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Modern homes in the Ottawa Valley are built to be tightly sealed to keep the freezing winter air out and lower your heating bills. While great for energy efficiency, this traps stale air, cooking odors, and excess moisture inside your home. The solution? A whole-home ventilation system. At Ottawa Valley Heating & Cooling, we install high-performance HRVs and ERVs that continuously replace stale indoor air with fresh, filtered outdoor air—without losing your valuable heat!
Both systems provide excellent fresh air ventilation, but they handle the climate slightly differently:
HRVs (Heat Recovery Ventilators): The gold standard for cold climates. An HRV brings in fresh, freezing outdoor air and cleverly pre-heats it using the warmth of the outgoing stale indoor air. You get fresh air without the cold drafts or high heating bills.
ERVs (Energy Recovery Ventilators): An ERV does the exact same heat-transfer process as an HRV, but it also transfers moisture. This helps keep humidity inside during the dry winter and outside during the sticky summer, keeping your home perfectly balanced.
We proudly install industry-leading ventilation systems from Venmar and vanEE. These premium units feature advanced self-balancing technology, meaning the system automatically calibrates and adjusts its own airflow to ensure maximum efficiency—no constant manual tweaking required.
When paired with a smart thermostat, your new HRV or ERV becomes a fully automated comfort system:
Smart Ventilation Control: Your thermostat manages your "Fresh Air" intake, bringing in outdoor air only when it is healthy, and automatically pausing the system during high-pollen days or local wildfire smoke events.
Automatic Humidity Balancing: Your system will actively monitor your air, triggering dehumidification or your whole-home humidifier to maintain the ideal 30%–50% humidity range for maximum comfort and health.
"Circulate" Mode: Even when your heater or AC isn't running, your thermostat can be set to run the HVAC fan for 15–20 minutes every hour or indefinably. This ensures air is constantly passing through your high-efficiency filters and UV lights, keeping your home incredibly clean.