Renovation & Design

Renovation & Design

Heat recovery ventilator great addition to new cottage

Question: I have had a small, 504 square foot house/cottage built, with electric baseboard heat. It’s a new build, very close to the Whiteshell park. The plumbing has not been installed, yet. Do I need an HRV unit?

Jeri D.

Answer: Installing an HRV will be a valuable asset to your new house, but may require additional infrastructure before it will be effective. Planning for proper ducting for the unit should be an integral part of the overall installation process.

The first place you should be inquiring about the requirements for a heat recovery ventilator (HRV) in your new rural home is with the local municipality. The RM should be the one that defines the rules of enforcement of the National Building Code (NBC), in their area. Each jurisdiction can make the judgement call whether to adopt various or all aspects of the NBC. That is enforced by the municipal building official responsible for inspections and compliance of the construction of your home. Even if it is a requirement where your new house resides you may be able to successfully argue that you don’t need it and want an exemption, but you better have a very good case. Because the plumbing is not complete in your home, you may be in time to plan accordingly.

Putting in an HRV in a new home can be quite simple, before the walls and floor coverings are complete. That is because it should be installed with ducting that connects the unit to several rooms in the home. In those areas, the ducting should run vertically up inside the interior partition walls, terminating in a register. The critical areas for those are all bathrooms and near the kitchen. The bathrooms should also have a timed control for the HRV, which allows it to be manually turned on regardless of the settings on the main control. This is the bare minimum for the unit to be effective, as it will quickly eliminate dissolved water vapour in the air from those areas that are the largest source. In the bathrooms that setup will replace older style exhaust fans.

In most new homes with a forced-air heating system, you may be able to limit the number of registers for the ventilation system to those locations described above. That is because the HRV is also normally connected to the return air plenum near the furnace. That is done to help circulate the air passing through the ventilating unit through the entire home. Without those registers and connections, the dry, fresh air coming from the HRV has limited means to get to most of the areas in the building. If it is connected to the furnace ducting, it will easily circulate through the home with the heated air from that unit, which has a much larger blower than the smaller HRV. Unfortunately, with your home being heated by electric baseboard heaters, it is doubtful that you currently have any ducting at all for this purpose.

For you to install a proper heat recovery ventilation system you will have to add proper ducting in the appropriate areas. As stated above, this may be limited to the bathrooms and one other location, but that will not be optimal. To allow the unit to operate more effectively, ducts and registers should be installed in all rooms in the home. That includes any room that may have interior walls and a door. So, you may be able to use the intake register that is near the kitchen to include the main portion of the home, if you have a fairly open concept. The bedrooms and utility room are the other locations where a circulation register should be added. Unfortunately, that may mean partial removal of the new wall and/or floor coverings to install the ducts, if they are already complete. If you have an insulated, heated crawlspace, the majority of the ducting can go through there, but the portions connected to the room registers may require cutting the floor or walls for installation.

It may be possible to install the HRV unit in the crawlspace, if there is enough height, but it should be located near a year-round access panel for essential cleaning and maintenance. The intake and exhaust ducts for the unit, connected to exterior vent hoods, may also go through the crawlspace, limiting the amount of room needed inside the home. What will also be a good idea is to run the ducting for the room registers under the main floor, to minimize the impact of the HRV on the living space inside. If you don’t have enough room in the crawlspace, or if you don’t have a conditioned area under the floor, then installation is almost impossible without exposed ducts inside the home. In that situation the HVAC contractor hired for this job may suggest just installing the unit in a utility room with no ducts, but that may be waste of time. That will only circulate the ventilation air so far, partially due to the limited size of the blower, and will not be worth the money invested.

You may be in a bit of a dilemma if you are forced by local NBC enforcement to include an HRV in your home, depending on the level of inside wall completion. That is unfortunately an error in prior planning, which may be the fault of the builder or due to poor judgement. While electric baseboard heat may be an effective way to heat a small home, it is not designed for modern ventilation and air circulation requirements. Without a furnace, air handler, or ducted ventilation system you will have problems with moisture issues in the heating season. Especially if you are located near a lake, with high relative humidity all year long, moisture problems will be a certainty. Proper installation of an HRV and the associated ducting will go a long way to rectifying that during the cold months.

Adding a properly installed and ducted HRV to the plans for your new home should be mandatory, regardless of the regulatory requirements. Making accommodations for the proper registers and ducts after the fact may be a challenge, but well worth the effort.

