ᐅ Central ventilation system – is humidity recovery necessary?

Hello everyone,

for our planned single-family house with 2 floors and a basement, we have decided on a central ventilation system for all rooms with heat recovery within the thermal envelope. The brand and model are not yet determined.

I have read here on the forum a few times about an additional moisture recovery feature (MRF?), since otherwise the indoor air tends to become too dry (of course, the ventilation system also removes the moisture that naturally occurs in the room, which usually makes the air feel comfortable). I wanted to ask if anyone can confirm these issues and whether this is more common in timber frame houses or also occurs in brick houses?

Did you install additional moisture recovery in your ventilation system? How much extra cost does it involve? I assume there are also additional maintenance costs because it involves another motor and related components.

Best regards
ludwig88sta

Moisture recovery is essentially a heat exchanger with a membrane. It may cost about €500 more if you order the system with this feature included from the start.

Use the forum search with the keyword "enthalpy heat exchanger." Definitely worthwhile.

I don’t understand why the construction method affects the need for an enthalpy heat exchanger.

We are going to install one. In our current rental apartment, with a centralized controlled ventilation system, we often have 30% relative humidity. That is uncomfortable.

We installed an enthalpy exchanger after experiencing indoor humidity levels of 30% during the winter. The dryness was causing discomfort in the nasal mucous membranes. It definitely improved with this system.

For the next heating season, we will also use an enthalpy exchanger; we should have done this from the very beginning.