Small Planet Supply is excited to offer Fresh-R HRV systems to our customers.  These systems are of particular interest to our customers who want to add an HRV to an existing build or as part of a retrofit, as they are designed differently than other HRV systems. Fresh-R eschews tubing in walls or ceiling as a way to distribute fresh air within a home.  Instead, it uses de-centralized in-wall units or on-wall units to bring air in and out of your home and some grills or forward ventilators on interior walls to ensure fresh air is received in all rooms of your home. These innovative systems won ventilation product of the year award from the Passive House Institute.  In addition to innovative design, these systems offer seven innovative features you should know about.

1. Fresh-r’s built-in CO2 sensor ensures that Fresh-r ventilates only when necessary.

Fresh-r system’s CO2 sensor is continuously measuring the air in your home.  The system turns up when CO2 levels increase, such as when people come into your home for the day, and decreases when C02 levels are low, such as when no one is at home.  The continuous monitoring and automatic response ensure that air is always fresh while reducing unneeded operation of the system, requiring much less energy than continuous ventilation systems. 

2. Fresh-r’s copper heat exchanger

Fresh-r’s heat recovery runs via copper, which conducts heat 1000x better than plastic, resulting in a thermal yield of 90 % at 60 m³ per hour, 87% at 80 m³ per hour and 84% at 120 m³ per hour.  For those of us who are metrically challenged, that’s: 90% at 35 cfm, 87% at 47 cfm, and 84% at 70 cfm.  The Fresh-r heat exchanger contains a mat of fine woven copper wire. If the air is warmer than the copper wire, then the heat from that air flows through the copper. If the air is colder than the copper wire, then the heat flows from the copper to the air. If it’s 20° C inside and 0°C outside, then the air blown into the interior is 18°. When it’s 20 C inside and 30C outside, then the air blown into the interior is 22 C.  And this efficiency does not decrease as the heat exchanger gets older because the copper wire is coated.

3.     Fresh-R Forward allows Fresh-r Systems to Manage Air in Multiple Rooms

Fresh-r units can work together with Fresh-r Forward to manage air in multiple rooms.  Fresh-r Forward is a quiet, room-to-room ventilator that blows stale or dirty air upon demand through to the Fresh-r, the de-centralized heat exchanger. It continuously measures whether moisture in the air increases or oxygen levels decrease. Only once this occurs the Fresh-r Forward increases the ventilation.

4.  Fresh-r web interface shows you what you’re breathing and the energy you’re saving

Since in most cases you can’t see air quality, Fresh-r systems lets you see your home’s air quality via their webite.  The Fresh-r measures how much CO2 is in the air and – optionally – the level of fine particulates. Fresh-r also measures the temperature of outgoing and incoming air and the quantity of air that is refreshed, and the amount of energy saved. All this data is forwarded via Wi-Fi so that you can view it on your PC, tablet, or telephone.

5.  The Fresh-r is the only heat recovery ventilator available that also works with maximum efficiency in freezing temperatures.

Fresh-r is manufactured in the Netherlands, to they know a bit about the cold.  On average, there are 58 days of freezing temperatures in the Netherlands each year. And on all those days, Fresh-r continues to ventilate with heat recovery. The Fresh-r is the only heat recovery ventilator that simply keeps working in freezing temperatures. Most industry brands use a recirculation strategy.  During freezing temperatures, these units redirect some or all of the warm exhaust air that would normally leave the building into the fresh air supply flow.  While this keeps the core from freezing, it also reduces or eliminates heat recovery.  

6.  An optional particulate filter keeps pollen and other particulates from entering your home.

If you suffer from allergies or hay fever or live in an area where outdoor air quality is a problem, Fresh-r has an optional Merv-14 particulate filter that you can use to screen out particulates.  This filter allows the Fresh-r system to stop even the tiniest particulates while providing the right amount of fresh air.  Larger dust particles get caught by the heat exchanger and the smaller ones by the particulate filter.  The filter lasts for a year and is easy to install yourself.

7.  Fresh-r systems have a quick pay-back period

One of the  guiding principles during Fresh-r development was that buying and using a Fresh-r should cost no more than the energy it saves. Fresh-r feels they’ve succeeded. In addition to being easy to install and maintain, a Fresh-r lasts for some 30 years. Since the Fresh-r automatically regulates the airflow and the copper heat-exchanger saves nearly all the energy required for heating and cooling and because use and maintenance costs are extremely low, the experience of the last eight years is that a Fresh-r pays for itself within an average of six years.

With all these innovative features and attributes, you can see why this product is such a welcome addition to the Small Planet Supply product line-up.  If you have questions about Fresh-r, you can call either of our warehouses, submit a request for more information via the form below, or attend our upcoming Fresh-r webinar on March 16, 2023 at noon.

Fresh-r Information Request Form

Want information before then? Have questions about the systems? Call Small Planet Supply at 1-855-367-7442 to learn more. Or fill out the form below below and someone from our staff will contact you.