Lifebreath Clean air furnace
www.lifebreath.com It looks like the idea is to use one’s hot water tank as a boiler for the furnace heat exchanger. The whole thing is self contained with a built in HRV unit. Except for the fact that it notes a low constant fan velocity vs a high short burst, it seems to make sense. The only other thing I was skeptical of was efficiency. Would I not lose efficiency at the water heater(10-20% or so) and again some at the site of heat exchange? I was going to put an HRV in my home and wait for my 1973 built gas furnace to die.
Anyone have experience with the product?
Replies
You wouldn't really lose anything in the water-to-air heat exchanger, since any heat that wasn't absorbed in the air would remain in the water, so the only efficiency loss would be in the water heater.
But water heaters are in general less efficient than regular furances (though either can be had with efficiencies in the neighborhood of 95% if you're willing to pay for it). There's no real advantage in using a water heater rather than a regular boiler.
Frankly, I don't see anything special that this unit is offering. Heat recovery ventilators are readily available from many sources, as are water-to-air heat exchangers. (Make sure the specs for any heat recovery ventilator include the efficiency of heat recovery.) I'd be wary of this outfit as it seems to be operating on scare tactics, and is probably jacking up the price accordingly.
Plus, if you have a house built in 1973 it's unlikely to need added ventilation -- it's probably leaky enough to begin with.
Har har har! Indeed, it is very leaky! But we are adding new windows and remodeling. When we did this in the basement, it got pretty stale. And in the Northwest, that means mildew and the like.
The idea of the unit I like was that fact that there is a "cheap" boiler (water heater) and that if it croaks, tank replacement is easy. The unit is like a dumb computer terminal so to speak. And, between product and install of an HRV I may hit 1000 bucks. So the idea of adding the furnace part on seemed reasonable. Agree about the scare value. On the other hand, we are an allergy prone family and have pets. Our sty, I mean house, could use a breath of fresh air!