Air Exchanger and HRV Cleaning in Toronto and the GTA

Air exchanger cleaning means cleaning the whole HRV or ERV, not just rinsing the filters: the filters, the heat recovery core, the fans, the drain pan, the ducts that run to the outside and the intake and exhaust hoods on your wall. Comfort Clean has cleaned air systems across Toronto and the GTA since 1980, and HRV cleaning is one of the services you can add to a duct cleaning visit.

We are family run, a CNADCA member, and work from our office at Bathurst and Finch in North York. HRV cleaning is priced by quote once we know the unit and how it is ducted, and we confirm the total by phone before we book.

What an air exchanger does, and why your home has one

An air exchanger swaps stale indoor air for fresh outdoor air, all day, without throwing away most of your heat. An HRV (heat recovery ventilator) pushes the outgoing air and the incoming air through a core of thin plates. The two streams never mix, but the warm outgoing air heats the cold incoming air on the way past.

An ERV (energy recovery ventilator) works the same way and also passes some moisture across the core. People call both of them air exchangers, and the cleaning is much the same.

Newer houses in the GTA are built tight to save energy. That is good for heating bills, but a tight house holds on to cooking smells, moisture from showers and the stale air of a closed-up winter. Many newer homes and townhouses came with an HRV for exactly that reason, usually a white or grey box in the basement near the furnace with four ducts coming off it.

Two of those ducts run to the outside wall: one brings fresh air in, the other sends stale air out. The other two run into the house. In some homes the HRV has its own ducts to the bathrooms, kitchen and bedrooms. In many others it is tied into the furnace return, so the furnace blower spreads the fresh air through the house.

What gets dirty inside an HRV

An air exchanger moves air every hour of the year, so it collects dirt faster than people expect. Many of the units we open have never been cleaned past the filters, and some not even that. These are the parts that build up:

• Filters: usually washable foam or mesh, sometimes disposable pleated ones in newer models. They catch dust, lint and pollen and turn grey and matted within a few months.
• The core: the block of plates where the heat transfer happens. Dust and lint coat the plate edges, the channels narrow, and less air gets through.
• The fans: two small blower wheels, one for each air stream. Dust packs onto the blades the same way it does on a furnace blower.
• The drain pan and drain line: in winter an HRV produces condensation that drains to the floor drain. The pan collects sludge, and a kinked or clogged line leaves standing water in the cabinet.
• The ducts to the outside: the fresh-air duct pulls in whatever is in the outdoor air, and the exhaust duct carries lint and moisture out of the house.
• The intake and exhaust hoods: the screens on the outside wall clog with leaves, cottonwood fluff in early summer, lint, insects and, in winter, snow and frost.

The exhaust side often picks up the most. Bathroom air is damp and full of lint, and over the years that dust sticks to the inside of the runs.

What our HRV cleaning covers, unit and ducts

Our technicians clean the air exchanger and the ductwork connected to it, using the same truck-mounted negative-pressure vacuum and brushing we use on furnace ducts. On a typical visit we:

• Inspect the unit, the ducts and both outside hoods, and photograph what we find
• Remove and clean the filters, or tell you when they are past saving and need replacing
• Take out the core and wash or vacuum it, depending on its type
• Vacuum and wipe the fan wheels, the cabinet, the door and the drain pan
• Check that the drain line is connected and not kinked, and flush out the pan
• Clean the HRV ductwork with negative-pressure vacuum and brushing, where the runs can be reached
• Clear the intake and exhaust hoods on the outside wall where they can be reached safely
• Take before-and-after photos so you can see the difference

Cores differ. Many HRV cores can be washed in lukewarm water with mild soap, while most ERV cores must never get wet and can only be vacuumed. We check the core type before we touch it, and when we are not sure, we vacuum only.

We do not repair or replace HRV motors, control boards, wiring or defrost controls, and we do not balance airflow or rework ducts. When we see a failed fan, a cracked core or a duct that has come loose, we photograph it so a licensed HVAC technician can take it from there.

Signs your air exchanger needs cleaning

Plenty of HRVs keep humming along long after they stop doing much. These are the signs we hear about most:

• Windows that stream with condensation on cold mornings, even with the HRV running
• Stuffy, stale air, or cooking smells that hang around until the next day
• A musty smell near the unit or from the grilles it feeds
• Weak airflow at the HRV grilles in bathrooms or bedrooms
• A louder hum, rattle or whistle than the unit used to make
• Water on the floor under the unit, or rust on the cabinet
• Ice or frost building up on the outside hood
• Filters that come out grey and matted, or a core no one has taken out since you moved in

Some of these are not dirt. A unit that runs but moves no air may have a failed fan motor, and a control panel showing an error needs a technician. We will tell you which is which once the unit is open.

