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Comment by alliao | Hacker News Reader

is it humid where you are? I'd love to have ERV but I'm in Auckland, NZ where dew point is bit of an issue and house sized dehumidifier isn't common as weather's temperate and heatpump only really caught on in the last decade or so. central air not common.

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Yes, Austin is quite humid relative to most of the US, though not quite as humid as along the gulf coast (i.e. Houston or New Orleans).

The ERV was easy to tap into our existing central air system (which is where the crappy ventilator was connected) but if you don't have central air then it's going to be challenging to ensure quality air throughout your home.

Auckland's climate sounds like that of coastal northern California, where HRVs work fine. What's the concern you have with the dew point?

The HRV core will drop the humidity of the incoming air stream, at least that is what it does at my house (and it's been extremely wet of late in northern California).

do you have a model I can look at? auckland used to be a bit dryer but in the last couple of years starting to get 85%+ humidity in both summer and winter and get foggy randomly.. the houses around here weren't built for this type of weather. I've seen some hrv systems like lossnay from mitsubishi but i don't think it deals with incoming humidity at all, it is probably relying on indoor heatpumps to deal with it. not even a drain from heat exchanger

ERVs are very common in warm humid climates and cold dry climates (or climates that cycle between those). If it's a cool humid climate, an HRV is sufficient - no humidity transfer required.

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