Ari Marantz is the owner of Trained Eye Home Inspection Ltd. and a Registered Home Inspector (RHI)(cahpi.ca). Questions can be emailed to the address below. Ari can be reached at 204-291-5358 or check out his website at trainedeye.ca.

trainedeye@iname.com

Ari Marantz
July 2

Renovation & Design

Dish soap and water will get those golf clubs glistening

Question: I just bought new golf clubs and want to keep them clean. What products can I safely use on them? — Ben

Answer: Neglecting to clean golf clubs can impact your overall performance. Dirt that becomes temporarily trapped in the grooves of the clubs impacts the spin of the shot, so it is important to clean clubs regularly.

Use water and a brisk brush to remove all dirt from grooves. Be sure the brush doesn’t damage the clubs. Wipe and dry with a rag. If the clubs are very dirty, dish soap may be necessary, rinse and dry well.

Question: How do I get rid of ants in my peonies flowers? I want to bring them inside. — Kalen

Answer: Fill a bucket with water then submerse flower heads in the water for about one minute before bringing the beautiful and fragrant flowers inside.

Question: I was wondering if you know how to tell if my fine porcelain dishes, from China contain lead. Thanks so much. — Debbie

Answer: Home lead test kits can tell you if the dishes have leachable lead. These tests are most useful in detecting high levels of lead. Home hardware stores carry tests, or you can also purchase them on-line.

Question: Help! Our house seems to have issues with silverfish. I often see them crawling on the carpet in the basement and even in our upstairs tiled shower. Any suggestions? Stan

Answer: Be sure to remove old stacks of newspapers, magazines, papers, books and fabrics plus food spills and food stored for long periods of time. Often reducing available water and lowering the home’s relative humidity with dehumidifiers and fans is helpful. Repair leaking plumbing and eliminate moisture around laundry areas. Once the cause is remedied, there are many products on the market from baits to sprays that will get rid of silverfish, aerosols including Raid and Air Devil work well for hard-to-reach places. As with all insecticides, read the directions and warnings very carefully.

A simple silverfish trap can be made by taking canning jars, scrubbing them clean and then covering the outside with masking tape to make them easy to climb. These traps are then placed in areas of infestation. The bugs will climb up and fall into the jars and then will not be able to climb the walls to escape. Moist cotton or starchy foods work as bait. Also, leave cloves where they like to go, they don’t like the smell. The next step is to use diatomaceous earth (dust) used as filter media in swimming pools. If you know someone with a pool, ask to borrow a cup, or visit a nearby garden store. If the problem persisits call an exterminator.

Homemade ice cream cake

This project contains items that you can always keep on hand. Purchase four litres of your favourite ice cream — vanilla, Oreo, strawberry etc. Place the ice cream box (or bucket) on the counter one hour before use, to soften it a bit.

Into a pot, melt and combine 2/3 cups butter or margarine and three cups graham cracker crumbs (three cups crumbed digestives or Oreos or any cookie). Line a baking pan with parchment paper. Press crumbs into 9-by-13-inch pan or a spring form pan. Pour softened ice cream over crust and spread evenly. Freeze and drizzle with caramel or chocolate syrup.

Here are a few variations on this easy recipe:

• Add 1/2 cup peanuts or peanut butter to ice cream before spreading it into the pan.

• Break up pieces of store-bought cookies or chocolate bars and add to ice cream.

• Add M&Ms, gummy worms or Reese’s Pieces to ice cream.

Freeze for at least four hours. Remove from freezer; loosen sides with a knife (heat knife with hot water). Cut and serve.

Note: Every user assumes all risks of injury or damage resulting from the implementation of any suggestions in this column. Test all products on an inconspicuous area first.

Have a great suggestion or tip? Please send an email. Reena Nerbas is a popular motivational presenter for large and small groups, check out her website: reena.ca.

info@reena.ca.

Reena Nerbas
July 2

Renovation & Design

Replacement likely better than repair with old furnace

Question: Two weeks ago, I had a new air conditioner installed, because the old one was giving us loads of problems. And just a couple of days ago, our blower fan stopped working. We had the same guys come back and check it out. We were told that we should buy a new furnace, because replacing the blower fan for this particular model of furnace wouldn’t be worth it. We currently have a mid-efficiency furnace. It all seems awfully fishy, although they are saying it’s just a coincidence and they can’t do anything about it. Are we being taken for a ride here? Any thoughts or suggestions would be helpful.

