3 minute read
You gotta keep it ventilated
What’s the difference between DVS and HRV, anyway?
By Claire Wright
When it comes to a renovation that will have the most positive, lasting change, most people don’t think of ventilation. However, you can’t beat a warm, dry home and the differences this makes when it comes to your health and wellbeing are unparalleled.
One of the first steps you want to take to make your home warm is airtightness – but you have to make sure your home is properly ventilated to do so. According to Consumer NZ, 804 Consumer members found DVS and HRV systems ‘very reliable’. Nearly 90 percent of respondents from its 2017 reliability survey who owned these brands said their system had never needed repair. However, many people conflate DVS and HRV ventilation systems work on two different levels, even though they are really similar.
DVS ventilation systems
DVS is a positive pressure ventilation system used to continuously ventilate your home. It takes stale air from inside your home and replaces it with fresh air from inside using fans and diffusers in the form of ceiling outlets, where it mixes with warmer air. What is positive pressure ventilation? Essentially, ‘positive pressure ventilation’ is a fancy term for when a pressure limit is reached in an airway and the valve opens to expel air. It does this by drawing warm dry, air from the home’s roof cavity and drawing it through your home. It is one of the most well-known ventilation systems in New Zealand.
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Like DVS, an HRV is an energy efficient system designed to pull stale air from inside your home while replacing it with fresh air outside of your home. Unlike DVS, when these two airstreams cross paths, a heat transfer occurs, depositing the stale air outside your home. At the same time, the fresh air that was just transferred inside your home is warmer. The heat transfer element is the key to HRV systems – this is to ensure the air transferred inside your home is a comfortable temperature.
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Simple ways to stop condensation
•Close doors when cooking or showering to limit spreading moist air •Limit the number of potted plants inside the house •Maintain and fix leaks in the roof and around windows •Use close-fitting lids on pots when cooking.
The bottom line
Why are DVS and HRV systems often confused? It may be because they’re the most popular ventilation systems you can install in your home – it may also be because they function by pulling fresh air into your home and recycling out old air. Keep in mind that a DVS and HRV system should only be installed after you have adequate floor and ceiling insulation. This will make sure you’re not leaking any unnecessary warmth.
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