Passive House Air Quality

Passive House buildings rely on a constant supply of filtered fresh air, provided by a heat or energy recovery ventilator (HRV/ERV). Fresh air is delivered to the primary living areas, and stale air is exhausted from the “wet” areas—bathrooms, kitchens, and laundry rooms. (Note—the kitchen exhaust is not a replacement for a properly-sized range hood.) There are several important characteristics of this equipment: Fresh air is delivered and stale air…


Passive House Residential Ventilation in California

Passive House residential ventilation seems like a fairly straightforward topic on the surface. You install a whole-house heat-recovery ventilator (HRV) or energy-recovery ventilator (ERV), exhausting stale air from the wet areas of the house and supplying fresh air to the primary living and sleeping areas. (I’ll use the term HRV to represent both types of equipment throughout the remainder of this article). Unfortunately, the Passive House design guidelines don’t always…