So when I opted to review the E-Z Breathe basement unit I wasn’t sure what I was actually getting to be honest. I read up on it to see bold claims of Dehumidifier, air purifier and ventilator. It seemed too good to be true claiming to reduce not only the moisture while controlling mold and mildew but that it would also keep the smells down and improve air quality throughout my home. I couldn’t wait to get the thing in my basement.
I’ll preface the review with information on how I was previously handling the air quality of my basement. In the summer time I had been using a dehumidifier to keep down moisture and smells while hopefully preventing any mildew or mold in the process. There were a few sketchy areas I was concerned about but overall it seemed to serve it’s purpose making the air breathable while doing laundry and working on my computer down there. There was an obvious musty smell that, being in a few basements in my time, I believed was fairly common. This is my basement, on to the installation!
The Vendor who installed the unit at my house did a quick and amazing job, fully explained everything with an excitement only gained from his belief in the product itself. On sight the unit is small, not an eyesore in the least, and out of the way. The size worried me but upon asking the technician he showed me that the one I was getting could regulate the air of a 7,000 square foot home, mine is only a modest 1,500. The design is nice, if our basement was being finished at the time (it’s already finished), the ductwork could have been run under the drywall to make it less conspicuous then it already is. Even without this the color is close to the color of the wall it’s on and a quick glance you might not even notice it right away. It takes up significantly less space than my dehumidifier and also does not require any emptying of water or changing of filters, amazing!
I wanted to really wait on doing my review for this, I’ve had the unit now for 1.5 months and here is what I have found. After the first full day of activity, the smell in the basement was gone, and I was confused by the quickness in which it achieved this. Adjusting the dial on the unit, which if turned slowly you can gauge where your humidity level is, I deduced that I was still at 45%(where I was at with the dehumidifier running non-stop). So after a couple weeks we still had no smell but another check on the humidity level showed we were around 40%, awesome. A few more weeks pass, no smell and the air doesn’t feel as thick as before. Humidity check shows us around 30%!
All in all I am very impressed with the job that the unit is doing. There are a few things I need to point about this both positive and negative, though really not too negative. The unit itself running 24/7 will end up costing us between $2-$4 a month opposed to the dehumidifier running constantly costing around $20-$30. Speaking on the dehumidifier, it only works really to keep the moisture down where the E-Z Breathe removes harmful air contaminants as well. Also based on my listed observation above it does a much better job at controlling the moisture than the dehumidifier did, at a lower cost, with no need for dumping or removing water from the unit. Overall, once the unit was installed basement air maintenance became an afterthought. From all the research I’ve done and reading up on others views of the product there is only one downside, in my mind more of a side-side. In the few months during spring and summer when your heat and air are not used upstairs, which creates the dry air that is pulled and cycled through the basement by the unit, you may need to use a dehumidifier. This is documented in their literature and makes perfect sense. With open windows you would be replacing your air in the basement with the outside air, which could be humid. To me this is a non-issue as I still have the dehumidifier ready, and overall you are still going to see energy savings during the majority of the year.
From what it has done to this point I can only give the E-Z Breathe a ringing endorsement. It’s done wonders for my basement’s air to the point that I have been utilizing the space more and spending more time down there. Check the site for the full listings, scientific documentation, and other reviews regarding how this product works to improve the air quality of not only your basement but also your entire home.
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
E-Z Breathe relies on deceptive advertising to promote their ineffective and grossly overpriced ($1500) product. Their website makes the erroneous claim that moist air is heavier than dry air. This, of course, isn’t true. Ask any meteorologist why a barometer falls as the amount of water in the atmosphere increases. Their website also infers that the system works by drawing dryer air from upstairs and replaces the moist air that has “settled” in the basement. Moist air doesn’t “settle” in a basement. It is a result of moisture in the air condensing on the cooler floor slab and below grade foundation walls. In fact, bringing that air into a cooler basement is more likely to increase the relative humidity of that air due to the temperature change alone, and if the outside air is muggy, the system will only worsen the problem. The other major defect in the E-Z Breathe ventilation system is that as conditioned air is exhausted out of the house, that air must come from someplace, and that someplace will be unconditioned outside air pulled in through cracks around windows and doors and leaks in the envelope of house. An ERV or an HRV would be a far more energy efficient and sustainable ventilation system for exhausting stale air and bringing in fresh air because they will recover a large percentage of the energy (heat in winter, cool in summer) from the outgoing conditioned air. At roughly $2000-$2500, installed, the more energy efficient ERV or HRV won’t cost a great deal more than E-Z Breathe’s $1500 glorified exhaust fan.
I agree that the so-called system is simply a fan with a duct. It does not appear to
have any filters as well. I have a damp basement mainly because it is cool and there is
some moisture that seeps in at the bottom of the ancient field stone. The question is simply whether to spend $1500 or not. My gut feeling is that the price is a rip-off, so I am presently undecided on how to solve the mold/moisture problem.
EZ Breathe does not claim to “clean” the air. It provides what the ALA, EPA, RESNET & ASHRAE, among others, agree is one of the best solutions for a healthier indoor environment: Ventilation!
In fact, Wisconsin adopted ASHRAE 62.2 in the 2nd ½ of 2005 for new construction, which states that “A mechanical exhaust system, supply system, or combination thereof shall be installed for each dwelling unit to provide whole building ventilation”.
