DIY Heat Recovery Ventilator (HRV)

There is not much out there that I have seen on designing and building Heat Recovery Ventilator (HRV's) -- especially information for people who want to build their own. 

William Shurcliff did a book called Air-To-Air Heat Exchangers for Houses in 1982, and even though its old, the descriptions are very good and readable, and it actually includes a description of a DIY HRV.  It covers how HRV's works, some material on design and sizing, and descriptions of a number of commercial HRVs that were available at the time.

It includes a 2 page description of a DIY HRV developed at the University of Saskatchewan by Besant, Dumont, and Van Ee.   I've included a scan of the description of the DIY HRV below.

Shurcliff air to air heat exchangers

While the book is out of print, its still available at places like Amazon as a used book.

If you know of any other DIY resources or designs for HRVs, please let me know.

 

DIY HRV Description

With the permission of Dr. Shurcliff:

DIY HRV

As Jason has pointed out, the wood strips don't seem like a good material choice in what will likely be a wet environment.  Maybe PVC tubing? or galvanized EMT conduit? or plastic deck wood? or?

More on HRV's here, including a design based on Coroplast sheets...

 

Gary July 16, 2012