Hi folks. It's been awhile since I last posted. I finally moved into my small, tight house in Wisconsin a few days ago and have been measuring fairly high CO2 levels, especially in bedroom at night. I'm wondering if I could use one of the bedrooms to grow some plants instead of trying to get an HRV retrofitted. I may only be here a few years, but don't want to suffocate.. Details upon request....... Thank-you! -michael

It would take a lot of plants to put a dent in that.

If you're a short-termer unwilling to make the necessary improvements, crack a bedroom window (a very tiny crack- doesn't need to be much) and run a bath fan at night.

As an alternative, a pair of Lunos e2 HRVs are simple enough for DIY installation at about a grand per.

Alternatively, a Panasonic FV-05-11VKS1 Whisper Green Select ceilng exhaust fan set to it's lowest setting would pull air from the rest of the house to the occupied bedroom when on.

http://ventfans-search.aiprx.us.panasonic.com/FV-05-11VKS1.html

They're under $150 even at box stores, but you have to figure out how to vent it outdoors, and not into the attic. You might get there for ~$200-250 as a DIY if you're handy and the installation isn't too awkward.

Dana:

Thanks for the suggestions. Actually, I did run the Panasonic bath fan last night with the bedroom window cracked and it really brought it down. But that's not gonna work during the noisy fireworks season or cold winter nights etc. I suppose I could put a vent hole inlet in the wall and put a noise baffle over it or something.

Some of the things I've read so far make it sound like plants can make a difference. Not to mention they remove all kinds of other toxins and add O2. I guess I could get a few more and run an experiment....

Thanks much.
-michael

What is the relative humidity in the house/bedroom. I think adding plants that need to be watered also adds to the RH.

What is your ach50, cfm50, square footage, cubic volume, heating system, other combustable appliances?

What is your ach50, cfm50, square footage, cubic volume, heating system, other combustable appliances?

As a short timer I assume you will either sell the house or rent it out? I wouldn't expect the next occupant to embrace your plant idea. Bite the bullet and install a proper ventilation system. It may be required for a sell anyway; and I can't imagine the liability for selling or renting a house with a unsafe condition that you knew about.

Plants could work - if you have enough to grow by about 20 kg/year (dry weight?) - an indoor forest. And they have light when you are present. But at this point, I expect you would have a humidity problem and an electrical consumption problem.

It's fairly low (now at about 33%). One person, no combustibles, I almost never shower here (Ymca), etc. I haven't done a blower door test. Ft2 is about 1200, volume about 9000 ft3 or less. Thanks -m

That could be a problem, although it tends to be fairly dry in here. I have not lived here thru a winter yet. There are good "air-scrubbing" plants that don't use a lot of water. Ferns can even take up moisture from the air, for ex. Thanks, -m

Hi Jonr.. From what I've read, you can make quite a dent in the CO2 levels with a few good-sized plants. NASA has done research on this. I'm trying to figure out what the KWH's required would be. I do have windows, too... I guess I need to get a few more plants and run an experiment. Thanks, -m

I could just claim ignorance (easy for me). The HVAC inspector signed off on the design... Thanks, -m

Fireworks season? Minoqua, Hayward, Spooner? Pretty hard to recommend any option if you dont know how tight the house is via a blower door test and some math to at least establish recommended ventilation.

Kind of weird your concerned of high co2 but your willing to buy a bunch of houseplants to maybe scrub the air, not to mention rot the walls when your indoor humidity spikes. Unless catcus can clean your sleep breath.

How is your chamber heated?

I'm not "up north" but in the Fox Valley area. But fireworks are everywhere. So are screaming kids and barking dogs. Yes, I'm concerned about humidity and will be watching it closely. As I might have mentioned, there are plants that will scrub the air that don't use a lot of water. I found a place that is willing to do a free blower door test on Monday. I'll keep you posted. Heat is from Fujitsu mini-split, with a little electric baseboard as back-up.. Thanks,-m

So let me get this right, You built the house too tight and it now has the potential of killing someone due to CO poisoning. You solution is to do the minimum to get by until you can pass the problem on to an unsuspecting buyer?
The fact that the code official signed off on it does not lessen your responsibility or liability, did you share the CO readings with them?
Put in a HRV.

If you read the whole thread, you'd notice I said I have no combustibles in the house.

Also, I never mentioned anything about CO, but rather CO2.

-m

I did read the whole thread and somehow missed the no Combustibles.
As far as the CO vs C02

As soon as I get my foot out of my mouth-------------------------------------------------------My Apologies.

No problemmo..

I still get CO and CO2 mixed up fairly often. Most people don't know there are meters for measuring CO2 in the home.

Happy Easter
-m

You could try
-a bath fan with a fresh air intake (i.e. a hole in the wall)
-Vents Micra 60 which is a wall mount HRV  - not particularly attractive...
-Panasonic spot ERV which is a ceiling mount ERV
-Lunos e2

I am actually trying to figure out which solution to go with in my roughly same size cold climate apartment that we're going to build...

We were planning on having gas cooking and maybe gas clothes dryer so trying to take that all into the equation.

I'm tempted to just put a Panasonic whisper select bath fan  in there (30-110cfm) and maybe place a few passive inlets around.

If we do a Lunos does 1 of the units need to go in the bathroom or no?  I'm thinking 1 needs to go in the bedroom...  1 would be nice in the main part of the house but maybe less necessary (the house is basically 3 rooms, bed, bath and "the rest").

If we do just the bath fan, I'm assuming the passive air inlets are beneficial... ???  You don't hear a lot about them  but I would think you'd rather chose where the air comes in.
If you only crak the bedroom window, the bedroom is the only place that will get fresh air  (or at least it will get the most).
So you could do an exhaust only solution with multiple passive inlets?

Hi PB...

I seem to recall you also had a mini-split for heat? I have a Fujitsu.

I knew about the Lunos, but not the Micra 60, which is certainly cheaper. But I'm tempted to continue with just the Panasonic bath fan (uses 14W) ocassionally (could put it on a timer). This seems to be working well now. I'm not sure where the leaks are, but it really knocks down the CO2 in my bedroom, without any changes in temperature (although it's April...not sure what will happen in January). For ex., by 3 am, CO@ reads around 1200ppm. I turn on the bath fan for a few hours and it's down to 400-600ppm. I don't think there are many leaks in the bedroom, so I'm thinking that the CO2 mixes quickly with the air blowing by out in the hallway. More testing coming up....

I'd like to do more smoke pencil testing. The guy that did my blower test last week was pretty new at it. I can't complain, cuz it was free. I was at about 3 ACH50. And there are plenty of little things I can seal yet.

Thanks...
-michael