Minotair vs ERV
What is your opinion on the Minotair Pentacare v12 product. It is supposed to handle humidity through their heat pump heat exchanger system (ERV). This sounds interesting because humidity control is a concern here in Manitoba. Just uncertain if it is cost effective compared to a standard ERV. There is a bonus amount of heating and cooling you get from the Minotair's use of a heat pump. Their heat pump will draw a lot more heat from the stale exhaust air versus the standard ERV using passive conductive plates/fabric.
The Pentacare V12 home ventilation system by Minotair is a very promising looking product for home efficiency. As you likely realize, its quite different than typical HRV and ERV systems as it has a built in heat pump that can significantly increases its efficiency when in heat pump mode by extracting additional heat from exhaust air. One of the big benefits is that fact that as a single unit it provides heat recovery ventilation as well as heating and cooling all from one unit.
For readers not familiar with heat pumps or ventilation systems you can get caught up here -
The difference between HRVs and ERVs and how to choose
Heat pumps - how they work and what to look for when shopping for one
The company has been around for a number of years so it does have something of a track record, though it is still a rather small company considering the size of the brands they are competing with.
We have not had direct experience with the Pentacare V12, but we love the innovation in having a built in heat pump and we would be very happy to see it take a bigger market share or to see competitors step up with their own such versions.
As for recommending it, that would really come down to cost, performance, service and warranty. The performance claims see great, warranty is on par with other competitors (5 years on parts), and as for price, there is commentary online about the cost being high. That can be disputed in some ways, especially considering that you get ventilation as well as heating and possibly all your cooling needs in one unit, which may be offset by not needing additional equipment.
The only thing that would give us pause for thought is the fact that it is a very small company with limited distribution and service. If you were near the manufacturer in Gatineau QC that would be a big plus, as some commentary we have seen online is that getting units serviced or replaced under warranty has left some people rather dissatisfied.
Overall, we love the technology and can tell you this is not snake oil and really does work, the price and warranty seem reasonable to us, the only hesitation would be due to the commentary on service. I would suggest you have a chat with someone at the company and see what sort of support they offer in Manitoba, as a relatively small and upcoming company, they may have worked out bugs by now. If you go for it Dean, please let us know more about what drove your decision, and we would also be happy to hear a performance report once you've had it in for a while.