Automatic Ventilation Control with Broan-Nutone's Overture: Customizable, Modular Fresh Air System

Places are different, homes are different, families are different. There IS NO SINGLE SOLUTION for ventilation, and that's the way it's likely to stay- so the more modular, customizable components we have access to, the better.

In addition to having some of the most advanced ERVs in the world (stay tuned for more on that), Broan has now made customized, modular ventilation systems much more practical with this lineup of Overture controls: room sensor, wall control, and smart plug- all linked to the algorithms in an app.

The Overture system can control exhaust fans, supply fans, make up air dampers, and ERVs/HRVs- we hope they will continue to push forward into controlling air handlers, dehumidifiers, humidifiers, and more. Learn more about this system and start brainstorming what you might do with it at: https://Overture.Broan-Nutone.com

Learn more about our TinyLab: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsc2-5fAgMq51-6Gwm3m7HXjRhgt9X7RK

Watch the build of our Forever Home: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsc2-5fAgMq4YgAoFaG-F6xvGT1MKwt-u

See the first-ever TV series about the Science of Homes: https://HomeDiagnosis.tv

Central Vacuum System with HEPA Filter: Performance Testing for a Healthy Home

For our forever home, we chose the NuTone PurePower 650 central vacuum, which I piped, wired, and installed myself (not very difficult, though parts are hard to get ahold of in a hurry, if you run out).

Check out this system, and other Broan-NuTone machines: https://broan-nutone.com/

See the Testo 440 kit I'm using for the diagnostics: https://www.trutechtools.com/Testo-440

The HAVEN central duct system IAQ sensor I flashed to show the effectiveness of the HEPA filter: https://tzoa.com/

Bath Exhaust Fans: What You Need to Know

'Home Diagnosis' TV hosts Grace and Corbett Lunsford give a crash course in picking, placing, testing, and controlling bath exhaust fans. Learn what Home Ventilating Institute certification, sone ratings, Energy Star stickers and duct installs are all about, and make your home healthier. Learn more at: http://Broan.com/learn Watch 'Home Diagnosis' episodes at: http://HomeDiagnosis.tv

Kitchen Exhaust Fan: #1 Tool to Heal Your HOMEChem

Grace and Corbett Lunsford demonstrate the best way to design and select your kitchen exhaust system, using the #TinyLab's own Broan ventilation components. The ACE130SS range hood (new model BCSEK1SS) paired with the 8" Make-Up Air Unit means perfect control over the indoor environment, the chemistry, and the health of their family.

More resources and tools at: http://Broan.com/learn

How to Teach Builders about Home Performance

Corbett presented for Broan-Nutone and Fantech at the International Builders Show (IBS) 2018 in Orlando, and in case you weren't there, here it is! Learn all about why builders, manufacturers, contractors, insulators, HVAC techs, and others in the construction industry are starting to care about, and act upon, the metrics that come from home performance testing.

Thanks as always to the sponsors who are leading the charge in making measured performance mainstream with 'Home Diagnosis' coming to TV screens soon! 

Proving the Ventilation System of the #TinyLab

Thanks to Broan, Dwyer, Defender, Mason-Grant Consulting, and Lawrence Berkeley Nat'l Lab, the #TinyLab is the highest performance tiny house on wheels ever built. The air quality and moisture control is finely tuned, and in this video watch the testing of each subsystem of the mechanical ventilation system as a whole.

Electrifying the #TinyLab: PV Solar, LEDs, and Other Shockers

Watch stage three of the electrical system process as Corbett Lunsford brings Fall Fast Tracker Eddie Lammers of Honey Home Services to the #TinyLab for a very long day of wiring. See how the Panasonic PV panels interact with the Outback Power system from Soligent, how the RAB Lighting LEDs and the Mitsubishi and Broan HVAC equipment finally come online!

