Passive House - Fresh Air System Install & Costs (Zehnder)

Hopefully you know the benefits of building a tight home. With a properly sealed envelope we can increase our control over the conditioned space. This control is equally important for the durability of the building, as it is for occupant comfort and health. Because of this, building tight also means we need to ventilate right. Continuous, balanced ventilation is key to maintaining comfort and indoor air quality while reducing our heating or cooling costs. This is done through an ERV or HRV. These units will help extract energy from exhaust air and this energy to precondition fresh air we are supplying back to the house. And we can filter this air, giving us the peace of mind that the air in our house will never be stale or dirty. This is far from the reality of living in a leaky home with many exhaust fans with little to no supply or balanced ventilation. In this video we’ll see why Matt chose to install a Zehnder ERV at his house, what is involved, and why it is probably easier to install than you may think.

Be sure to visit Zehnder's website for more info

Huge thanks to our Show sponsors Polywall, Huber, Dorken Delta, Prosoco, Rockwool & Viewrail for helping to make these videos possible! These are all trusted companies that Matt has worked with for years and trusts their products in the homes he builds. We would highly encourage you to check out their websites for more info.

[iwenyou]

I can upvote for him. In China, even though it is better now due to many efforts, but a lot of family started to installing fresh air systems when renovating due to the bad outdoor air quality. The trend started about 5 years ago, and I think it probably going to become a trend in the US due to wild fires each year... We live in north cal, and we are most definitely going to install one next year.

[CybekCusal]

Pretty accurate information Matt. Good job. Please note one important item. In the north it's so dry in the winter, people suffer from nose bleeds and static electricity so we humidify our homes and commercial buildings. As a result there is a lot of latent heat stored inside and we absolutely use ERVs. They are probably just as important or more than the south because of our high delta T from outside to inside. I thought I would share this info with you.

[snowgorilla]

Now that is a well thought and engineered system, I really like not having to have all the extra exhaust fans, penetrations, ducting, wiring, whining to turn on the fan!, and bugs. Great Vid Thanks

[grzmil]

Hi Matt
fun fact from Poland. By code, min ventilation rate is 0.5 house volume per hour, however when designing good ventilation, people often recommend 1 house volume per hour.
Great channel. I've learned a lot about building from your channel and you got me interested in the topic. Thx 😁

[robertmccammon]

Ballpark prices, I'm so proud of you. Thank you.

[KMaz-]

Matt, you nailed it when you brought up wildfire smoke and filtration. Thanks! We're so tired of breathing crap air every summer in CA.

[tomtaft]

Matt, thank you. About to build my own super tight house, and this i clearly the equipment to use. Glad it was a long video, so we had time to absorb it all.

[townsendliving]

I'm sold, was basically going to do something similar, but this is the nicest kit I have seen. I'm a mechanic, and complete user friendly kits are the only way to go. I'm not sure I can afford to get the system right away, but I'm going to put it in my plans, and implement it when funds arise

[johnhother]

Great video - thanks. Concerning shower-room users forgetting to push the 'boost' switch - the MVHR (aka 'HRV') I'm installing (VentAxia Kinetic BH) here in England has an inbuilt humidity sensor so that the unit goes into 'boost' mode automatically for a selectable time whenever the humidity in the extract air rises. There may also be others that have that feature. One can also wire the light-switches in those wet rooms (via isolators) back to the MVHR so that it runs in 'boost' mode all the while those lights are on.

[shawncockrell]

I liked the little black boxes with facts...very nice touch. Only mis spoke information was on the bedroom co2 sensor, it will not ramp up the bedroom, it ramps the entire system in all rooms as there is no zone flow capabilities. Flawless presentation other than that one mis spoke, covering/touching all the job, excellent system !

[octavianboghici]

Amazing stuff! I appreciate your honesty and openness shown in these videos documenting the "how-to" and the "why" of different technologies implemented into your house. Here in Europe, we also have certified passive houses and even premium passive ones with top energy-saving solutions such as CLT panels used in the assembly of exterior walls, floors, partition walls and roofs walls, passive house doors, passive triple-pane windows with weather-based electrically controlled blinds, wired/wi-fi weather stations with humidity, air pressure and light sensors, green energy from photovoltaic and solar thermal panels, integrated smart meters and KNX-based protocols for remote monitoring and controlling of a variety of appliances such as the geothermal heat pump, ventilation units, room temperature sensors, hydronic systems such as subfloor heating and radiant cooling ceilings, wall-mounted smart switchers and app-based interface for ambient light scenarios, CAT 7/8 structured cabling for connected IoT devices and much much more...there is a growing worldwide tendency to build smart and even energy self-sufficient premium passive residential properties, office buildings, schools, kindergartens and the like....I would love to see some of these smart house solutions integrated into your project. Stay healthy and keep up the good work!

[jopo]

Great video. It's awesome when the questions you have floating around in your head, are gradually answered throughout the video. So rare for presentations like this.

[TheShallDog]

Please do a video this detailed when you install the heating and cooling system you plan on using!

[zacharyohare]

adding this to my ICF plans. Works absolutely perfect with ICF and solving some of the issues there. I planned on a multizone split A/C and heat, or ideally Geotherm if it is possible for the eventual location and my budget. This system is really simple and makes a lot of sense. Frees up planning in so many other ways it pays for itself.

[cjgetreal]

Would have been beneficial for them to discuss the kitchen exhaust and how the makeup is being handled. This is only the "fresh air makeup system" This really needs to work in conjunction with the rest of the HVAC system. Hopefully that can be covered in another show. Total cost is going to be significant.

[MrTedflick]

I love watching this next level stuff, and it was clear that Matt was like a kid in a toy store watching this guy demo it

[AlexSh]

I like that this system works independently from the other equipment. So you could use this if you have a ductless mini split system.

[danielrussert]

Matt, we start construction on a Passive House in September 2024 in WI. Trying to contact a Zehnder dealer for product and installation. You have a great channel.

[JeffandJake]

Using your videos to inspire my build up here in Canada :) thanks for the great FREE videos!

[publicmail]

Top of the line, looks like a great design in that they took everything reasonable into consideration to make a perfect unit. .75w/cfm is very efficient, it has to maintain proper cfm throughout varying SP's. Only $9.50 month at $.13/kwh.