HRV Installation Richmond HillYour House Is Sealed. The Air Has to Come From Somewhere.
A heat recovery ventilator swaps stale indoor air for fresh outdoor air without throwing away the heat you already paid for.
Heat Recovery Ventilators (HRV)
Modern houses are built tight. That is good for the heating bill and bad for the air, because the leaks that used to ventilate a house by accident are gone.
What an HRV actually fixes
- Condensation running down the inside of your windows in January — the classic sign a house has nowhere to put its moisture.
- Air that feels stale or smells closed-up, especially in bedrooms overnight.
- Cooking and shower humidity that lingers for hours instead of clearing.
Helpful to know
- If your home was built in the last fifteen years or so, it may already have an HRV sitting unused in the basement — worth checking before buying anything.
- The core and the filters need cleaning, usually seasonally. An HRV nobody has opened in five years is moving very little air.
- It is ducted, so it works alongside your furnace rather than replacing any part of it.
- In our winters an HRV recovers most of the heat from the air it exhausts — that recovery is the entire point of the device.
Choosing between the two? See how an ERV differs. Also serving HRV installation in Markham, Vaughan and Aurora.
Common Questions
Is an HRV the same as an exhaust fan?
No. A bathroom fan pushes air out and pulls its replacement in through whatever gaps it can find, cold and unconditioned. An HRV brings a measured amount of fresh air in and passes the outgoing air past it, so the incoming air arrives already warmed.
Should I get an HRV or an ERV?
In most Richmond Hill homes the honest answer is an HRV, because our winter problem is usually too much indoor moisture rather than too little. If your house runs dry in winter, an ERV is worth comparing — see the ERV page for that side of it.
Will it make my heating bill worse?
It adds a small fan load and it recovers most of the heat in the air it exhausts. Compared with ventilating by opening a window, which is the alternative, it is far cheaper.