The #TinyLab is equipped with 960 Watts of PV solar panels, 4.8 kWh of nanocarbon AGM batteries, a 3.6 kW 48v Outback FlexPower ONE from Soligent, 100 Watts of RAB Lighting LEDs, a 1/2 ton Mitsubishi Ductless Minisplit Heat Pump, a 30 cfm Broan ERV/HRV, and a Hewlett-Packard HP Z840 computer. We also have a vacuum cleaner, for those who are concerned about cats. Hallelujah.

How to Keep a Rainscreen Airtight

Corbett Lunsford had a problem finishing the ventilation holes in the rain screen of the #TinyLab, and apparently invented a new tape technique using 475 High Performance Building Supply's Tescon Vana. Voila: Corbett's Car Wash technique.

How to Ventilate the #TinyLab (aka How To Pull Your Hair Out)

From the beginning, we've planned on this high performance tiny house on wheels (THOW) being airtight. That's a no-brainer, and everyone else wants airtight homes too, whether they know it yet or not. If you want to see how bright-eyed and bushy-tailed we were when we started planning the Tiny Lab, check out this webinar on the HVAC design:

After airtight construction, the next important step is always making sure the home is VENTILATED right, with fresh air in just the right amount. Too little fresh air, and you get staleness, odors, condensation, and a deep-seated disgusting feeling. Too much fresh air, and you're flushing conditioned air down the toilet.  The calculation for determining how much fresh air any house needs is called ASHRAE 62.2-2013, and you can see a simplified breakdown of that here:

And finally, you need to decide How Exactly You're Going To Do This.  That's always the sticking point, and designing and building this tiny house on our own has taught us that all day, every day. The devil's in the details. So began our ventilation adventure, and we immediately talked with our longtime friends at Panasonic, who recommended three pieces of equipment:

• WhisperGreen Exhaust Fan
• WhisperComfort 20/40cfm Spot ERV (Energy Recovery Ventilator)
• WhisperSupply 10/20cfm filtered supply fan

The ventilation strategy we were planning on initially was to exhaust air (20cfm minimum) from the shower (at the top right), which is only a few feet away from the kitchen (the L-shaped cabinet just below it), and supplying fresh air at the rear of the tiny house, in the underloft bedroom (at bottom).

We immediately faced a challenge with pressure equalization. Since this tiny house would be so airtight, the results of the blower door test would likely be less than 67cfm@50Pascals (2.0 ACH50). Without all the mumbo jumbo, that means that if I ran a regular exhaust fan in the bathroom or kitchen at anything close to 70cfm, I'd be sucking so hard on the house it would be as if a 20 mph wind was blowing on every single surface of the house (and that's a lot of surface- about 1000 sq. ft.)

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Also, while the WhisperGreen bath exhaust fan can be 'manifolded' (which means connecting a duct system to the fan to distribute the air wherever you want it), the spot ERV cannot. A really cool MacGyver hack was recommended by Panasonic's technical team, which I think is awesome and could easily be done by anyone else per the instructions:

Although this is all very cool, it was deemed too iffy to work properly for the Tiny Lab because of all the customizations we're making with the on-wheels aspect, the tightness, the tiny size, etc. 

To keep this story from being ten pages long, let me just say that we are now on our FOURTH and final ventilation plan. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's Brett Singer and our favorite dehumidification guru Lew Harriman both strongly urged us to use a fully-ducted HEAT Recovery Ventilator instead of the ENERGY Recovery Ventilator (which exchanges both heat and humidity). We'll be fighting the humidity the whole way, since every shower, cup of tea, and exhale will add to the moisture in the tiny house.

Also, we all agreed it would be infinitely better to exhaust the stovetop gases directly to outdoors with an ENERGY STAR kitchen exhaust hood.  We're keeping the pressure imbalances in check with a hole in the wall controlled with a mechanical damper that's activated by pressure imbalances.

Our final ventilation strategy is from our Product Partner BROAN, and we'll show you exactly how that miracle cure works when the system arrives next week!  Thanks for tuning in, and for your support in these trying times. Whew.