C. The basis remains the same, if the outdoor air relative humidity is higher than inside your home, and the air temperature is higher than inside your home (so likely anything about 20is degC in summer) then running your HRV in summer will make your house more humid. That can lead to increased discomfort and even promote mold growth. You could run your HRV at night when it cools off to remove humidity. Also, in newer homes the HRV is tied to the bathroom exhaust. So when taking a bath or shower the humidity in the washroom will exceed the humidity level outside, even in summer, which is why you would only run it on the timer to remove the excess humidity. It wasn't specifically stated, but these videos were designed for home owners in the southern region of Manitoba and the climate there. So these videos may not apply equally in dryer climates like Calgary, or Arizona etc.
What if home humidity is low
Hi Ram, if your home humidity is low you should increase the setting on the HRV to the desired setting. However if you are living in dry climate the HRV will not be able to add moisture to your home. In this case you would likely need to install a home humidifier. Of course without knowing the specifics of your situation it's hard to be fully certain.