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.

Homes built after 1977 are typically more airtight, which helps to prevent heat loss but also prevents air circulation, which is important for your health and comfort. Heat Recovery Ventilators (HRVs), also know as fresh air exchangers, remove excess moisture and indoor pollutants (mould, household chemicals and bacteria) and let fresh air inside while minimizing heat loss.

During the fall and winter, an HRV captures heat from air leaving your house and uses it to heat the fresh air coming into your house. Similarly, an HRV can reverse this process during the spring and summer, removing some heat from the incoming air and transferring it to the outgoing air.

Heating water accounts for up to 20 per cent of a home's energy use, making it the second-highest energy consumer after space heating.

Drain-water heat recovery systems capture the heat from water going down a drain, typically the shower, and use it to heat cold water entering your water heater. It's particularly effective when there are simultaneous water flows i.e. when you're using hot water in the shower at the same time that water is flowing down the drain.