Home Ventilation Systems

We have decided to go ahead and install one of these systems, and have just started looking into the numerous different types available. I never knew there were so many companies selling them, although I haven't properly compared what the differences are yet.

Lots of research to be done of course, but I am interested to know what other people have done as well..

If this applies to you, and you don't mind answering.. My questions are:

1. What type of home ventilation system do you have?
2. Why did you decide on that particular one?
3. Any complaints? Wish you could have had a different one?
4. Approx how much did it cost and what sort of sized home do you have (i.e. 3 bedroom..)

Thank You :)

1. What type of home ventilation system do you have?

HRV

2. Why did you decide on that particular one?

We had other family members who had one installed and were happy with them

3. Any complaints? Wish you could have had a different one?

Don't think so

4. Approx how much did it cost and what sort of sized home do you have (i.e. 3 bedroom..)

$2.8K for small 3 bedroom house

1. We had HRV installed about 6 weeks ago.

2. Didn't look at any other options.

3. No complaints so far - it's certainly dealing to the condensation and I have noticed on sunny but cold days that the temperature in the house rises.

4. $3500 for fan and vents in lounge, dining, rumpus and three bedrooms.

I do hear the fan going sometimes - but is not annoying or anything.

1. What type of home ventilation system do you have? HRV
2. Why did you decide on that particular one? DH looked into it in some detail, he went on lots of nerd forums etc, and he decided this was the best one.
3. Any complaints? Wish you could have had a different one? No, best thing we ever bought, is far better than I thought it would be, wish we had got one four years ago when we first bought the house.
4. Approx how much did it cost and what sort of sized home do you have (i.e. 3 bedroom..) It cost $3500 (would have been $3950, but if you pretend you don't know whether to get it or not they will give you a prompt decision discount to get you to make your mind up). We have a 3 bed plus study, so they put in a two fan system with 6 outlets. There are two in the lounge/dining, one in each bedroom and one in the study.

Well we decided on a SmartVent after all the quotes were finished. It didn't come down to just the price in the end, it was more that SmartVent had a combination of all the good features of the HRV and DVS. We know a number of people who have installed SmartVent and are 100% happy with it!

SmartVents are installed by electricians, so these are the guys who come and do the quotes. DVS and HRV have their own inhouse installers and then have dedicated salesmen come out to do the quotes.. We got a lot more honesty from the SmartVent guy and lots of pushy sales garbage from the others. The SmartVent guy said that all the systems from the various companies work, the other companies were too busy bagging the others to admit they were all really the same kind of thing.

The 'basic' control panel for the SmartVent is much better than the 'basic' control panel available with both HRV and DVS. The HRV and DVS guys really try and push you into the more advanced control panel which obviously costs more $$.

SmartVent and HRV have the same type of flat F7 "Hospital grade" filter, we weren't too keen on the "sock" filter which came with the DVS which is not as good.

The SmartVent and DVS systems are expandable at any time if you decide to add features later. The HRV would involve you having to pay big bucks to get the "special" control panel which enables you to do this, unless of course you pay for it up front.

For anyone also looking around and comparing prices.. Here are our quotes (GST and installation included). 3 bdrm single level home - 1 fan, 4 vents.

HRV - $3060 (Filter: around $200 every 2 years, they must replace it)
DVS -$2555 (Filter: around $75 per year, you can change it yourself)
SmartVent - $2355 (Filter: around $100 every 12-18 months, you can change it yourself)

Intelivent - $4300 Not really comparable to the others, but you probably know that from looking ino it (Filters: Washable, $70 every 2-3 years)

We are paying an additional $1k for some add-ons which we feel will work well for our house. These being a 1kw heater which takes the chill out of the air being blown out of the vents. Also, the summer kit which brings fresh air from outside in the warmer weather. The other companies also have these add ons at extra cost.

Interesting you say that, because we were told on no uncertain terms by the guy from HRV that they would have to do all filter changes, and this is built in as basically a contract for them to do so.

Just goes to show how pushy they were with trying to unnecessarily enforce the extra costs onto the customer..

It has been about a year since we had the Smartvent installed, and we have come through our first winter with it, so I just thought I'd do an update to the thread since I have had a few PM's over time asking more about this..

I can still say I'm completely happy with the decision we made to get a ventilation system put in, and have had no issues with condensation since it was installed.

A common question I am asked is about the power usage and I can honestly say I haven't really noticed an increase in our power bill since we have had it. I was bracing myself the month after we had it in, thinking we'd get this whopper of a bill but it just didn't happen.. Might have been a few dollars more but that was it.

I think the trick to this is based on what our installer told us, and that is to just make sure you run the fan speed on only the required level.. So, in warmer weather we run it on the slowest setting, and for winter we cranked it up to the next level to accomodate the change in temperature when we noticed a slight bit of moisture on the windows. After that it was perfect again.. we'll slow it down again once the weather warms up.

Also, in Alyssa's bedroom she had this 1 wall which had a damp feeling when you touched it, like moisture was coming in from somewhere.. This is totally dried up which is a relief.

So yeah, excuse the novel.. I figure if someone reading this has been through a miserable damp winter in their home with condensation every morning, they may be interested in getting something sorted for next winter. Regardless of which company you choose to go with, they should technically all do the same job.

I guess some of them may do? Not sure if you would with getting a Smartvent, because it's installed by an electrician, but the other outfits sell and install so may have their own finance side of it.. The information would be on their websites I imagine..

KH25 wrote: Ohhh we just got one a week ago 1. What type of home ventilation system do you have? HRV 2. Why did you decide on that particular one? Did a bit of research and got recommendations from different people. HRV was by far the favourite. 3. Any complaints? Wish you could have had a different one? Not so far, it is awesome! 4. Approx how much did it cost and what sort of sized home do you have (i.e. 3 bedroom..) We have a 3 bed, 2 living house so have 2 fans and 6 vents. It cost $3800.

OMG Ditto almost word for word...we love it...warmer, drier air and im still fasanated by the roof temp and house temp.

We rang HRV, DVS, and Smartvent...HRV is who we went with, DVS didnt try and sell his product and was just rude...and Smartvent never contacted us back after 3 calls to them

editting to add, i didnt realise this was over a year old...but its still word for word...lol

Edited by Kazzle