Exterior fresh air intake. 4 feet above ground level.
Fresh air intake and exhaust ducts to the outside pass through the pantry
Flexible ducts at unit connection dampen vibration
Preheat unit ‘Warm-Flo’
ERV installed

Our HVAC contractor was busy at the site two weeks ago. He completed the install of the ERV unit in the basement. I hope he enjoyed the challenge. It was a tight space, but in the end everything fit fine.

The only casualty is our pantry area. We lost another few square feet to ducts. This is because we originally planned to run the exterior vents through the rim joist area, but later decided to move them up 4 feet from ground level to avoid snow accumulation issues in the winter. Moving them up higher meant penetrating the first floor space above the unit in the basement.

The unit is hung from the floor trusses above and flexible ducts connect the unit to the metal ducts in order to dampen the vibration from the unit. The unit itself is very quite, but we’re not moving to the country to listen to a ventilator.

The ducts to the exterior are insulated to R8. The pre-heat unit is installed close to the unit on the intake side. It is only used when the intake air is below 10 degrees F. It warms the incoming air just enough to prevent rotary lockout on the unit.

Click on the ventilation category on the right to learn more about how we chose this unit and why we’re using an ERV in the first place.