HRV & Solar

newbuild06

Does anyone out there know of a company that specialises in HRV and solar panels together??
Or has anyone fitted a HRV unit in conjunction with Solar panels ? if so how do you find it ??
Thanks

CJhaughey

I am not sure what you are asking about, I have HRV and solar panels but they are completely separate systems.
The Solar panels provide DHW from May to Oct-Nov.
The HRV system runs 24-7 providing clean air to rooms and extracting old air from the Utility/Bathrooms/Kitchen.
The only way they interact is where the Hotwater tank is in the Utility and the heat escaping from the Tank goes back into the HRV to be recovered.
Although in Summer when the Tank got to 80ºc the HRV unit is on Bypass so the house is just ventilated not heated.

newbuild06

CJhaughey wrote:

I am not sure what you are asking about, I have HRV and solar panels but they are completely separate systems.
The Solar panels provide DHW from May to Oct-Nov.
The HRV system runs 24-7 providing clean air to rooms and extracting old air from the Utility/Bathrooms/Kitchen.
The only way they interact is where the Hotwater tank is in the Utility and the heat escaping from the Tank goes back into the HRV to be recovered.
Although in Summer when the Tank got to 80ºc the HRV unit is on Bypass so the house is just ventilated not heated.

THanks CJ for the reply
Maybe i was a bit vague, what i was looking for was a company that would supply both systems. What we are trying to do is to get our heating system/DHW and our ventilation all working together so i though there might be a company out there that used HRV/Solar and a pellet boiler (for example) as an entire heating solution rather than someone just fitting a pellet boiler. I though it might be easier to source one company rather than 3 if you get my drift.
How do you find the HRV for the house do you notice any difference ??
Did you go with solar panels or solar tubes ??

CJhaughey

We have 6.3m2 flat panel running into a 500l tank.
We found that we had ample hot water all summer.
HRV for the house is fantastic, not something that you notice but you always have fresh air not stuffy air.
House retains heat well and is very dry, bathroom tiles dry off quickly, as does the mirror.
I think that HRV is perhaps the one thing that makes our house truly energy efficient and comfortable.

AJL

There is a company in Wexford called ECO NRG. As far as I know they do wood pellet biolers solar panels and HRV.
I bought my solar panels off them.
I did not put in HRV but an air to air heating system (different supplier). Heat the air using an air to air heat pump at the side of the house. (yet to be commissioned).

Do-more

NB06 - I'd suggest that you do a little research on the different HRV systems before purchase, it seems that most on the market are "passive" systems and only a few incorporate an air to air heat pump. Suppliers of both types will probably claim efficencies of over 80%, but in the case of "passive" systems this will be 80% of the "sensible heat" only, while in the case of a unit with an air to air heat pump it will be 80% of the total heat i.e. "sensible" and "latent". There doesn't appear to be a huge difference in the purchase price of the two different systems. The running cost of the air to air heat pump type will be a bit higher but the amount of heat it recovers will be considerably more, typically 2-3kW's. Also look out for units which have a "summer bypass" mode as you will still want to ventilate the house but may not want to add heat to it.

AJL - Do you have a link for the Air to Air heatpump you installed?

AJL

The link is below
The system is a hi velocity heating system.
They supply the heat pump. don't know if the details are on the website


http://www.ejfidgeon.com/shows.html

newbuild06

CJhaughey wrote:

We have 6.3m2 flat panel running into a 500l tank.
We found that we had ample hot water all summer.
HRV for the house is fantastic, not something that you notice but you always have fresh air not stuffy air.
House retains heat well and is very dry, bathroom tiles dry off quickly, as does the mirror.
I think that HRV is perhaps the one thing that makes our house truly energy efficient and comfortable.

Thanks for the reply CJ,great to hear from someone who has fitted solar panels and HRV and finds them worthwhile.

newbuild06

AJL wrote:

There is a company in Wexford called ECO NRG. As far as I know they do wood pellet biolers solar panels and HRV.
I bought my solar panels off them.
I did not put in HRV but an air to air heating system (different supplier). Heat the air using an air to air heat pump at the side of the house. (yet to be commissioned).

