Installation of a vänEE V160H75RT air exchanger (AI series, Virtuo technology) in Howick, Haut-Saint-Laurent (Montérégie)

105 ft³/min displayed on the screen: the Howick project and the end of blind balancing

Howick consists of a few streets, a bridge, and the Châteauguay River running just behind it. All around is the dairy country of Haut-Saint-Laurent: straight concession roads, farms, and houses often a hundred years older than their mechanical systems. It was in this setting that we installed a vänEE AI series air exchanger, in the basement of a rural home a few minutes from the village, toward Très-Saint-Sacrement.

The project was not urgent in the usual sense of the term. No one was without heat, and nothing was leaking. The client had called us for a harder-to-describe reason: ever since finishing the basement, the air in the house had not been the same. A basement smell rising through the stairwell, a carpet that stayed slightly damp to the touch, and glasses fogging up while going downstairs. Three clues that, taken together, always tell the same story.

The context: a river, a high water table, and a basement that has just been enclosed

Howick and the neighboring municipalities—Ormstown, Sainte-Martine, and Saint-Chrysostome—live with the Châteauguay River. Spring flooding is part of the calendar, and the water table remains high for a good part of the year. Even a sound concrete slab allows water vapor to migrate through capillary action. As long as the basement remains open, unfinished, and slightly ventilated, this moisture disperses and no one notices it.

The day you install studs, insulation, a vapor barrier, and drywall, the equation changes. Moisture keeps entering, but it no longer has a way out. It accumulates in the materials, then in the air, and eventually rises to the upper floor.

Our on-site readings, at the end of winter:

• Relative humidity of 63% in the basement, 54% on the main floor.
• No continuous mechanical ventilation in the house. One bathroom fan upstairs, none in the basement.
• A dryer in the basement properly vented outdoors, but contributing to depressurization of the level.
• A CO₂ level measured at over 1,400 ppm in the basement bedroom after a night with the doors closed, while the comfortable target is below 1,000 ppm.

A portable dehumidifier would have lowered the humidity reading. It would have done nothing for CO₂ or for volatile organic compounds that accumulate in a closed home. What was needed was continuous air exchange without throwing heat out the window.

The unit selected: vänEE V160H75RT, AI series

We proposed a heat recovery ventilator (HRV) rather than an energy recovery ventilator (ERV). The reasoning is simple: an ERV reintroduces some of the outgoing air's moisture into the building. In a home in Howick with a high water table and a finished basement, humidity is already excessive nine months of the year. The HRV exhausts that water vapor instead of recycling it while retaining the heat. It is the unit that addresses the actual issue.

The features of the V160H75RT selected:

What Virtuo technology really changes on a job site

Most articles about air exchangers discuss heat recovery and stop there. The real technical leap of the AI series lies elsewhere: the unit measures its own airflow rates and maintains them.

In a traditional HRV, the technician connects a pressure gauge to pressure taps, compares the readings with a paper chart, adjusts mechanical dampers, and closes everything back up. The day the indoor filters become clogged, snow partially blocks an exterior hood, or someone crushes a flexible duct while storing boxes, airflow rates drift. No one notices until the next service visit, if there is one.

The V160H75RT includes electronic airflow measurement and a liquid-crystal display directly on the unit. In the photo of our installation in Howick, the screen shows 105 cu. ft./min: this is not a theoretical value taken from a table, but the actual airflow delivered at commissioning. The ECM PMSM motors adjust their speed to maintain this setpoint despite the network's gradual fouling.

For the homeowner:

• The airflow remains constant between maintenance visits instead of gradually declining.
• The supply/exhaust balance is maintained automatically, protecting the house from depressurization.
• The airflow reading can be verified in three seconds, without instruments, by any technician who comes after us.

The installation, step by step

1. A custom-built wood frame

The basement was finished, with a suspended tile ceiling in the adjoining room. There was no dedicated mechanical space. Rather than screwing the unit to a partition wall — a quick but acoustically disastrous solution — we installed an independent 2x4 frame, anchored to the floor and the rim joist, with a plywood platform at the bottom.

This frame performs three functions at once: it supports the unit's 30 kg without stressing the drywall, provides full clearance on all four sides for servicing, and mechanically isolates the entire assembly from the occupied structure. The client can remove the filters and take out the core while standing, without disassembling anything.

2. Suspended by chains, not screws

The unit is suspended from the frame by the vänEE installation kit chains, with hooks and dampers. An HRV produces a continuous, low-amplitude vibration. Transmitted to a rigid structure, it becomes an audible hum in nearby rooms at three in the morning. Suspended, the unit is silent. We also checked the level in both axes before tightening: a crooked casing means a condensate pan that retains standing water.

3. The ducts: insulated, short, and taut

With all four connections on top of the unit, the ducts run vertically and then distribute beneath the ground-floor slab. We used insulated flexible duct with an exterior vapor barrier throughout the outdoor-line runs — fresh-air intake and stale-air exhaust.

Three rules we apply systematically, here as well as on our projects in Montréal, Laval, and the North Shore:

• The duct must be stretched tight, not wavy. A sagging flexible duct can lose up to one-third of its useful airflow through friction.
• The supports are spaced no more than 1.2 m apart, with wide straps that do not pinch the duct.
• The connections are sealed with aluminum tape, not ordinary duct tape, which dries out and comes loose after three winters.

