Just bought my 1st house last month and getting moved in and wanted to see what people had for ideas. I have a 3 floor house (finished basement, main level, and an upstairs). Vents are closed in the basement and it stays comfortable. Main level is also comfortable, that's where the thermostat is at. But the upstairs gets about 10 degrees warmer and I'm trying to seek out options to keep it cooler without just running an additional AC unit. (Which I do have if someone is using the guest room, but I'm not going to run that everyday - I want to try to be somewhat green.) I've tried using the fan on the on setting, it makes a slight difference but that is hardly the green option. Not only does that use the fan power more, it's going to inevitably make the central run more often. One thing I was thinking of, and I haven't heard of this existing, is there most be some sort of smart contraption that will sense when the upstairs is warmer than outside (aka almost every night) and be able to dissipate the extra heat that way. Sure, I could open a window every night up there, but then I'm going to be letting out any of the central that comes through the vents up there. If I can ensure the upstairs gets down to about 70 or less (which it does most nights in the Midwest) then the AC probably has a shot of keeping it comfortable up there. But when that heat just piles up day after day then I'm not sure what else to do except running the air more. What about an evaporative A/C unit? Is this an ideal situation for this? They use less power (which is green) and with a window open then the heat that gets up there can escape. I could probably just close the vents from my central air unit and the heat that creeps up there (no door between any of the levels) would be eradicated. Thanks for your advice.

Hi everyone. I'm hoping someone might have an idea on what might be going on with my air exchanger. I have a Broan HRV 7.1 which is identical to the Venmar EVO5 700. I've had it for a couple of years and it's worked great. The other day I noticed that it was reading an outdoor temperature that wasn't right. I went into the basement for something else and noticed that it was very quiet except for a clicking sound. I've noticed that sound before when the unit was changing its settings. But this time no fan. I opened the side panel and saw the dampers trying to open or close. After they stopped moving I put the panel back on and the fan powered up and everything seemed like it was working again. It switched through its program and ran fine. Yesterday it happened again where there was no airflow. I went downstairs to check on it and again the fan wasn't running. Tried to reset like th edgy before but no luck. I'm not 100% sure but could it have something to do with the dampers or motor that opens them? As I said it seems to run fine when they get into the right position. The fan powers up and the air exhausts normally. But it seems as soon as it tries to close them it stops. I get no error message on the display. I was just wondering if anyone had any similar experiences or suggestions. Thanks.