Hi AJL
Thanks for the info
How do you find the air to air heating system, I was talking to someone about this before and they informed me it was a system that was really more suited to an apartment or a small house, ours is 2500 sq ft so they felt it wouldnt be beneficial for us. What size is your house ?
is the system expensive to run??

newbuild06

Do-more wrote:

NB06 - I'd suggest that you do a little research on the different HRV systems before purchase, it seems that most on the market are "passive" systems and only a few incorporate an air to air heat pump. Suppliers of both types will probably claim efficencies of over 80%, but in the case of "passive" systems this will be 80% of the "sensible heat" only, while in the case of a unit with an air to air heat pump it will be 80% of the total heat i.e. "sensible" and "latent". There doesn't appear to be a huge difference in the purchase price of the two different systems. The running cost of the air to air heat pump type will be a bit higher but the amount of heat it recovers will be considerably more, typically 2-3kW's. Also look out for units which have a "summer bypass" mode as you will still want to ventilate the house but may not want to add heat to it.

AJL - Do you have a link for the Air to Air heatpump you installed?

Hi Do more
Thats something i never thoiugh about since we were only looking at HRV unit rather than an air to air heat pump.
I must do a bit more research on it
Thanks

AJL

Sorry Newbuild for taking so long to get back to you.
Dont know why your friend said that it was for small houses. Hope not my house is 3400 sq ft!!. The system is not running yet. Probably in 6 weeks or so. It is a canadian designed system so I am confident it will work. The house I am building has got a heating requirement of 9-11 kWm2hy (dont know if units are right!!). It is air tight and needs mechanical ventilation. Because the house has such a low heating requirement it makes this system effective. ( I would not put it in a block house for instance with trickling vents etc.
The guy who sells the system has a load requirement on his house of 27 kWm2hy and he ran his system for 1500 euros last year so I'm hoping to run it for about 800-900. I cna give you more details if you wish.

jeffcolley

Hi Newbuild

There is a company called Nutech Renewables who offer an integrated system of solar panels and HRV. Their Sunwarm system has the HRV boosted by solar-heated air, whilst the solar panels are also used to provide hot water.

I edit a magazine called Construct Ireland which focuses on sustainable construction, and we ran an article on a 200 house development in Cork which features this innovation--it's online at http://www.constructireland.ie/articles/0214killeaghhousingdevelopment.php.

In fairness there are lots of companies out there who can offer you both, but I can't think of another system on the market that integrates the two in this way.

There are lots of great options out there for you including solar, HRV, ground, water or air source heat pumps, and biomass, but you have to be careful not to get dazzled by gadgetry. I'm sure you already know this but it's worth repeating: the most sustainable (and cheapest) use of energy is to use none at all. So your priority should be to limit energy demand as much as possible by doing whatever you can in terms of orientation, insulation, airtightness, etc. This will mean less of a burden on your HRV and fewer square metres of solar panels (should you look at solar air heating, which is much less common than solar hot water, for obvious enough reasons). Any renewable energy or HRV company worth their salt will tell you to spend money or energy efficiency first, and your energy source second.

I also think another fantastic alternative option, which may or may not be suitable for you, is the Dwell-vent system. It's just been recently developed, but I really think it's got enormous potential for new build.

Basically it involves what's called a Supply Air Window--an unsealed double glazed unit with one sheet of bog standard glass and one of low e coated glass, separated by about a 60mm cavity. No argon or crypton gas. Sounds crazy I know. Externally at the bottom of the window and internally at the top there are proprietary vents which look like trickle vents but operate differently--albeit with no moving parts. These windows are carefully oriented--as should always be the case--to the south as much as possible, and a passive stack chimney is placed on the roof. The stack draws air through the cavity in the windows, picking up a free pre-heat, before circulating through the building. The first example of this system in operation in Ireland is at Mater Orchard, a new Sisters of Mercy Convent building at the Mater Hospital. We featured this in Construct Ireland last year and as you'll see, the results of using this system are staggering. According to measured performance data (two of the bedrooms were being monitored) over last winter, the U-value of the windows was averaging 0.75w/m2k. That's as good as if not better than the very top of the range triple glazed crypton filled windows used in Passive Houses.

You can read about it at http://www.constructireland.ie/articles/0213mater3.php.

It's not the sort of system that should ever really be available in an off the shelf manner, as there's a large amount of design expertise required to make it work. Most Irish architects would even probably struggle to get the best out of it. But in the hands of a savvy designer, it offers enormous potential.


Best of luck

Jeff

www.constructireland.ie

newbuild06

jeffcolley wrote:

Hi Newbuild

There is a company called Nutech Renewables who offer an integrated system of solar panels and HRV. Their Sunwarm system has the HRV boosted by solar-heated air, whilst the solar panels are also used to provide hot water.