Thank you so much,

Kohen K.

Answer: Replacement of major parts on older furnaces is not normally a good investment, due to the limited time remaining on the rest of the components, that may also fail shortly. You may be able to ensure that you are not just being upsold by calling in a neutral third party, or the gas utility, to verify the problem and agree with or contradict the opinion of the initial HVAC contractor.

Upgrading to a newer high-efficiency furnace, from your current mid-efficient model, will make sense, as long as the original furnace is not less than 15 years old. They have not manufactured the approx. 80% efficient older ones for about that long, so it is doubtful that yours is newer. If it is over 20 years old, it is certainly nearing the end of its typical life expectancy, anyway. Putting in a new blower or motor, at a cost of up to $1000, is not money well spent. That would be compounded by the loss savings on natural gas, as all new furnaces should exceed 90 per cent efficiency and many claim to be 95 per cent or higher. What that means is that more than 90 per cent of the fuel is directly converted to heat, so very little is wasted. The savings will not only be in your pocketbook, but also for the environment, with lower carbon emissions.

It is possible that the installation of the new air conditioner (A/C) did have a negative impact on the older blower or motor. The inside coil for the A/C would have to be removed and replaced, along with the refrigerant lines. This requires cutting or removing a section of the metal plenum, which is attached to the furnace cabinet. Sometimes that will be completely detached from the furnace, to allow for installation of new ducting that will better accommodate the new coil. That process can cause the furnace to move, or be jostled about, possibly dislodging or loosening something on the blower or motor. If those parts were already deteriorated, that could push them over the edge, and cause a failure. It may take a few days or weeks to notice that defect, especially if the A/C technician did not inspect the blower and ensure it was still serviceable.

Unfortunately, it may be impossible to blame the damage to the blower on the HVAC contractor, due to the age and unknown condition before they showed up. If there was a subtle to loud wining noise when the blower started up, then typical age-related damage to the bearings is likely. This can often be detected by a slow start-up of the blower, and/or very quick shut down, once the heating cycle is complete. There may also be a chance that worn wiring connections, or deteriorated wires, were further damaged during the new upgrade, causing the problem. However, that should be a moderately easy repair and not require blower replacement. Alternatively, if the electronic controls for the furnace are the cause of the malfunction, it may be a similar scenario to a worn-out blower. It may not be worth the money diagnosing the problem, and certainly not a good bang-for-the-buck putting in any new parts. You may be able to verify what the HVAC contractor is saying by hiring another neutral technician to check the system. Also, Manitoba Hydro may provide this complimentary service, as a courtesy, to make sure their customer is not being taken advantage of.

Not only will the new furnace be a lower cost to run, it should improve the entire performance of your HVAC systems in the home. Due to advancements in furnace designs and components, it will provide better airflow for heating, and slightly lower gas bills. It will also make the new air conditioner work more effectively in cooling the home. That is because the new blower should deliver a much larger volume of air through the ducts, especially since the older one was deteriorated. In fact, poor airflow across the cooling coil can cause it too freeze up, or otherwise provide improper cooling for your house. In the worst-case scenario, the poorly working old blower may have contributed to the A/C unit’s premature failure. That is a likely candidate for some of the causes of the “loads of problems” you noted.

It may take a long time for the energy savings from upgrading your furnace to pay back the cost of replacement, but it will still be money wisely spent. Lower energy costs, better heat and cooling distribution, and less stress on the new A/C system are all good reasons to change your furnace. Even if the HVAC contractor is not being completely transparent in their role in the demise of your old blower, upgrading the furnace is the better choice, rather than trying to fix the old unit. Perhaps asking for a discount on the cost of replacement, due to the timing of the problems, may be a better approach that will lighten the load on your bank account.

Replacing an older furnace at the same time as the A/C system makes a lot of sense, but is certainly necessary due to the malfunction of the older blower. Calling another HVAC contractor for their opinion, or Manitoba Hydro for a neutral evaluation, should help ease your mind that replacement is the proper course of action to take.

Ari Marantz is the owner of Trained Eye Home Inspection Ltd. and a Registered Home Inspector (RHI)(cahpi.ca). Questions can be emailed to the address below. Ari can be reached at 204-291-5358 or check out his website at trainedeye.ca.

trainedeye@iname.com

Ari Marantz
June 25