Home / Services / HRV & ERV Installation
Indoor Air Quality · VentilationHRV & ERV Installation
HRV and ERV installation gives a tight house a controlled way to breathe: stale air out, an equal volume of fresh air in, and most of the heat pulled off the outgoing stream on its way past. A heat recovery ventilator moves heat only. An energy recovery ventilator moves heat and some moisture, which is what decides which one belongs in your house.
Two kinds of houses need one. The first is any modern build: the Ontario Building Code requires a mechanical ventilation system in a new dwelling, and builders almost always meet that with an HRV, so the 2000s-and-newer streets in Alton Village, Waterdown and Oakville's north end already have a unit hanging in the basement. Most of them have never been balanced, never had the core washed, and have been sitting on the lowest speed since possession day. The second is an older house that has been air-sealed, spray-foamed or re-windowed to the point where it no longer leaks its own fresh air in.
Choosing between the two comes down to what your house does wrong. If windows stream with condensation on a −10°C morning and the air feels stagnant, an HRV is the right unit — it exhausts that moisture rather than handing it back. If the house already runs damp in summer, an ERV holds some of the outdoor moisture in the exhaust stream instead of dragging Lake Ontario humidity indoors every time it ventilates. Our comparison of HRV versus ERV goes through the trade-off in detail, and why windows fog in winter is usually the symptom that starts the conversation.
Balancing is the step that separates a working system from an expensive fan. Supply and exhaust have to be measured and adjusted until they match; a unit pushing more in than out pressurizes the house and drives moist air into the wall assembly, and one pulling more out than in can back-draft a gas water heater. We measure both sides with a flow hood rather than setting the dampers by eye. The intake and exhaust hoods outside get the manufacturer's separation so the unit is not re-breathing what it just expelled, and the condensate drain goes to a trap and a floor drain.
The last thing we set is how hard it runs. An HRV on high through a −15°C February will strip a house down below 30% relative humidity, which is when the hardwood shrinks and everyone's throat hurts — the fix is a sensible ventilation schedule, sometimes paired with a furnace humidifier. See do I need an HRV in Ontario for whether your house qualifies, or book a site visit and we will look at what the builder left you.
You need an HRV or ERV when
- Windows fog on cold mornings and the bottom edge stays wet all day
- Cooking, pet and basement smells hang around long after the source is gone
- The house is a 2000s-or-newer build and bathroom fans are the only ventilation it has
- You have air-sealed, spray-foamed or replaced windows and the air now feels stale
- The builder's unit is in the basement on its lowest speed and nobody has touched it since you moved in
How it works
Ventilation rate comes from the number of bedrooms and wet rooms, not from the size of the unit on the shelf. We check duct routes, exterior wall options and whether the existing ductwork can be reused.
Fully ducted with its own supply and return grilles where the layout allows, or tied into the furnace return with a fan interlock where it does not. Insulated intake and exhaust runs, drain trapped to a floor drain.
Measured airflow on both sides until they match, controls set for a realistic schedule, and a walkthrough of the core, the filters and the exterior hoods so you can maintain it.
Brands: We install HVI-certified HRV and ERV units and service the builder-installed ventilators already sitting in basements across Waterdown, Alton Village and Glen Abbey.
Common questions
HRV or ERV — which one for this climate?
An HRV suits most houses here, because our problem nine months of the year is getting moisture out. An ERV makes sense where summer humidity is the bigger complaint, or in a very tight house that dries out badly in winter. We look at your actual humidity readings before recommending one.
Am I required to have one?
New houses in Ontario are built with a mechanical ventilation system as a code requirement, and that is nearly always an HRV. There is no requirement to retrofit one into an existing home — it becomes worth doing when air sealing has cut off the accidental ventilation the house used to get.
Will it make the house cold in winter?
No, because the core transfers heat from the outgoing air to the incoming air, and the unit runs its own defrost cycle in deep cold. What you will notice is drier air, which is why the ventilation rate gets set for the season rather than left on high.
What maintenance does it need?
Pull and rinse the filters two or three times a year, wash the core once a season, and check the exterior hoods — the exhaust hood collects lint and the intake hood drifts over in lake-effect snow. It is 20 minutes of work that most people never do.
How much does an HRV cost installed?
It depends on whether the ductwork is already there, how far the unit is from an exterior wall, and whether we are replacing a builder's unit or starting from nothing. Our answer on what an HRV costs installed gives the ranges, and the quote is written before anything is ordered.