I edit a magazine called Construct Ireland which focuses on sustainable construction, and we ran an article on a 200 house development in Cork which features this innovation--it's online at http://www.constructireland.ie/articles/0214killeaghhousingdevelopment.php.

In fairness there are lots of companies out there who can offer you both, but I can't think of another system on the market that integrates the two in this way.

There are lots of great options out there for you including solar, HRV, ground, water or air source heat pumps, and biomass, but you have to be careful not to get dazzled by gadgetry. I'm sure you already know this but it's worth repeating: the most sustainable (and cheapest) use of energy is to use none at all. So your priority should be to limit energy demand as much as possible by doing whatever you can in terms of orientation, insulation, airtightness, etc. This will mean less of a burden on your HRV and fewer square metres of solar panels (should you look at solar air heating, which is much less common than solar hot water, for obvious enough reasons). Any renewable energy or HRV company worth their salt will tell you to spend money or energy efficiency first, and your energy source second.

Thanks Jeff for the information, i have been onto nutech renewables and am awaiting a quote from them, their sunwarm system seems to be something very close to what we are looking for.
you are right about the dazzling gadgetry that some companies are promoting. i was speaking to one crowd and asked for a quote, when i went back to them to see why they were taking so long they had gone into liquidation.
Our main priority is to insulate the house as much as possible as well as making it airtight so hopefully newtech will have the answers to our heating conundrum.

AJL

The name of the heating system is hi velocity. See link below
http://www.ejfidgeon.com/products.html

MicktheMan

newbuild06 wrote: »

jeffcolley wrote:

Hi Newbuild

There is a company called Nutech Renewables who offer an integrated system of solar panels and HRV. Their Sunwarm system has the HRV boosted by solar-heated air, whilst the solar panels are also used to provide hot water.

I edit a magazine called Construct Ireland which focuses on sustainable construction, and we ran an article on a 200 house development in Cork which features this innovation--it's online at http://www.constructireland.ie/articles/0214killeaghhousingdevelopment.php.

In fairness there are lots of companies out there who can offer you both, but I can't think of another system on the market that integrates the two in this way.

There are lots of great options out there for you including solar, HRV, ground, water or air source heat pumps, and biomass, but you have to be careful not to get dazzled by gadgetry. I'm sure you already know this but it's worth repeating: the most sustainable (and cheapest) use of energy is to use none at all. So your priority should be to limit energy demand as much as possible by doing whatever you can in terms of orientation, insulation, airtightness, etc. This will mean less of a burden on your HRV and fewer square metres of solar panels (should you look at solar air heating, which is much less common than solar hot water, for obvious enough reasons). Any renewable energy or HRV company worth their salt will tell you to spend money or energy efficiency first, and your energy source second.

Thanks Jeff for the information, i have been onto nutech renewables and am awaiting a quote from them, their sunwarm system seems to be something very close to what we are looking for.
you are right about the dazzling gadgetry that some companies are promoting. i was speaking to one crowd and asked for a quote, when i went back to them to see why they were taking so long they had gone into liquidation.
Our main priority is to insulate the house as much as possible as well as making it airtight so hopefully newtech will have the answers to our heating conundrum.

Did you ever go with Nutech and if so how did it go as my sister is thinking of a similar system.

Holla23

Hi,

Sorry to re-open an old thread but I'd be interested in anyone's opinion on the performance of this for DHW and heating?

Thanks!

edwinkane

newbuild06 wrote: »

jeffcolley wrote:

Our main priority is to insulate the house as much as possible as well as making it airtight

I wonder if making our houses airtight is going to be a case of solving one "problem" and creating another. I've always been of the opinon that airing a house is beneficial, and keeping a house too warm is also creating a good breeding environment for bacteria and bugs. And then there is the building up of such things as radon gas. And the enormoous increase in chronic conditions, such as asthma.

Macha

edwinkane wrote: »

I wonder if making our houses airtight is going to be a case of solving one "problem" and creating another. I've always been of the opinon that airing a house is beneficial, and keeping a house too warm is also creating a good breeding environment for bacteria and bugs. And then there is the building up of such things as radon gas. And the enormoous increase in chronic conditions, such as asthma.

Well, I think you're right that we have to proceed carefully and consider the individual materials and structures involved in each house.

Up until now, older builds have been exempted from BERs and energy efficiency targets but once all of the newer builds have been retrofitted, we will have to tackle these. And that's going to open up a whole can of worms.