HRV anyone?

I think a plate heat exchanger is much simpler and you don't need to dial things in. For a rotary exchanger the more you extract, the faster the wheel needs to rotate. Or doesn't it?
Also for a grow room the heat exchanger eventually has loads of condensate. How does the wheel get rid of that?
The plate heat exchanger can be placed vertically and the water runs out. It also should be monitored carefully to prevent icing. When icing, reduce fresh air inflow.
In theory it's so simple

I'm pretty sure with most of the commercial rotary type units there is some additional desiccant like membrane they add in. I'm not sure how to pull that off yet though. As far as spinning it, I got belts and motors laying around, etc. Controlling the speed actually wouldn't be that hard. With a standard cross or counterflow ERV/HRV, they can also tune both the input and output fan speeds to achieve the best efficiency as well, just like changing the wheel speed on the rotary models in a way..

They make rotary wheel dehumidifiers too BTW. With a large spinning desiccant wheel.

Maybe the wheel on the DIY rotary unit could be installed vertically to drain straight down instead..


Yep, I'm just gonna stack the plates, as soon as I find a 50ft roll of flashing that isn't all dented up on the edges. I'm thinking of going for a dual core setup, and make 2 stacks that are 10x10".

As far as de-icing, as long as the unit runs and doesn't shut down it should be ok. ERVs have extra built in features that allow it to run a defrost cycle, but that might be out of my league for now. It might sound crazy but I was thinking about integrating some kind of additional geothermal loop that when needed pumps constant 50 degree coolant up into the core so it can't ever freeze. I could dig a nice trench outside next to the grow down a bout 5-6 ft, and lay in some black poly pipe. I want to utilize low tech geothermal and HRV together if possible, and have the most efficient grow op ever!

Drop That Sound said:

I'm thinking of going for a dual core setup

Click to expand...

Yes, that would be the most promising I think.
But a dual core has twice the pressure drop so you'd have to make the cores larger and / or thicker to counter that.
Growing involves large volumes of air so the heat exchanger will be huge for sure.
And you definitely need good filters too.

HRV are underutilized in grow spaces

Yes, it's a waste of energy.
It doesn't matter if you have a roof covered with solar panels I suppose.

But during winter at night or when the lights are out you can save energy with an HRV.