I think it's important to include partial-home ventilation too. For example, my house is one of those 100+ year old ones that would need a lot of labor hours to install a whole-house system properly. I have a Radon level of 8.1 pCi/L (pico curies per Liter for those who don't know. [This corresponds to a rough equivalent of a non-smoker, smoking 16 cigarettes per day in terms of lung cancer risk]) So I have an ERV (Maine, USA) which is supplying air to a mudroom and a bedroom(both in finished basement), and exhausting from a bathroom and unfinished basement area. This radon approach was necessary as a normal mitigation system would not be possible with my foundation. Total cost was below $4,000. Most Radon-ventilation installations would be between $3-5.5k up here. A partial-home system can also be installed to treat an issue such as a known off-gassing source (like an oil spill) or a known moisture intrusion that would be difficult to manage another way. The key of course is knowing, which is a big challenge much of the time.
@@technorex344 I LOVE this comment! Great points. Installing a whole-house ventilation system is a large project in terms of budget and convenience. There are lots of "partial" ventilation systems like a product called Humidex. It is installed in the basement/cellar only and offers ventilation for the main rooms of the house. Thanks for jumping in!
I spray water over the roof, scheduled to operate 2 minutes every 30 minute-period between 11am and 4pm. Besides, the house has opposite ventilations and an indoor pond. (StillI am watching your video to get an idea to lower the temperature even more)
I constantly have my ceiling fan upstairs going. There's a powerful exhaust fan going in the basement when it detects moisture, and it pumps straight outside. Then I'll periodically turn on my kitchen hood fan and it exhausts directly outside. Then I crack the bedroom windows on a nice day. Never had any mold problems and my house has never felt musty or damp. I've been sick from black mold before at previous places I've lived, and I'm making sure it never happens again. Full house ventilation is very important in damp climates.
I put my evaporative cooler on “vent” with slightly open windows in my home to create a steady stream of outside air coming in through the filters and then out the open windows. Constantly replaces indoor air with outside air.
Hi, We have a 40 year old ‘mobile home’. We live in BC, Canada where it is damp outside for 5 months of the year. In the bathroom, we have just installed a Panasonic ‘Whisper Green’ ceiling fan. This fan is permanently on, pulling air through the house (in theory). Surely to work effectively the expelled air needs to be displaced? Is there some means of allowing displacement air into the house, without losing all the heat? Thank you for helping us keep our houses free of ‘signature smells...’. :-)
One consideration tho is if you live in an area with hurricanes/bad storms and high humidity, an airtight home that requires mechanical ventilation risks being damp and moldy for weeks after a storm takes out power, whereas a passively ventilating house like one with a vented attic will dry out much better on its own. If you have an airtight home in such an area, do extra research, and I'd bump a generator higher up on your list of priorities.
I dug out my crawl space and built a 300 sq. ft. guest suite and currently open windows for fresh air because the space is tight, I could add a staircase and open it up to the upstairs to get full ventilation, is that my best option? I am concerned about the mechanical room causing a problem with carbon monoxide in a worst case scenario. Can I add a “basement” mechanical ventilation system?
I have no Windows in my plan.. I m planning to have forced ventilation. But then the design of the house is such that most of the rooms can vent through a skylight. Can I make use of convection alone and skip having a large motor and fan system? Fans need ducting and that needs to be hidden.. Adds complexity inconveniences and cost.
How about if you use natural ventilation in that area that the humidity is higher than 70%? Opening the windows when outside is humid, does this prevent mold in the house?
Great question, Veronica! It really depends on the dew point. If outdoors is 70% humidity and colder than your indoor temperature, you should be fine opening windows. If it's 70% humidity and hotter than indoors, use AC or a dehumidifier and not opened windows.
Hi Tonio! CMV isn't a very common term in English-speaking North America. Try searching for "balanced mechanical ventilation system". If we understand correctly, it appears that CMV systems are similar to our "air exchanger" systems and lack the heat exchanging cores of ERVs/HRVs.
Hi, we just bougth a 1970 house and it has 2 roud « exhaust vents » and a bathroom mechanical humidity exhaust vent. They seem to be relied togueter in the attic and are connected throug a metal box (no motor or power line attached to) and are connected to a roof vent (whitout ventilator) would you happen to know how it works lr the name of the system? Do they need to be open at all times? Or closed? Can I add a fan to the one in the bathroom? Thanks!
I open my window which has a screen since there's a lot of mosquitoes on the farm. the wind is not passing in strong enough so I put a flat fan in my window as an intake fan
We don’t have any ventilation at all in our house, it’s not on. I open windows and doors from time to time but how bad is it not having any ventilation at all? It’s been like this for two months now
Lol thousands 🤣...like the Amityville. 🪰🪰🪰🪰🪰🪰🪰🪰🪰🪰🪰🪰🪰🪰🪰🪰🪰🪰🪰🪰🪰🪰🪰🪰🪰🪰🪰🪰🪰🪰🪰. I hope the God is not that bad and I hope you know Jesus Christ loves you and saves your soul.
