HRV questions

[Joel Craft]

Sorry could not find another place to ask these questions. My house has a lifebreath HRV installed in it. It has been -15 below for over a week now. My HRV filter is now freezing up almost every day. And when it does that it just shoots -15 below air into the house. Is there a way to heat that air before it goes into my HRV that I could get installed easily? Thanks Jay

 

[Mt Bob]

If it is ducted,they make an inline kit.If not,can you set a space heater in front of it?

 

[chken]

Sorry could not find another place to ask these questions. My house has a lifebreath HRV installed in it. It has been -15 below for over a week now. My HRV filter is now freezing up almost every day. And when it does that it just shoots -15 below air into the house. Is there a way to heat that air before it goes into my HRV that I could get installed easily? Thanks Jay

Assuming that the ducts are insulated, then perhaps, defeating the cause a bit, maybe you should try exposing part of the inlet duct before it hits the filter, to allow it to warm a little. Yes, it seems to defeat the purpose, but otherwise, it's not going to work at all. Did you read your manual to see what it says about extreme cold temps? I'm assuming effectiveness must drop considerably.

 

[Joel Craft]

When they built my house they ran the ducting up in the roof so it is what the outside temp is. It comes out in the middle of my house in a closet and that is the only part not up in roof. And that has 16 inches of blown in insulation around it. I did read the manual about it just trying to see if anybody out there has had this problem and how they corrected it. Thanks Jay

 

[Madcodger]

I'm guessing that raising it just a few degrees will help. A visit with the manufacturer's web site and help line is the best place to start, and perhaps with some Google searches. Doing whatever you do safely seems most important. Always a danger of fire when heating things is involved, so proceed with caution.That said, the only things I can immediately think of (and just wild guesses) include:

1) Trying heat tape on a few feet of the METAL (ONLY) cold air inlet ducting, but ONLY if it can be done without contacting flammable surfaces and only when it's very cold (perhaps below 0'F). Do NOT cover that section with insulation, which frankly makes this at best a marginal idea for a very temporary fix.
2) Alternatively, exposing a few fee of inlet ducting to inside temps, perhaps by rerouting/lengthening the inlet duct inside the closet.

 

[chken]

Madc has lots of good points. Read the manual, check mfr.'s website. Contact your installer/dealer. I have a HRV with a similar looking core to the one I've seen in the Lifebreath, but have had no issues, but I haven't run into -15 temps. This week though, it looks like I'm going below zero.