Smart Home Ventilation Nerd Out: BROAN AI Series ERV/HRV for HVAC Perfectionists 

Enjoyed the video. Thanks.

Probably the most comprehensive and practical description of a ventilation device I have found regardless of the type (HRV/ERV) or brand. We are in the process of removing ventilation from our HVAC contractor scope of work and moving it to our in-house team, at least with independently ducted systems because we are finding that our HVAC installers don’t seem to put much energy into understanding these systems. Thank you!

I installed a 210cfm broan ai erv in January and have been happy with it. In order to avoid the frustration of small proprietary filters that clog quickly I'd seen people complain about with other ERVs I installed inline filter boxes from hvacquick for both the fresh and stale air lines with much larger filters that should be able to easily go a year between changes. I like the advanced touch screen controller because I can easily check the ERV in my bedroom and adjust settings. I only wish the touch screen controller had a way to disable the light on the screen so I wouldn't have had to make a cover for it. I also have the ERV plugged into an Emporia Vue smart outlet so I can monitor exactly how much energy is used at different CFM settings just to know how hard the fan is working. At my usual 65cfm it takes 22 watts. I also use the wireless humidity/boost sensor in a bathroom that puts the ERV in boost mode either when it senses increased humidity or when I push the button to run in boost mode for 20/40/60 minutes.

Literally just installed two of them in a new construction project. So thrilled you put this video out. I’m putting a QR code sticker to this video on the unit ! ;) Keep up the amazing work. We love what you’re doing. ❤ One question: can you comment on noise of the unit. Trying to manage client expectations.

This was a fantastic video! Sent this to our HVAC sub as he just wasn't tracking on what we were wanting to accomplish. So best places to pull stale air from...? 1. Bathrooms 2. Kitchen 3. Laundry/Mudroom

Love it!!! More please!

Wow. Excellent video.

0:48 Agreed. We spec the use of ERV and often have to teach the reason behind it.

Question - what are your thoughts about installing in an attic? In Florida generally it is the only place anything can fit. Everyone has either an air handler closet or the air handler is in the garage (which is another disaster all in itself).

Thanks for the video! I love learning this!

Really like your content. I saw one of your older videos. You said you were not a fan of a Zender ERV. I wish you could explain why in a video sometime. Thanks

Have you done any videos on Build Equinox CERV yet?

Great explanation. Couple Qs and other never covered issues(by anyone). Is there a bypass mode that can be remotely triggered to bypass the core at times that it's cooler outside and you want to bring that cooler air inside vs the ERV doing it's thing and having to run the AC. And when I mow the grass... I have very sandy silty soil and it's a dust storm when mowing(My mower deck is always fresh steel from being sandblasted). Is there a simple remote button that I can use to disable the system. Or an interesting add on product would be a PPM meter that shuts the system off when the number gets too high for say 20 minutes then tests again and either restarts or shuts down again. And think filter changing amount of dust every time I mow. My biggest personal issue with them is just the logistics of installation in older houses. Houses here don't have mechanical rooms, basements, crawlspaces etc. In our house I haven't a clue where I would put one. About the only place would be in an unconditioned attic or shove it in a closet and figure out a way to duct it and basically none of those options are doable since AC units are often upflow like in ours (unconditioned attic mounted air handlers are the norm though) Since our house is older it's one of the rare ones that have a crawlspace but not easily accessible. Now one really odd application... I'd love to have the largest unit to put in my workshop. It would be nice to pull out dirty air when working in the shop and bring in fresh air without loosing all of that cold expensive air and replacing it with 100-110* outdoor air.

Hi Corbett. Have you ever heard of the US Dept of Energy's Solar Decathlon, which is held every couple of years and encourages students at architectural schools around the world to design and build a small house that is extremely well built and energy efficient? The houses, which are also typically designed to be off-grid, are then brought to one location (in the US it's usually the National Mall in Washington DC) for viewing by the public, and then judging for a winner. I was thinking it would be interesting for you to do a "concept house" of what systems and equipment, appliances, products etc you would select for such a house. You've done many videos on your tiny house, and your much larger forever home, but i would like to see what you would do for something that was permanently located on a site, either grid-tied or off grid, and about the same size as one of the Solar Decathlon houses (about 800-1200 sq' in size).

