I'm interested in fresh air intakes and/or heat exchange ventilation that is passive and either adjustable or programmable.

The house I'm building will be different from the building I live in but pretty similar in a lot of ways.  I have lived in this building since I built it in '01.  I know that this building works OK and I want to improve on it for my future house.

The current building leaks air.  It's supposed to hold various petrol vehicles so leaky is OK.  I heat with wood and leaky works pretty well for that too; I burn a bit over 2 cord a year at a cost of about $4 for fuel for the chainsaw, so the leaks aren't that expensive either.

For the house I want NOT TIGHT but tighter.  More control.  Reducing conductive and radiant heat losses are imporant to me.  Keeping air exchanges is also important.

The big squirrel-cage blowers on manufactured heat exchangers are WAY too big for the 1,000sf house I'm building.  I CAN easily run 2 or 3 small fans all the time.  I currently run a brushless fan that ventilates 3 areas of this building, including hydrogen from the battery box.  (I'm off-grid with a very small electrical system.)

I am interested in something like this convective counter-flow heat exchanger:  http://sustainabilityworkshop.autod...ion-system .   These have been in use in GB for a few-to-several years.  Everything I read about them seems to be written by people who really want to believe they work.  While I also believe that convections work, I'm not certain it'll work in all situations.  Would a wood stove draw cold air down what's supposed to be the hot-air exit?

When I say "adjustable or programmable", I mean either a manual knob or an electronic control.  I built the analog differential thermostat that runs the pump on my solar hot water system and may replace the analog unit with an Arduino computer for fun and to account for more factors.

Passive heat exchangers?
Low-power heat exchangers?
Seasonally adjustable air intakes?  (I just scuttled my 100' earth-tempered air intake but this first post is already too long.)

Thanks.

A woodstove that is not separately drawing outside combustion air will certainly backdraft anything as sensitive as a convective heat exchanger.

It's early enough to plan a separate air intake for the stove. Then again, the stove has been a good source of air exchange. It's all connected and now would be a good time to make sure the parts will all work together.

I know there are a lot of options which is why I asked.

I am trying to avoid the options that require a couple of kWh a week, -- most of the commercial HRVs I've seen can use that much.

Thanks.

I suggest either making or buying a HRV heat-exchanger and if it is oversized, run the fan at a lower setting (which will use exponentially less power). On the other hand, if heat is cheap enough, don't bother with HRV and just ventilate with some openings.

Okay, so let me get this straight. You store gasoline and diesel fueled vehicles inside your living quarters, so it's good the building is leaky? And, the energy losses don't matter because you heat with an open wood flame, the cost of which is a penny a day?
And, you want to do it again, but with a heat exchanger that uses less than a couple kWh a week?

Posted By ICFHybrid on 18 Oct 2014 09:41 AM
Okay, so let me get this straight. You store gasoline and diesel fueled vehicles inside your living quarters, so it's good the building is leaky? And, the energy losses don't matter because you heat with an open wood flame, the cost of which is a penny a day?
And, you want to do it again, but with a heat exchanger that uses less than a couple kWh a week?

I built the building as a garage, but there are no vehicles in it.  In the OP I said it was "supposed to hold petrol vehicles" and it will hold vehicles after I move to the house.

Your disdain is because you jumped to a conclusion.

Your disdain is because you jumped to a conclusion.

Actually, there was neither disdain nor a conclusion arrived at. What I did was to attempt to get what you were saying clarified.

Come on, there was at least a bit of disdain. Admit it.

None at all.
Now, if he was taking up residence in a quonset hut garage surrounded by snow cats, chain saws, a chipper/shredder or two and a broken down backhoe, we'd be talking.
But he wasn't.

you mean you wouldn't be talking, because of your disdain.