The changing face of residential HVAC

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Air quality Conditioning ERV offers precise matters control over IAQ By Bruce Nagy

While homes built to the standard have typically been small, the technology is now being adopted in larger homes.

The 1990s brought the fear of a pending ventilation approaches and refinements. computer meltdown in 2000 (Y2K) and, well, For some, heat recovery ventilators the Spice Girls. But it was also a time when both (HRVs) and energy recovery ventilators the industry and building owners started talking (ERVs) are still fairly new concepts. However, a lot more about (IAQ). manufacturers are already turning their IAQ became a popular catch phrase when attention to more sophisticated ventilation we realized we needed to address volatile devices that may still improve air quality organic compounds (VOCs) in new homes along with . and buildings. In the last few years, evidence has been mounting that cleaner operating, zero Conditioning ERV energy homes and passive houses are becoming A conditioning ERV (CERV) uses air sensors more popular. In the quest to save energy we to continually monitor carbon dioxide and are reducing and re-using volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and indoor air more. But, is that healthy? It may be ventilates as required to maintain fresh, time for a new era for IAQ where we see new healthy air. It uses air flow and its own one-

36 Plumbing & HVAC – November/December 2018 www.plumbingandhvac.ca The CERV sensors monitor air quality and temperature room by room.

The includes a CERV fresh unit, ground loop and a hybrid water heater. third ton heat pump, which doesn’t require an proof bourbon made the list, a testament to the Used in super insulated passive houses so far, outdoor unit. rigorous Build Equinox testing procedures. the CERV has proven effective at finding the “Asthma used to affect about two to three The sensors allow the unit to determine right ventilation levels to significantly improve per cent of North Americans. Now it’s up to precisely when ventilation is necessary, the quality of indoor air. During its recirculation eight to 10 per cent,” said Ty Newell, professor or when the air is fresh enough to stop mode, it has also contributed to a more efficient emeritus from the University of Illinois, ventilating. It can adjust and optimize space heating and cooling strategy in some of who has been studying indoor air quality these smaller, tighter homes. for decades. About 10 years ago he designed It comes with sophisticated controls for the first CERV unit and has been testing and Used in super optimization and analytics, and three input developing it ever since with his company, insulated passive and six output channels to trigger external Build Equinox in Urbana, Illinois. devices. This allows the CERV to do zone “We spend about 70 per cent of our time houses so far, the CERV has control, while also monitoring and operating inside our homes,” says Newell. One of his a bathroom heater or other external heaters. case studies opens with the statement that: proven effective at finding “Poorly ventilated homes and buildings are High performance modular homes making us stupid, sick, and tired.” His work the right ventilation levels CERV units have been equipped with online aims to prove that buildings with better air to significantly improve the monitoring from day one and have tended to quality result in improved cognition, citing be installed by forward-looking developers, Harvard and ASHRAE studies as sources. quality of indoor air. working with Build Equinox on continuous Newell says most of our buildings improvement. “We do online version upgrades unfortunately do not have good indoor air during the year like Tesla, except we did it quality. before they did,” says Newell. The technology The CERV sensors detect carbon dioxide, efficiency with variable speed and builder relationships have allowed them to methane, propane, butane and 19 high and and control and can shut down motorized continuously study all their installations. medium high VOCs, including acetone, dampers connected to the outdoor , sodium hypochlorite, and Windex. Even 80 circulating the indoor air instead. Please see ‘Auxiliary’ on page 39 www.plumbingandhvac.ca November/December 2018 – Plumbing & HVAC 37 QVentilation

Auxiliary heat for extreme cold

Continued from page 37

The case example involves Vermod High Performance Modular Homes, a collection of 80 prefab passive homes in Vermont, Chris and Judy Lee’s Goderich home features an earth tube that preheats incoming air. ventilated with CERVs and also equipped with heat pump water heaters. Thirteen of the houses are about 2,500 sq. ft and are The primary energy usage in the 13 homes and shoulder seasons. heated and cooled using Mitsubishi VRF is nine kilowatt hours per sq. ft. per year It comes in a residential package with systems. Newell has extensive data on their (97 kWh/square metre per year) This saves prefab stainless-steel inlet tower, filters, and performance, dating back to early 2015. homeowners around $1,000 to $2,000 per condensate sump. Sloping the earth tube one In winter, the mini-split heat pump year in utilities. Not bad for small houses in per cent toward a condensate sump prevents provides heat to the living room, dining area one of the harshest U.S. climate zones. build-up of moisture (and mold growth). and kitchen. The hybrid water heater removes Former dairy farmers, the Lees have a heat from the air around it in the mechanical Meanwhile, in Canada 100-kilowatt solar array on the roof of their closet. Its cool exhaust air is picked up by In a new 2,160 square foot passive house near barn, which eliminates their monthly cost for the CERV’s supply fan. The heat removed Goderich, Ont., owners Chris and Judy Lee power, heat and cooling. The CERV unit also by the water heater must be replaced by a have installed a CERV unit, along with a slightly alleviated Chris’ lifelong allergy problem. combination of the mini split and the CERV. different lineup of accompanying equipment. Thousands of zero energy buildings are now Efficiency is higher than if an electric water (Passive house is a voluntary standard for homes being built across North America and municipal heater had been used instead of the hybrid that use 90 percent less energy for heating and building codes are moving in that direction. It water heater. The mini split and CERV lift cooling than with a conventional system.) might be time to think about how you are going energy from cold outdoor temperatures to In the Lee home, there is no heat pump to to incorporate new building technologies like indoor air temperatures. The hybrid water keep the ventilation air warm during extreme passive house, CERVs, earth tubes and IAQ 2.0 heater lifts energy from to cold. The CERV controls and operates an into the services offered by your business.  hot water temperature level. auxiliary 5kW electric post-heater. Summer thermal performance efficiency is Together they deliver 17,000 BTU/hr, again in greater than winter because the hybrid water conjunction with a heat-pump water heater. Bruce Nagy is a Toronto heater has a dual benefit, said Newell. It heats The Lees also installed an EcoAir earth writer, author of more than water with a useful by-product of the cool, tube, which is an eight-inch diameter, 180 ft. 150 articles on clean energy. dehumidified air that the CERV distributes long tube buried about six feet below ground, His new book, ‘The Clean Energy Age’ was released to the rest of the home. If the CERV did where the temperature is approximately 6 on Amazon by Rowman & not circulate air from the water heater, the C to 8 C. It works passively, providing up to Littlefield in 2018. He can be reached at mechanical closet would get colder, reducing 4,500 BTU/h of pre-heating in the winter and [email protected]. water heater efficiency. pre-cooling and dehumidification in summer www.plumbingandhvac.ca November/December 2018 – Plumbing & HVAC 39