Venmar C12 HRV vs. Venmar E15 HRV
Griffin728
| Posted in Green Products and Materials on
Is anyone familiar with the differences between the Venmar C12 HRV / ERV series and the E15 ECM HRVs? The E15 ECM HRV is about $650 more expensive. I’m having it installed in conjunction with existing furnace ducting, but hope to not use the furnace fan to distribute the air.
So I’m mainly looking for advice on whether the features or efficiency of the E15 is worth the upcharge here.
Thanks for your help!
Ryan Griffin
1450SQFT low energy home
Minneapolis, MN
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Replies
The E15 has slightly higher CFM capability and slightly lower electric consumption at the same airflow setting, but the biggest difference is that it has about 13% better heat recovery. So in the dead of winter, you'd be getting colder air coming in with the C12, and would need to run your furnance a little more. It would be possible to estimate how much more if you told us something about your heating system and fuel cost.
If each is set to ~65 CFM, the heat recovery is 62% on the C12 and 75% on the E15.
If you want to take the efficiency a step further, the E15 ECM uses about half the electricity that the E15 uses, and otherwise has the same performance. Depending on your electric rates and on how high you set the fan speed, that might save you $60/year or so.
Using furnace ducting but not using the furnace fan is tricky at best, though doing it with the furnace fan is a big waste of energy. Are you confident you have a plan for that that will work well?