I dug out my crawl space and built a 300 sq. ft. Guest suite and currently open windows for fresh air because the space is tight, I could open it up to the upstairs to get full ventilation, is that my best option?
HYPE! Know house is so airtight you can get a low oxygen situation, I see this fantasy all the time in California, we never worried about ventilation in Michigan. Get outside air on cool summer nights, or warm winter days. If you have a moisture problem, ventilation is only a Band-Aid at best. In fact on high pollution days (regional), you should keep your house sealed, the air is cleaner inside.
Can I ask your opinion on a setup im considering trying to ventilate my home. Installing 2 inline 4" grower op fans each pulls about 140cfm. Duct them both to the main hvac plenums. Have one pull from the return plenum drawing air from the house and exhausting outside. The second one will be drawing from out side and dumping into the supply plenum bringing fresh air in and stale air out at the same rate...keeping pressure levels stable. We also have a whole home dehumidifier hooked to our system so the air will be leveled out humidity wise. I would have both of these fans set on a timer to operate at the same time. Mostly would be using the fans on a day or eve where the air temp outside is same as inside the home...usually nighttime. Run for 4 hours per night...just to replace the stale air. Do you forsee any issue with my macgyver style HRV/ERV?
@@spd3ictpro Not significantly. It may not even be reasonably measurable. That of course is assuming you go with a normal sized mesh. The smaller the openings, the more restriction to the air flow. Air is difficult to measure accurately. As he said, there's a 1-ply toilet paper test for vent testing, which is nearly as accurate as a high end meter.
How do you ventilate your home? Is it working for you?
I think it's important to include partial-home ventilation too. For example, my house is one of those 100+ year old ones that would need a lot of labor hours to install a whole-house system properly.
I have a Radon level of 8.1 pCi/L (pico curies per Liter for those who don't know. [This corresponds to a rough equivalent of a non-smoker, smoking 16 cigarettes per day in terms of lung cancer risk])
So I have an ERV (Maine, USA) which is supplying air to a mudroom and a bedroom(both in finished basement), and exhausting from a bathroom and unfinished basement area.
This radon approach was necessary as a normal mitigation system would not be possible with my foundation. Total cost was below $4,000. Most Radon-ventilation installations would be between $3-5.5k up here.
A partial-home system can also be installed to treat an issue such as a known off-gassing source (like an oil spill) or a known moisture intrusion that would be difficult to manage another way. The key of course is knowing, which is a big challenge much of the time.
@@technorex344 I LOVE this comment! Great points. Installing a whole-house ventilation system is a large project in terms of budget and convenience. There are lots of "partial" ventilation systems like a product called Humidex. It is installed in the basement/cellar only and offers ventilation for the main rooms of the house. Thanks for jumping in!
I spray water over the roof, scheduled to operate 2 minutes every 30 minute-period between 11am and 4pm. Besides, the house has opposite ventilations and an indoor pond. (StillI am watching your video to get an idea to lower the temperature even more)
I constantly have my ceiling fan upstairs going. There's a powerful exhaust fan going in the basement when it detects moisture, and it pumps straight outside. Then I'll periodically turn on my kitchen hood fan and it exhausts directly outside. Then I crack the bedroom windows on a nice day. Never had any mold problems and my house has never felt musty or damp. I've been sick from black mold before at previous places I've lived, and I'm making sure it never happens again. Full house ventilation is very important in damp climates.
I put my evaporative cooler on “vent” with slightly open windows in my home to create a steady stream of outside air coming in through the filters and then out the open windows. Constantly replaces indoor air with outside air.
Hi, We have a 40 year old ‘mobile home’. We live in BC, Canada where it is damp outside for 5 months of the year. In the bathroom, we have just installed a Panasonic ‘Whisper Green’ ceiling fan. This fan is permanently on, pulling air through the house (in theory). Surely to work effectively the expelled air needs to be displaced? Is there some means of allowing displacement air into the house, without losing all the heat? Thank you for helping us keep our houses free of ‘signature smells...’. :-)
One consideration tho is if you live in an area with hurricanes/bad storms and high humidity, an airtight home that requires mechanical ventilation risks being damp and moldy for weeks after a storm takes out power, whereas a passively ventilating house like one with a vented attic will dry out much better on its own. If you have an airtight home in such an area, do extra research, and I'd bump a generator higher up on your list of priorities.
I have an older home no ventilation and all my windows are wet and moldy i need vents!