EZ Breathe provides the recommended ventilation requirements suggested by ASHRAE 62.2.
EZ Breathe is a great way to introduce fresh air into a home, AND exhaust the stale or contaminated air from the home. With a maximum cfm rating of 176, EZ Breathe is also quiet, uses little energy and effective.
If you'd like more non-partisan information, look for a handout published by the EPA called the “Homeowner’s Guide To Ventilation”, which talks about the benefits of mechanical ventilation.
I installed EZ Breathe in a duplex, one apartment above with another one below. Before EZ Breathe, the lower unit had mold on the walls and dampness in the winter months esp when it rained. Now after 2 years of installing ez breathe there is no more mold or condensation, it worked exactly as the company promised. i highly recommend this unit, it is small, simple, and effective. I know first hand.
it is worth every penny.
It appears to me that all of the negative posts about the EZ Breathe are coming from people who have no firsthand experience. It does not claim to clean the air; it claims to replace the air. I have found multiple posting all over the web. The people who actually have the system give it a good review. The people who claim it is too good to be true have no experience with the product. Regardless of how or why it works, my money is betting it does. I ordered one today. If you are handy, you can order directly from the company and install it yourself. $1250 includes shipping cost.
I have the system and it does not work! The company is not helpful and has refused a refund even though they promise one in their advertising and when purchasing the unit. The installer they sent me was an idiot and put a hole in my basement wall for the vent directly over the only cable outlet in the basement. If you havent purchased the unit I highly suggest that you dont. Save yourself time and money and buy a dehumidifier.
Good Luck.
Why not just build your own exhaust fan in the basement. I have priced something out with parts from Grainger and I could build something that can put out the same CFM or better and also trigger it with a humidistast for a fraction of the cost.
jvn is correct. I have a homemade exhaust fan / humidistat setup in my attic and basement. The attic unit very effectively prevents condensation on the underside of my metal roofing. It also has the same drawbacks as the expensive commercial product. ie: if the outside humidity is high, inside humidity will be too.
A humidistat may be a bit hard to find – check HVAC suppliy houses. You can start with a $25 box fan and move up if you need to.
@glt: Thank you for the information. Was it sufficient to place your basement exhaust fan in a basement window, or did you have to run its intake duct to the floor (the EZ Breathe approach)?
@Annie: EZ Breathe can't meet the ASHRAE standard for fresh air without running continually, true? But it's not designed to run continually, is it? Isn't it only designed to run until basement humidity falls below some setting? Also, to prevent excessive condensation in the basement, the manufacturer advises that the system be TURNED OFF if the household is not using A/C or heat. Can you explain how ASHRAE fresh air standards can be met, year-round, by such a system?
Also @annie, who seems to know the most about the system: It looks to me like the electrical aspects of the EZ Breathe are at FLOOR LEVEL. In a BASEMENT. Is this a good idea? Basements are prone to flooding – from acts of God, and from laundry machines. Do we want electrical circuits on the GROUND?
Finally, for anybody who knows a lot about HVAC: What about the risk of sucking toxic furnace or heater fumes into the basement? If a basement become depressurized, that can happen, right?
To achieve the results of this expensive unit for much less-you can buy a Deflecto dryer vent booster assembly
for about $120 – draws 20 watts is 135 CFM and uses a EBM blower from Germany that is a motorized fan with excellent life and excellent construction. You can buy a Honeywell humidistat from Grainger for about $80.00-both the items are excellent construction-take a look for yourself. Add some flexible duct to vent it out of the house-dryer vent etc. and you essentially have the same unit you would pay $1500.00 for. If you want add a speed controller for another $20.00.
I had an EZ Breathe system installed over a year ago. I was concerned about how the system would rid the basement of mold when it was drawing unconditioned air from upstairs. I was assured by the salesperson that it would so I went ahead and bought the unit. I was hopeful that I would not need a dehumidifier which was expensive to run and seemed to burn out every two years. This summer I had the worst mold problem I have ever had. I called EZ Breathe customer support and they told me that their system only works if the air they are drawing from upstairs is air conditioned. Otherwise, I would still need to run the dehumidifier. This is very different than what the salesperson told me and one of the concerns I had. They asked me to do a few things and would get back to me. They never did. I have sent emails that did not get responded to. From my perspective, the product does not work as advertised and their customer support is non-responsive.
When we had an old HVAC system replace the contractor installed an EZ Breathe system. Our formerly cool, comfortable, dry feeling with a dehumidifier basement became unbearable to be in, even though the relative humidity went down, & the upstairs became incredibly thick and hard to breathe in. Finally figured out that the unit was exhausting the air-conditioned drier air from the day & pulling in the high dew point, moist air as replacement from evening through morning, until it heated up enough around noon for the a/c to start running. This unit simply exhausts air you've paid to heat or cool. RELATIVE humidity can be misleading; a half full 1 oz. glass & a half full 8 oz. glass are both, in a way, "50% humidity", but one has a lot more water in it! If you cool warm outside air, the relative humidity will go up, but that doesn't mean there's any more moisture in the air. If you actually have a musty smelling basement, run a dehumidifier with an AUTO DEFROST feature (important, as in a cooler basement the unit might be iced up so much it's not actually removing water from the air most of the time).
watch out for backdrafts!! Watch out for bad air drawn from beneath slab, sumppump crocks, french drains…