4. Two condensate drains, one filled trap

The V160H75RT It drains the condensate through two outlets at the bottom, visible in the photo. Both lines run down to a shared trap, filled during commissioning, and then to the floor drain.

The trap is not a decorative detail. Without it, the unit draws air through the drain line and loses part of its exhaust airflow. We always leave a visible, accessible loop so the trap can be reprimed if necessary—in a heated basement, the trap water can evaporate during a dry winter.

5. Electrical power and controls

The unit is connected to a dedicated outlet, with a separate ground. The low-voltage wiring to the wall control was run through the ceiling cavity to the ground floor, at a location chosen with the customer: outside the bathroom, away from the traffic corridor, at switch height.

We affixed our AirGreen identification plate to the access door, with the phone number, email address, and a QR code. Five years from now, when the owner looks for who installed their air exchanger, the information will be right in front of them.

6. Commissioning: from theory to the displayed figure

This is the step we refuse to shorten. The required airflow calculation is based on the living area and number of bedrooms, in accordance with the residential ventilation requirements in force in Quebec. For this home—two stories, finished basement, three bedrooms—the continuous ventilation requirement was approximately 100 cu. ft./min.

We programmed the unit, started the cycle, let the system stabilize, then read the display: 105 cu. ft./min for both intake and exhaust. The figure was recorded in the file and provided to the customer in writing, along with the commissioning date and the selected operating mode.

The mistakes we correct most often in Montérégie

We regularly take over existing installations in Haut-Saint-Laurent and on the South Shore. Here is what keeps coming up:

1. The unit connected to a bathroom switch, meaning it is turned off 23 hours a day. An HRV is designed to run continuously at low speed.
2. The dryer or range hood connected to the air exchanger's ductwork. Lint and grease clog the core and filters within a few months. These two appliances require dedicated exhaust, without exception.
3. Exterior hoods installed side by side, causing the stale air that has just been expelled to be drawn back in. We maintain at least 1.8 m of separation, and position them high enough to remain clear of snow—in rural areas, this is a real constraint.
4. Uninsulated exterior ducts in a ceiling cavity or attic, which condense and stain the drywall in spring.
5. Interior filters that are never washed. This is the leading cause of performance loss that we measure in the field.
6. No written record of the commissioning. Without a documented reference airflow, no one can know whether the system has drifted.

What we learned from Howick and apply throughout Greater Montreal

Three months after commissioning, the basement's relative humidity had stabilized at around 41 % in winter, compared with 63% before the work. The basement smell disappeared during the first week. The client mainly mentioned a change they had not anticipated: the basement bedroom, previously reserved for occasional guests, had once again become a usable bedroom year-round.

Applicable subsidies

The Quebec government's Rénoclimat program provides financial assistance of around $500 for installing or replacing an HRV or an ERV, provided that the unit is listed in the Home Ventilating Institute (HVI) directory of certified products. vänEE's AI series is listed there, and the HVI certification is affixed directly to the casing.

Two decisive practical conditions:

• The initial energy assessment must be carried out before the work begins, by a recognized advisor. An assessment performed afterward makes the application ineligible.
• A second assessment after the work is required to trigger the payment.

Amounts and criteria are reviewed periodically. We confirm eligibility with each client at the time of quotation, rather than announcing an amount that may no longer be in effect when the work is carried out.

Maintaining an AI-series air exchanger

The advantage of electronic airflow measurement is that it turns maintenance into an objective check. The schedule we provide:

• Every 3 months: wash the interior filters rated MERV 8 with lukewarm water, or replace them if they are MERV 13 or HEPA. Then check the airflow shown on the screen: if it has returned to the setpoint, the ductwork is in good condition.
• Once a year: remove and rinse the heat-recovery core, reprime the drain trap, and inspect the suspension chains.
• Twice a year: clear the exterior hoods of leaves, insect nests, and ice.
• Continuously: leave the unit running. A stopped HRV protects nothing.

Why entrust us with your ventilation

We install and maintain heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems throughout Greater Montreal with more than fifteen teams on the road. Our service area covers Montreal, Laval, Longueuil, the North Shore, the South Shore, and all of Montérégie, extending to Haut-Saint-Laurent municipalities such as Howick, Ormstown, Sainte-Martine, Saint-Chrysostome, and Franklin.

What we provide for a residential ventilation HVAC installation:

• A measured diagnosis before making a recommendation: humidity, CO₂, and the condition of the existing ductwork.
• Sizing that complies with Quebec’s residential ventilation requirements, calculated based on the floor area and number of bedrooms.
• Custom-built supports when the building has no mechanical space.
• Documented commissioning, with the actual airflow rates provided in writing.
• A team holding an RBQ licence and providing comprehensive assistance with subsidy applications.
• HVAC maintenance and repair services in the years that follow.

If the air in your home feels heavy in the morning, if an odor rises from the basement, or if your windows start dripping at the first sign of cold weather, these signals can be measured. Contact AirGreen: we come to your property, take readings, and tell you exactly what your building needs.