I dug out my crawl space and built a 300 sq. ft. guest suite and currently open windows for fresh air because the space is tight, I could add a staircase and open it up to the upstairs to get full ventilation, is that my best option? I am concerned about the mechanical room causing a problem with carbon monoxide in a worst case scenario. Can I add a “basement” mechanical ventilation system?
Would an air purifier work
I have no Windows in my plan.. I m planning to have forced ventilation. But then the design of the house is such that most of the rooms can vent through a skylight. Can I make use of convection alone and skip having a large motor and fan system?
Fans need ducting and that needs to be hidden.. Adds complexity inconveniences and cost.
How about if you use natural ventilation in that area that the humidity is higher than 70%? Opening the windows when outside is humid, does this prevent mold in the house?
Great question, Veronica! It really depends on the dew point. If outdoors is 70% humidity and colder than your indoor temperature, you should be fine opening windows. If it's 70% humidity and hotter than indoors, use AC or a dehumidifier and not opened windows.
Why can't I find any video on YT about Controlled mechanical ventilation (CMV) in English? Is that not a thing in America?
Hi Tonio! CMV isn't a very common term in English-speaking North America. Try searching for "balanced mechanical ventilation system". If we understand correctly, it appears that CMV systems are similar to our "air exchanger" systems and lack the heat exchanging cores of ERVs/HRVs.
@@buildwithrise Thanks.
this became also super relevant because of the pandemic
Hi, we just bougth a 1970 house and it has 2 roud « exhaust vents » and a bathroom mechanical humidity exhaust vent. They seem to be relied togueter in the attic and are connected throug a metal box (no motor or power line attached to) and are connected to a roof vent (whitout ventilator) would you happen to know how it works lr the name of the system? Do they need to be open at all times? Or closed? Can I add a fan to the one in the bathroom? Thanks!
I open my window which has a screen since there's a lot of mosquitoes on the farm. the wind is not passing in strong enough so I put a flat fan in my window as an intake fan
We don’t have any ventilation at all in our house, it’s not on. I open windows and doors from time to time but how bad is it not having any ventilation at all? It’s been like this for two months now
I keep opening my window but then thousands of flies fly in and a few spiders 🕷
Get some screens! Honestly, if windows are your only source of ventilation you really should be opening them up once in a while.
Lol thousands 🤣...like the Amityville. 🪰🪰🪰🪰🪰🪰🪰🪰🪰🪰🪰🪰🪰🪰🪰🪰🪰🪰🪰🪰🪰🪰🪰🪰🪰🪰🪰🪰🪰🪰🪰.
I hope the God is not that bad and I hope you know Jesus Christ loves you and saves your soul.
I dug out my crawl space and built a 300 sq. ft. Guest suite and currently open windows for fresh air because the space is tight, I could open it up to the upstairs to get full ventilation, is that my best option?
HYPE! Know house is so airtight you can get a low oxygen situation, I see this fantasy all the time in California, we never worried about ventilation in Michigan. Get outside air on cool summer nights, or warm winter days. If you have a moisture problem, ventilation is only a Band-Aid at best.
In fact on high pollution days (regional), you should keep your house sealed, the air is cleaner inside.
Very helpful of you.. keep on providing with such information.
Thanks for the kind words, Kapil!
@@buildwithrise kkkk
Kkku
@@buildwithrise kk
Kk
Can I ask your opinion on a setup im considering trying to ventilate my home.
Installing 2 inline 4" grower op fans each pulls about 140cfm. Duct them both to the main hvac plenums. Have one pull from the return plenum drawing air from the house and exhausting outside. The second one will be drawing from out side and dumping into the supply plenum bringing fresh air in and stale air out at the same rate...keeping pressure levels stable. We also have a whole home dehumidifier hooked to our system so the air will be leveled out humidity wise.
I would have both of these fans set on a timer to operate at the same time. Mostly would be using the fans on a day or eve where the air temp outside is same as inside the home...usually nighttime. Run for 4 hours per night...just to replace the stale air.
Do you forsee any issue with my macgyver style HRV/ERV?
I use a fan
Combined with open windows, that can be a great natural ventilation option!
The entire setup would cost about $200 cad as opposed to nearly $1800 for actual erv/hrv
I can't open our windows since the insects are always active
Insect mesh panel on the window is the solution.
@@jibjibam doesnt it reduce the air flow?
@@spd3ictpro Not significantly. It may not even be reasonably measurable. That of course is assuming you go with a normal sized mesh. The smaller the openings, the more restriction to the air flow.
Air is difficult to measure accurately. As he said, there's a 1-ply toilet paper test for vent testing, which is nearly as accurate as a high end meter.
We have a heat pump in the living room, so it pretty much heats and ventilates at the same time! 🙂 The rest of the house just has windows open a gap.
isn't your heatpump simply re-circulating and re-heating the air in your home?
@@PhilipThompsonCanada nope it pulls most of the air directly from outside
Please say in hindi
Deyy
Really???