HRV frost, condensation and Ontario winters

Ontario winters are hard on an air exchanger. When the outdoor air is very cold, moisture in the outgoing warm air can freeze on the core. HRVs handle this with a defrost cycle: every so often the unit stops bringing in outdoor air and lets warm air thaw the core, and the meltwater runs out through the drain.

A dirty core and clogged filters make frost worse, because the air moves slower and the narrow channels ice over faster. A drain line that is kinked, frozen or run through a cold space keeps the water in the pan, where it can overflow inside the cabinet.

A few winter habits keep it working:

• Keep the HRV running through the heating season. Shutting it off to save heat is exactly when windows start to sweat and the air goes stale
• After each heavy snowfall, check that drifts are not blocking the outside hoods
• Look at the drain line now and then to make sure water is reaching the floor drain
• When windows run with water, set the HRV higher and turn down the furnace humidifier, if you have one

Summer is the opposite problem. In a humid Toronto July an HRV brings in muggy outdoor air, so many households run it on a lower setting while the AC is on. Your unit’s manual will say what it recommends for summer.

What you can do between visits

Most of the upkeep on an air exchanger is yours, and it is simple. Most HRV manuals call for checking the filters every couple of months and cleaning the core once or twice a year. Follow the manual for your model, since the details differ.

To clean the filters:

• Turn the HRV off at its control or unplug it before you open the door
• Slide the filters out and vacuum off the loose dust
• Wash washable filters in warm water with mild dish soap, rinse, and let them dry fully before they go back in
• Replace disposable filters with the same size and type
• Wipe out the inside of the door and the bottom of the cabinet while it is open

For the core, check the manual first. Many HRV cores slide out and can be soaked and rinsed gently, while ERV cores generally cannot get wet. Never use a pressure washer, a dishwasher or harsh cleaners on a core, and put it back the way it came out, since most only fit one way.

Outside, keep both hoods clear of leaves, snow and fluff, and keep plants, garbage bins and barbecues away from the fresh-air intake.

What you cannot reach yourself is the ductwork, the inside of the fan housings and the runs to the outside wall. That is where a professional cleaning earns its place every few years, ideally on the same visit as your ducts.

HRV and ERV cleaning in condo suites

Many newer condo suites in Toronto and the GTA have their own ERV or HRV, usually a compact unit in the laundry closet, a utility closet or above a bulkhead ceiling near the fan coil. It brings fresh air into the suite and sends stale air outside through short ducts.

Suite units are small, and their filters clog fast, especially in towers near busy roads or construction. They also get forgotten, because they hide behind a door no one opens, and the filters are often the only part that has ever been touched.

We clean in-suite air exchangers along with the fan coil, the short supply runs and the dryer vent, and we book access through your concierge or property manager. Corridor and common-area ventilation is a building-wide job arranged through management. The details of suite work are on our condo duct cleaning page.

HRV cleaning with your duct cleaning, and pricing

The best time to clean an air exchanger is the same visit as your ducts. Many HRVs connect to the furnace return, so a dirty HRV keeps feeding dust into freshly cleaned ductwork, and a dirty duct system loads up a freshly cleaned HRV. Doing both together means one appointment and one setup of the vacuum truck.

HRV cleaning is an additional service, priced by quote. It is not part of any of our air duct cleaning packages, and the price depends on the unit, how many ducts it has and how easy the runs and outside hoods are to reach. When you call, tell us the brand and model from the label if you can see it, whether it ties into the furnace or has its own ducts, and roughly how long it has been since the last cleaning.

Our posted packages for the air duct cleaning itself are:

• Basic, $329, up to 10 vents: the supply side, from the furnace supply connection through the supply lines and supply main.
• Comfort, $399, up to 10 vents: the supply and return sides, plus the J-channel.
• Luxury, $499, up to 15 vents: the furnace blower compartment cleaned and the ductwork sanitized with a natural product (Benefect), on top of everything in Comfort.

Every package includes before-and-after photos, extra vents are $12 each, and there is no trip fee inside our service area. The full breakdown is on our duct cleaning prices page.

Our office at 4949 Bathurst St is close to homes across North York, Thornhill and Vaughan, and we cover the rest of Toronto and the GTA too. Call 905-738-1878 for a quote on your air exchanger.