At 22:00 you mention a 6”-8” reducer. This makes sense to me, are you suggesting an 8” elbow or initial section of duct (depending on what is needed) right off the unit before transitioning to 6” for the remainder of the run?

I'm currently finishing up on my 2nd floor cut-in with a mitsubishi system (attic), the house originally had 1-system for the whole house. Since you've mentioned it's best to be in conditioned attic, and my isn't, is it still usable with insulations added to the unit (hopefully controller doesn't overheat)? I'm planning on getting their highest CFM model, that has the least amount of bells&whistles as possible (fancy means more problems). the reason for getting the highest cfm model is i'm hoping to also supply that to the basement system, to cut costs in installing 2 separate ERV and I wouldn't have any means to be able to add one to the basement system. 2 story colonial home plus basement.

I have an B130E65RS and here are my notes. 1) The ramp up and down of the fan when turning on is loud, it is quiet when running but the motor driver hits some annoying resonant frequencies of the motor coils or something where it is a little annoying when it comes on. 2) The minimum/low CFM that is automatically set when the unit turns on the first time will not run the unit continuously. I have to set the unit to medium to have it run continuously, in low mode the ERV does not stay on.

I have a Broan 160cfm unit based on your recommendation of needing 120-130ish cfm when we did my Manual J. Unfortunately Broan exaggerates it's performance, it maxed out at 136cfm with no ducting, one would think it'd be 160cfm as advertised. That's unfortunately left me with no "boost" mode. It will run wide open all the time just to meet the 130cfm the house calls for.

so, i dont have room in conditioned space. Im at around lattitude Latitude: 30° 10' in Florida. I even had to put whole home dehumidifier in attic because no room in conditioned space. I built platform over support wall for both devices. What will be disadvantage for ERV? Santa Fe told me no problem for WHD (even though I understand WHD reaching dew point in attic.)

I went with ventilating dehumidifier that has an extra controller (haven). Seems like this has a bit of this stuff built in.

Where did you get your ERV... It's a bit dusty on the top surfaces... 😅 Every time you touch the AI unit, i see new finger prints...

i love your channel. you say an ERV is best, but if i plan on exhausting air from my two bathrooms do i really want to capture the humidity and return it to the house?

Quick Question About Exhaust side. I used a Tee connection in My Duct line to exhaust different areas, and I noticed that suction pressure drops significantly between one Tee port and the other. So the further down the line the Duct goes the less and less suction power is present. I can increase the exhaust pressure by plugging part of the duct ports upstream. My guess is because I'm using the 6" Ducts, Maybe reducing the Duct size might help?? Have you noticed this? Is this normal? Or is it something that I'm doing wrong?

I love your videos and have a couple questions. Im building house in Orlando and have 2 carrier HVAC heat pump systems (upstairs and downstairs) and im planning on using a BR130E65RS and BR160E75RS respectively. Air handlers are next to each other in sealed attic. Planning on using T4 ducting as adding after the duct has been installed with venting through the roof. Is it possible to share the same external supply and exhaust holes? If so, any recommendation on if it’s better to merge the duct closer to ERV or roof and what size of duct and exterior hole? Thanks!

What are your thoughts about the prop 65 cancer warning on ERV’s? Seems concerning for something that’s gonna be on daily

Thanks again for another great video. I am a Career Tech Educator building Tiny homes with high school and adult Ed students. Would you recommend the 130 CFM unit for our application?

Currently building a house and doing my best to air seal the best we can without going crazy. Is there a certain point where you recommend having an ERV? If my blower door score is say 4 ACH50 would you NOT recommend?

Used my Fit70E to “blower-door” test my 470 square foot THOW. 56 pascals. 1.02 ACH50.

I'm in the northeast (zone 5 - VT) ~1 ach -Minisplits for both heat & ac -Smallish 18000 cubic foot home I'm shopping for an erv/hrv right now, but have been leaning toward an hrv as I start to air seal more. Currently I'm seeing ~48%-50% winter rh and 65%-70% summer rh with current tightness and a 50cfm constant-run bath fan going 24/7/365 I'm thinking that as I seal up more, I might get towards the higher end of the ideal (40%-60%?) indoor rh range in winter and thus won't want to retain moisture with the air handler (erv) in the heating season...... General thoughts?

