Let's say you're faced with the decision of sizing an energy recovery ventilator (ERV) or heat recovery ventilator (HRV). You've already decided you're going with a balanced ventilation system with either heat and moisture recovery (ERV) or just heat recovery…
My book (A House Needs to Breathe...Or Does It?) has three sections. The two that take up most of the book are on the building enclosure and the mechanical systems. But the one that I lead with is called Start…
Last the week I attended the HVAC/R Symposium in central Florida. Three of us from Energy Vanguard went, so we rented an Airbnb. Of course, one of the first things we did upon arrival was scope out the house, especially…
Well, it's official. It may have taken 3.8 years to make it happen, but my Zehnder ComfoAir Q600 energy recovery ventilator (ERV) is running now! I started it up on 29 December, so it's been helping to clean my indoor…
Surprise! Your heat pump water heater has a filter that needs to be cleaned. But you probably already knew that if you're reading the Energy Vanguard Blog. It's a thin little filter whose primary job is to keep larger particles…
Do you know how to read a roof after a snowstorm? When you do, it tells you something about how good the building enclosure is. We had that opportunity here last weekend. We got 2 or 3 inches of snow…
Several years ago, I heard something really interesting at a talk by a self-described futurist. It's an interesting "Futurists," she said, "look at weak signals and try to figure out which ones will become strong signals." I hadn't thought…
It's been a big year here at Energy Vanguard. In previous year-end articles, I've focused mainly on what happened here in the blog. This year, however, I'm expanding the retrospective to include other stuff. I'll start with the blog, then…
So you've got a bunch of people showing up this week to spend a day or two or three with you. In a perfect world, no one brings any illnesses with them to the party. But what if they do…
![A Quality Control Failure Led To A Strange Border At Bill Spohn's Home [Photo Courtesy Of Bill Spohn]](https://www.energyvanguard.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/spohn-home-sidewalk-grade-mistake.jpg)
I'm sure you've heard the saying, measure twice, cut once. It's easy to take it too literally and think it applies only to things you cut. In reality, it is THE maxim of quality control. It means think, check, and…