Lifebreath HRV and ERV ventilation, AprilAire and GeneralAire humidifiers, MERV media filtration, Broan bathroom fans and smart thermostats — installed and serviced by the same family that looks after your furnace.
From October to April most of us breathe indoor air almost exclusively. In a tightly built Alberta home, that air gets stale, dry and dusty unless the mechanical system is doing its job. Ventilation, humidity and filtration are three separate problems, and each has a proper fix.
Clean, fresh, well-circulated air. The penguin takes this one personally.
Illustration — Nix with a MERV media filter and a Lifebreath HRV.
Older homes leaked. Air changed over on its own through gaps, and the furnace paid for it. Modern construction — and a well-done renovation — seals those gaps, which saves energy and traps everything you'd rather not breathe: cooking moisture, cleaning products, off-gassing from new materials, CO₂ from people.
A heat recovery ventilator brings outdoor air in and pushes indoor air out, passing them by each other through a core so the outgoing air gives up most of its heat to the incoming air. You get fresh air without paying to heat it from −25 °C. An energy recovery ventilator does the same and also moves some moisture, which suits homes that swing dry in winter.
Outdoor air at −25 °C holds almost no moisture. Heat it to 21 °C and it becomes desert-dry. That's where static shocks, cracking hardwood, split trim and dry sinuses come from. A whole-home humidifier mounted on the ductwork adds moisture evenly across the house and shuts off on its own.
Too much humidity is its own problem — that's when windows run with water and mould appears in corners. The target is a range, not a maximum, and it shifts with the outdoor temperature. We set it correctly and show you how to adjust it.
A 1-inch filter has very little surface area, so a dense high-MERV version restricts airflow and makes the furnace work harder. A 20x20x6 media filter has many times the surface area folded into it — it captures finer particles and breathes easier. For most homes it's the single best filtration upgrade available, and it needs changing once or twice a year instead of monthly.
A smart thermostat is included with every new furnace, air conditioner and heat pump we install. If your system is fine but the thermostat is twenty years old, we can swap just the thermostat — schedules, remote control from your phone, and proper staging control for multi-stage equipment.
A bathroom fan that's too small, too loud or vented into an attic instead of outside doesn't solve a moisture problem — it relocates it. We install Broan fans properly ducted to the exterior, and on renovation and commercial projects we handle exhaust and make-up air together so the building isn't fighting itself.
For whole-home ventilation on a new build, see new construction & renovation.
Illustration — Maélie setting up a smart thermostat.
Real JD Climate ventilation work around Edmonton and Sturgeon County.
Both bring fresh air in and push stale air out while recovering heat from the exhaust. An HRV transfers heat only; an ERV also transfers some moisture, which helps homes that get too dry in winter or too humid in summer. We install Lifebreath units and size them to the house.
Alberta winter air holds almost no moisture, and a tight modern home with a running furnace dries out fast. A whole-home humidifier — AprilAire or GeneralAire — keeps humidity in a comfortable range and protects hardwood, millwork and instruments.
We install 20x20x6 MERV media filters on most systems. A deeper media filter captures far more than a standard 1-inch filter, and because of the larger surface area it doesn't choke airflow the way a dense thin filter does.
A 1-inch filter: every one to three months. A 6-inch media filter: typically once or twice a year. Pets, renovations and gravel roads all shorten those intervals.
Yes, Broan fans — replacements for noisy or underpowered units, and new installs during renovations.
New construction in Alberta is sealed tightly, which is great for efficiency but means mechanical ventilation does the job windows used to. If the house feels stuffy or windows fog up, the ventilation system is worth a look.
Usually, yes — it's a humidity and ventilation problem, not a window problem. We look at humidifier settings, HRV operation and bathroom exhaust together.
Based in Sturgeon County, licensed in Edmonton and St. Albert, and permitted across the communities we serve. If you're nearby and not on this list, just ask.
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