Just did a DIY install! Very basic question, does Standby mode mean that the unit is turned on but not running? Mine only seems to have 3 options with the unit controller, Max, Min and Stb. It doesn’t do intermittent or smart mode.

Did i hear you right at the 14:00 mark? You dont recommend erv’s unless someone can not use a bath fan?? I may be misunderstanding the statement bc i thought ERVs were recommended for all tight homes.

What are your thoughts on Broan AI vs Panasonic Intelli-Balance 200? I'm in the early building of a new high-performance home. I currently have many pieces of ventilation from Broan. One thing that gives me hesitation about Broan is my experience with our Broan BEST Range Hood. They are costly, as in $2,500. We needed a repair on it was a nightmare in working with Broan. Took close to 4 months to get the correct parts and diagnosis.

downunder, supply ventilation systems are common and almost all run it off temperature like that units auto mode. useful when ventilation is a big cost to the heating/cooling of the home. however being an erv would you ever get that situation? also a problem we often get with that is the temps can change quick enough that you don't get much ventilation and the ventilation becomes weather dependent which is not what you want in a house. i really dislike intermittent running. storing the pollutants before venting them out seams poor. also the erv conversation really needs to include dehumidification. i have seen erv's sold with no thought to moisture levels in the home.

Just setting one of these up (V160E75RT, sold under VanEE here) and finding the house interior return & supplies have a crazy amount of fan noise for only pushing even 35cfm on low, and very loud at 90cfm+ with about 12' of 6" hard pipe and two long 90s... dedicated ERV ducts, not shared. Seems to be only mech fan noise, not at all from the duct work air turbulance, otherwise 35cfm would be fine. *Getting 128cfm for both in/out on the Broan self-test, so duct design is great, likely ~0.25"wc according to their spec chart. Anything you are suggesting for new installs to combat this? It's easily 4-5x louder than my heatpump supplies pushing ~65cfm down a 6" to 4x10" boot. My sheetmetal guy is suggesting adding in a 4-6' long U (180deg) out of insulated flex to act as a muffler, TBD if that works

0:30 hold up that's kinda goofy. They could just mount a heatsink thats coupled to the body/chassis near the supply that goes *into* the home. That airstream is supposed to be near room temperature, right? Why bother with deficated cooling. 20:00 oh I see, is it that the big mosfets are the big power disappaters?

Can Someone help Me here, unless I'm not seeing something here... I'm looking at these ERVs and I'm having a hard time understanding how the 2 Air Streams don't Mix. For Example at 03:36 on this Top Port Unit.. There are 2 Fans, 1 On top and One at the Bottom (Although the bottom Fan is not Visible from this Angle 03:49). However, If I Understand it Correctly, Each 2 Ports Is A Supply and Exhaust. But as I can see in this Video and pretty much any other Picture/Video with the Door Open, I See Each Of the 2 Ports Opening into the Same Chamber with One Fan. My Question is, How Are the Air Streams Separated? I don't see anything Separating each of the 2 Ports in each chamber. When the Air comes from one Chamber, It has to go through the Honeycomb Core and into the other Chamber (Even if it's Possible that the Air does not Mix INSIDE the CORE), I still don't Understand how It does not Mix With The Ingoing or out going air stream inside each of the chambers (AFTER Exiting the Core)? 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔

Can you get add a co2 sensor to this system to achieve a target co2 level?

Where does a dehumidifier get installed? Before going into the ERV or after?

I thought it depends on where you live whether you get an erv or hrv. I'm in zone 5 cold climate.

Why don't you like the recirc defrost?

Pushing air into the bedrooms and pulling it out of bathrooms will create a howling gale under your doors which will be particularly unpleasant in your bathroom. Putting a supply vent into the bathroom ceiling as far away as possible from the shower exhaust vent and with the outlet designed to give it some throw will sweep the steam out of the bathroom above human head height without creating draughts.

Where’d your hair go? Barely recognized you