Retrofits for a greener home
Heating and cooling: Air exchanger / heat recovery systems
Save on energy costs — replace stale air with fresh air
Maintain fresh indoor air, capture discarded air heat
A Heat Recovery Ventilator (HRV) is a ventilation device that helps make your home healthier, cleaner, and more comfortable by continuously replacing stale indoor air with fresh outdoor air. New homes built since 1977 are more airtight, which helps save energy but can make the inside air stale. To complement this air-tightness, modern homes use HRVs to distribute fresh air throughout the house.
Recovering the heat: During the heating season, the HRV captures heat from the stale air leaving your house, and uses it to preheat the fresh air coming into your house. Similarly, an HRV can reverse this process during the cooling season, removing some of the heat from the incoming air and transferring it to the outgoing air.
Goodbye pollutants: Not only does an HRV bring in fresh air, but it will also get rid of many of the pollutants in your home like excess moisture and moulds, household chemicals and bacteria.
Energy Recovery Ventilator (ERV)
Energy Recovery Ventilators (ERVs) are a type of Heat Recovery Ventilator (HRV) that can exchange both heat and moisture.
Moisture control: An Energy Recovery Ventilator (ERV) can give you more control over moisture levels in your home during warm and humid weather, by keeping excess moisture out of your home. Because less energy is required to lower the temperature of dry air compared to moist air, an ERV can reduce the work your air conditioner needs to do and save you money.
Moisture recovery: If your winter climate is extremely dry, ERVs recover some of the moisture that would leave your house through a regular HRV. This helps you maintain a comfortable humidity level within your home, avoiding static electricity, sore throats and other discomforts caused by air that is too dry.
What to look for
- An ENERGY STAR® certified HRV uses less energy, on average than a standard model.
- For homes with existing ductwork, consider a whole-house system.
- In homes without ductwork, a room-sized HRV can be installed in a window or wall opening. These are best for rooms with ventilation problems such as bathrooms or laundry rooms.
- Start your research using the searchable product list to find and compare ENERGY STAR certified heat/energy recovery ventilators.
- Check disqualified heat/energy recovery ventilator models that no longer meet ENERGY STAR program technical requirements.
Things to consider
- Hire a professional, licensed Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) expert to install your HRV system.
- Never turn your HRV/ERV off (other than for servicing), it should always be running.
- Arrange for annual servicing by an accredited contractor. If possible, have your furnace and HRV/ERV serviced at the same time. This will reduce the inconvenience and cost of two service visits.
- Clean your unit regularly, including the air filters every 1-3 months.
Average cost
$350 to $500 for mounted, room-sized models; $500 to $1,500 for whole-house systems.
Source: Natural Resources Canada
Financial help available for heat recovery systems
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