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from Hanna, Utah on 6/10/2010
Comments about Suncourt Suncourt AIRIVA™ HE100 Heat Recovery Ventilation System:
I have used my HRV for over a year. I am at 7000' it was -25 in the winter and +90 in the summer. I have had no issues. I would change the units filter to keep the core clean. It has never frosted up. The frost control fails open so that if it fails the unit will not frost up. The "cold" air coming in is warm after passing through the unit. and the air being exhausted is "cold" in the winter. The frost control running all the time is $4 per year at my rates. The whole unit is 100 watts! Or less than $34 per year.
Tags: Picture of Product
from Portland, ME on 2/20/2009
Comments about Suncourt Suncourt AIRIVA™ HE100 Heat Recovery Ventilation System:
This is a good product for the price, but does have some design flaws and the latches may require a little tweaking to get a good seal on the door. The stickers were also upside-down on the unit I received...
MAJOR DESIGN FLAW: frost control. The unit is constantly sending power to the 24v terminals EXCEPT when frost control is ACTIVATED. Why isn't it the other way around (only send power when frost control is needed)? This costs an extra 12 watts, 24/7/365, which is about 100KW/hrs or $15-20 per year at current rates.
Added stupidity: when the unit is powered off, the damper will then OPEN, allowing COLD AIR into the house.
The "internal" frost control sounds like a better alternative because it shuts the unit down when the air is too cold - EXCEPT that, when the unit is shut down, the core cools even more and you have to wait for a very warm day to restart it. (or you can cheat and switch to "external" while starting the unit, then flip back to internal - but that could get to be a hassle)
The best solution I could come up with (short of taking it to an electronics whiz to rewire it intelligently) was to put a "normally closed" damper in-line with the fresh air intake, with a barometric damper on a T between there and the unit. When power is off, the fresh air pipe is closed by the damper (no backdrafts), and when the frost control is activated (or the unit is first starting up) the barometric damper allows house air in. It also provides some protection if the powered damper fails, because then the unit won't be sucking on a closed pipe and possibly burning out the fan.
Minor design flaw: fan position. The fresh-air-to-house fan is located on the side nearest the inside ducting, which means it is pushing its own noise into the house. It would have been a lot smarter to position this fan on the other side of the core to reduce noise.
The noise isn't bad, you'll notice it if you're near a vent and there isn't any other sound, but it's not loud enough to affect conversation or anything - if you're in the next room (and have carpet instead of wood/vinyl floors), you'll barely hear it at all.
On the up side, the unit seems to be VERY efficient (very low loss of heat) at the low fan speed. And you'd spend at least 40% more to get anything significantly better.
Dampers are on bottom-right of unit
Tags: Using Product, Picture of Product
from menomonie, wi on 1/4/2009
Comments about Suncourt Suncourt AIRIVA™ HE100 Heat Recovery Ventilation System:
I purchased this as a standalone unit for our superefficiency house.
Pros: It did install easily, there's not much to it. I would recommend using permanent steel ductwork and not using the flex duct.
Cons: The labels on the unit are upside down, the front door does not seal, the core inside the unit was not in the location it was supposed to be, the frost protection does not work, and it leaks condensate through the rivets instead of the drain. I think this was made on a Monday morning.
from Goshen, IN on 11/13/2008
Comments about Suncourt Suncourt AIRIVA™ HE100 Heat Recovery Ventilation System:
We installed 2 arrivas in our new eco-duplex. It was the best value of what was on the market.
from New Gloucester, Maine on 10/13/2008
Comments about Suncourt Suncourt AIRIVA™ HE100 Heat Recovery Ventilation System:
The unit was poorly constructed with broken latches and a door that did not seal air tight for a device that should be.