Commissioning The World’s Most Efficient Fresh Air System

Ultimately Zehnder needs to bring the unit from Europe that integrates a dehumidifier with the system to the US: the ComfoCool Q, not just the ComfoAir Q.

I put the same system in my house about 2 years ago. Efficient, quiet and forgettable.Great system!

I would love to see more videos or a live stream with experts discussing HVAC. We are remodeling our old house and updating everything. Using closed cell foam and AeroBarrier. Hoping to get below .8 ACH/50. All our local HVAC companies that have looked at our job have had no experience with HRVs. They haven't been able to answer how tight/when you need HRV. How to vent bathroom/range if you have HRV.

Chris is Awesome! Thanks for the great explanations.

These systems are crazy to me. I grew up with hot water baseboard heat in Michigan's upper peninsula and gas forced air in Wisconsin. I love the idea of each room being dialed in and not just guessing

I need this in my life! I'm definitely chasing this in my custom build.

What is a bit odd is that the system when triggered for the bathroom seems like it will send the WHOLE unit into high speed mode, and not just the single room that it is needed as the whole system is balanced at a room level by what is essentially manual dampers. There could be a potential for efficiency improvements.

Hi Matt, I'm a builder from Australia, Melbourne and we love your work. Given your extensive knowledge in this subject I'm wondering how to ventilate timber frames naturally with ICF type walls? We use Dincel or pvc concrete filled walls for basement constructions. Would you recommend steel frames? Or is mechanical ventilation the only option? General method is brick veneer facade on timer frames, which has obvious limitations with respect to insulation but evenly spaced weepholes or vents ensures no moisture build up against timber frames.

Hi Matt, I LOVED this video. Just one question related to your "Balanced & Distributed" system... Are you somewhat over ventilating your home? I know ASHRE doesn't give credit for a Balanced & Distributed system... but Doc Joe Lsebrick's BSC-1 does... and on my house it ended up being a lower overall CFM requirement for our home as compared to the ASHRE Standard. Cheers, Eric

For anybody that wants my first hand experience here it is. Built a 2ach50 barndominim super insulated double stud frame conditioned crawlspace the works. I've been cooling and dehumidifying it while I built it with the hrv off. Electric bill in summer 30 bucks. (very minimal attic insulation still) Moved in turned on the hrv. It takes air out of the bathrooms and brings air into the HVAC return. Humidity went through the roof. The dehumidifier ran all day and only got the house down to 60 percent. Electric bill was on track to be 250$. Turned off the hrv and the humidity dropped 10 points in 3 hour. In my opinion it's a waste. Ymmv

I got the idea from Matt's ERV videos to do something similar when I built a large house and had the HVAC guys install a 300 cfm ERV which pulled air from bathrooms and laundry rooms and put fresh air in bedrooms. In addition to the whole system percent timer, they created a circuit board with zone dampers in the duct work which defaulted to fully open that worked with analog bathroom exhaust timers so that when a bath room timer was activated it would partially close down dampers going to other bathrooms (two laundry exhausts always remained fully open) and therefore pull harder from the offending bathroom (or bathrooms if more than one was running a timer concurrently) until the timer ended. The 'bath exhaust timers' would also activate the ERV if it wasn't already running based on the percent timer. It was silent and worked EXTREMELY well to get rid of smell. That being said, I missed the noise created by the exhaust fan so it made using the bathroom a little less private.

Fabulous system, but expensive, and I'm not sure if them charging you for airfare is a great perk.

It would be cool if for the cooktop air system, turning on the exhaust fume hood could send a low voltage signal to the ERV, which would trigger the ERV to increase supply air CFMs by how ever CFMs the cooktop exhaust hood is removing. Yes, the ERV would not technically be balanced during this moment, but the whole house would still be balanced technically. I would imagine one of the reasons for not doing this is that the cooktop exhaust hood removes too many CFMs that the ERV couldn't make up. Still a cool idea though. Great video!

Great video! What's the long-term maintenance requirement for the tubes? Do they need to be cleaned by a pro at certain time intervals?

Hey Matt, great series. If you were to eventually sell this home what kind of documentation of all the systems (e.g. HVAC, etc) would you put together for the new owners? Curious because I'm sure most home owners wouldn't know where to start if something stops working.

Excellent review

Totally want this for building my dream home!

Mat, unless I've missed it, could you do a show on your induction stove top. Maybe after your wife has used it for several months. I have used counter top induction for years. I've heard good things about stove top units. I would appreciate a deep dive on induction. Also what type of oven you are using. Thanks

Excellent stuff bro

Nice setup