When the lady told me that the air exchanger was up in the attic and that nobody had gone up there for three years minimum, this is what I found!
Unbelievable! And the air access was also blocked.
Quand la dame m’a dit que l’échangeur d’air était au grenier et que personne n’y était allé depuis plus de trois années, voici ce que j’ai trouvé!
Incroyable! L’entrée d’air était bloqué!
Je les filtres à air jamais vus qui salissent Marc, l’air doit être à Québec terrible épais. :mrgreen:
From the labeling, that’s an older style Venmar air exchanger from the mid 1990’s. I have seen many of these and have a newer unit for my home. Someone went to the attic 3 years ago but I don’t think they serviced the unit!! IMHO, that unit may never have been serviced…or what’s going on in that house to generate that kind of dust build-up in 3 years?
Well said Marcel,
and Brian,
you most certainly are right on!
They saw or heard of it and that was it!
(Incroyable, to discover conditions some homeowners live in. I also discovered that the airintake and evacuation were in a solarium at rear of property and the air intake was also blocked!).
Salut!
That’s the worse I’ve seen to date, is the air that polluted in Brossard?
When I see the outside air intake screen blocked, usually the air changer is same.
And I always recommend having the unit relocated inside due to condensation problems beside, out of sight out of mind…
My phrase to the buyer and/or agent when approaching the fresh air supply hood is: “I find 95% of the screens at the hood 95% blocked” and am correct about 95% of the time!
The unit shown is an air exchanger only and not an HRV with condensate. It does not have to be located inside due to condensation problems. This may cost many hundred’s of $$$. But it might help in the maintenance aspect.
Brian,
All the units that I’ve seen in attics were rusted and motors were seized.
As I commented, out of sight out of mind; I still will recommend relocating them inside.
Below is copied from Venmar air changer installation guide:
[FONT=Helvetica-Bold][size=1]8.
[/size][/FONT][FONT=Helvetica][size=1]If the unit is installed in the attic, it should not be turned off during the winter time in order[/size][/FONT]
[size=1][FONT=Helvetica]to avoid condensation inside the unit and inside the ducts.
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Yes, the manufacturer allows the units to be installed in attics but cautions people that they must run continously in winter. They can be successfully installed in attics but but maintenance and reading the instructions are necessary. I agree that inside is better but to make the changes to an existing dwelling can be expensive!
If a house is tight enough to need an air exchanger, it SHOULD be run continuously in the winter when a house’s windows are shut. These units, when running continuously, re-circulate house air and do not necessarily exhaust heated air continuously, but only on a call from the dehumidistat.
Hey, sorry to resurrect an old thread, and I don’t know if I really belong here, but we bought a foreclosure and our air exchange (in the attic) looks exactly the same as the one pictured here. It also is not an HRV. We can’t afford to replace it with an HRV right now, but I at least want to get the filter changed or cleaned. I can’t get the filter open, and I was hoping for some sort of model number to get the documentation that explains how to service it and get that filter open. I tried shimmying around up there to find a model number, but I can’t find one. It must be somewhere, I just can’t get around to see it.
If anyone could help me out with some information on this thing, it would be great!
The unit originally posted is not an HRV but simply an air exchanger. Depending where you are located, HRV should not be located in attic due to attic temperature.
Some info at link below on similar model:
https://www.venmar.ca/37-air-exchangers-ea-1500.html