HRV question

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646 posts

Ultimate Geek

# 1937553 12-Jan-2018 09:55

OP mentioned a summer kit.

Surely this involves a actuated damper(s) to allow the system to select where it gets it's air from, with one of those options being (relatively cooler) outside air. Would also need insulated ducting so the heat in the roofspace doesn't heat the air in the duct through the wall of the duct.

half1

38 posts

Geek

# 1937562 12-Jan-2018 10:17

Once again if people could turn them off they would not put in off on switches !!! read the posts

half1

38 posts

Geek

# 1937563 12-Jan-2018 10:17

Once again if people could turn them off they would not put in off on switches !!! read the posts

kryptonjohn

2523 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

# 1937573 12-Jan-2018 10:56

andrewNZ: Incorrect again. The fans in these units are ALWAYS running, they just slow right down when the roof is too hot/cold.
There is always air coming in.

According to the display on our DVS which shows the state of the fan it does stop and start. Can't say I've actually gone up into the attic and pulled off the filter to see if the blades are turning slowly.

[edit: our DVS not HRV)

Also, the control panel on the DVS definitely allows it to be switched off. From the manual:

"Turning your DVS system off or on
To turn the DVS system off or on, press and hold the Menu button for 5 seconds.
If the system is switched off, the screen will display “SYSTEM STANDBY” and the fan and all
accessories will be turned off.
Press and hold the Menu button for 5 seconds to turn the DVS system on again. "

half1

38 posts

Geek

# 1937659 12-Jan-2018 13:04

I can turn mine off. but the difference is it turns itself on again when it feels like it. Like at night I will turn it off and if it is winter in the early morning it will start again and madly pump cold air inside This morning I turned it off at 7am and opened the doors and had the breeze blowing in as it was 25c inside. At lunch time it decided to start again and blow hot air in out of the roof.

Great

Starscream122

568 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

# 1937662 12-Jan-2018 13:07

half1:

I can turn mine off. but the difference is it turns itself on again when it feels like it. Like at night I will turn it off and if it is winter in the early morning it will start again and madly pump cold air inside This morning I turned it off at 7am and opened the doors and had the breeze blowing in as it was 25c inside. At lunch time it decided to start again and blow hot air in out of the roof.

Great

HRV off button on the touch screen control panel is more of a sleep thing. it turns it off for 8 hours. they told us this when they installed it.

Jaxson

6988 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

# 1937665 12-Jan-2018 13:08

half1:

Once again if people could turn them off they would not put in off on switches !!! read the posts

It must get it's power from somewhere. Just turn it off/unplug it during the summer months when you deem you have sufficient ventilation and low moisture buildup inside.

Fundamentally it's a draft that you pay for, but some places will of course benefit from forced ventilation. It falls over when it's really cold outside and your roof space is equally as cold, or in summer when it's really warm and your roof space is mental hot. I think it would be wise to install some form of override for extreme conditions, as it will cost you a lot of money correcting the temperature.

PhantomNVD

2568 posts

Uber Geek

# 1937683 12-Jan-2018 13:42

I have tested this out over the last two days and can confirm the following about my 2 year old HRV system:

1) it does NOT pump when the roof air is hotter than the desired room temp
2) the onscreen ‘off’ button only switches it off for 4 hours before it automatically switches back on.

Also, the ‘energy saver’ setting is the reason this works in SUMMER for HEAT (and apparently in winter for cold)as they obviously realise the windows and door(s) are likely open now too?

https://ibb.co/dqmmMm

half1

38 posts

Geek

# 1937705 12-Jan-2018 14:12

This is my controller

1eStar

1530 posts

Uber Geek

# 1937718 12-Jan-2018 14:54

4 people support this post

Buying a HRV brand ventilation system is much like paying to get cancer. The whole company should be incarcerated for deceptive and obnoxious practices.

Starscream122

568 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

# 1937719 12-Jan-2018 14:55

1eStar: Buying a HRV brand ventilation system is much like paying to get cancer. The whole company should be incarcerated for deceptive and obnoxious practices.

Lol I think they work quite well tbh

acetone

111 posts

Master Geek

# 1938892 15-Jan-2018 09:44

1eStar: Buying a HRV brand ventilation system is much like paying to get cancer. The whole company should be incarcerated for deceptive and obnoxious practices.

Honestly curious, could you please explain what these deceptive and obnoxious practices are?

Starscream122

568 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

# 1949230 31-Jan-2018 13:25

I can report that turning it off on the touch screen on our model will keep it off until we turn it back on manually.

chimera

400 posts

Ultimate Geek

# 1949338 31-Jan-2018 15:06

One person supports this post

acetone:

1eStar: Buying a HRV brand ventilation system is much like paying to get cancer. The whole company should be incarcerated for deceptive and obnoxious practices.

Honestly curious, could you please explain what these deceptive and obnoxious practices are?

- EXCEPTIONALLY pushy ruthless sales people. In fact, the lady selling me our one was so desperate (and to a point where she was quite rude) that she promised a nice bottle of wine if we went ahead then and there, bottle of wine never turned up so I chased up about it, got promises, promises (principle of it more than the bottle of wine itself) several months later after complaining to the boss at HRV it turned up. I've heard of many other people with similar complaints.

- EXCEPTIONALLY expensive for what it is, there are better systems on the market for similar money.

- It should be called an "R" - the "Heat" side of it is a waste of time, because in summer your roof cavity is hotter than the house, so you don't want air pushing around the house and warming it up even more. Conversely in winter, your roof cavity is typically colder than inside your house so you don't want colder air pushed into an already cold house. In fairness, you will likely get a few hours in a typical winters afternoon where this is effective, however it does not take long for the roof temperature to drop below the house temperature so (while it works relatively well for condensation) it can get super cold at night while you're sleeping.

- Their post sales support is rubbish - unless they are going to make extra money out of you, they don't want to know. I had a fault in ours a couple months after installation (some fan failure problem) it was months before it was fixed (granted that was about 9 years ago. maybe they've changed)

- Filters need to be replaced every couple of years and are very expensive if you get HRV to do it, I think around $280 or something I paid the first time around (granted you can get 3rd party ones for a fraction of the price and do yourself)

As a few here have probably read before, I built a little circuit board for the HRV that sends roof, house and control temperature plus current fan speed to my iPhone via OpenHAB home automation app. I'm going to be hooking up some iTead Sonoff devices (wirelessly controlled power switches) to the 2 x HRV fans in my ceiling soon so I can force turning it FULLY off via my phone when it starts to piss me off as its working against the heat pump I've recently installed :-)

kryptonjohn

2523 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

# 1949413 31-Jan-2018 15:39

One person supports this post

chimera:

- Filters need to be replaced every couple of years and are very expensive if you get HRV to do it, I think around $280 or something I paid the first time around (granted you can get 3rd party ones for a fraction of the price and do yourself)

Yikes. Just replaced the two filters on the DVS $62 each.

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