From a Milwaukee vent fan to fresh air systems
Broan built its first vent fan in Milwaukee in 1932 and moved to Hartford, Wisconsin, in 1954. NuTone, which started with an electric door chime in 1936, joined the ventilation family in 1998, and the Broan-NuTone name launched in 2000. Two ventilator makers came in later: Venmar, founded in 1978, and vänEE, which built what the company calls North America's first air exchanger in 1980. As of 2026, Broan-NuTone is one of Madison Air's brands, in the same family as AprilAire.
Broan-NuTone makes bath fans, range hoods and heaters, and it makes balanced fresh air systems: heat recovery ventilators (HRVs) and energy recovery ventilators (ERVs). This page is about those. We service and install them, and our ventilation service page covers the work in general.
Why does a tight Minnesota house need an HRV or ERV?
An older Minnesota house leaks enough air that moisture and stale air find their own way out, along with a lot of heat. A newer house built tight, or an older one that's been air-sealed and insulated, doesn't. Without mechanical ventilation, bathrooms stay damp, cooking smells hang around, and windows sweat in January even at modest humidity.
An HRV or ERV runs a steady, matched exchange: stale air out from kitchens and baths, fresh air in, through a core that passes heat from the outgoing stream to the incoming one. A house that sweats in winter usually does better with an HRV. One that runs dry in January, or muggy in July in a lake town like White Bear Lake or Prior Lake, may do better with an ERV. Our post on ERVs vs HRVs goes through the choice.
Broan's current HRVs and ERVs
The AI Series is the core of Broan's lineup, and the model number tells you what you have: an H after the first number is an HRV, an E is an ERV. The B160H65RT, for example, is a 160 CFM HRV with airflow selectable from 35 to 160 CFM, PMSM ECM fan motors, VIRTUO auto-balancing, and an LCD screen that shows real-time airflow. It ships with MERV 8 filters. Broan lists wall controls for it from the VTTOUCHW touchscreen to the VAUTOW automatic control and the VBATHW boost override, which runs the unit on high when a bathroom needs clearing. If your control is dead or stuck on one speed, the unit itself is often fine.
For Minnesota, look at the cold-weather numbers. Broan publishes that unit's sensible recovery efficiency at 32°F, where it's 68%, and at -13°F, where it's 60%. The -13°F figure is the one that reflects a January night here, and it's a fair number to compare ventilators on.
The Broan ONE ERV, introduced in July 2024, has a switch that flips its airflow configuration in the field for mirrored floor plans, and the newer EDGE Series ERVs followed it. Broan lists the older HE and SKY Series as discontinued. We still service them.
What goes wrong with an HRV or ERV in a Minnesota winter?
Winter problems on any HRV or ERV look alike: outdoor hoods frosted or drifted over, a drain line that froze or clogged, a core packed with dust, or airflows out of balance so the house feels drafty. We clear the hoods, clean the core and filters, check the defrost and measure airflow on both sides, so the unit brings in about as much air as it exhausts.
In summer the job changes. July air near the lakes carries a lot of moisture, and running a ventilator on high brings more of it inside. An ERV slows that down, but neither type dries a damp basement; that's a dehumidifier job.
The ventilator also has to work with the rest of the house. A big range hood or several bath fans running at once can pull a tight house negative, and that can draw exhaust down a water heater flue. We look at the whole picture on a service visit.
Booking Broan-NuTone service
A service call is a $79 trip charge, waived when you approve the repair, with a written price before we start. Installed air quality equipment runs $350–$2,800, and a new ventilator with its duct work sits toward the top of that range. Replacements get sized to the house, not copied from the old label. Call 612-429-3465, 7am–9pm, seven days a week.
Broan-NuTone questions
Should my Broan be an HRV or an ERV?
It depends on how your house runs in winter. An HRV passes heat between the air streams and tends to dry out a tight house that sweats on the windows. An ERV also moves some moisture, which helps a house that runs too dry in January or muggy in July. In Broan's model numbers, H means HRV and E means ERV, so a B160H65 is an HRV.
How often does a Broan HRV or ERV need service?
Look at the filters every few months and clean or replace them when they're gray; Broan ships MERV 8 filters in units like the B160H65RT. Clean the core on the schedule in your manual. Once a year we check the drains, outdoor hoods, defrost and airflow balance. A unit that has gone years without attention usually needs the core and filters done before anything else.
Why does the house feel drafty when my HRV runs in January?
Usually the core is dirty, the defrost isn't working, or the airflows are out of balance, so more cold air comes in than stale air goes out. Frost or snow over the outdoor hoods can do it too. A clean, balanced unit tempers the incoming air well even in deep cold: Broan rates the B160H65RT at 60% sensible recovery efficiency at -13°F.
Who owns Broan-NuTone now?
As of 2026 Broan-NuTone is one of Madison Air's brands, alongside AprilAire, whose company, Research Products, also owns the Santa Fe dehumidifier brand. Broan-NuTone is still based in Hartford, Wisconsin, where Broan moved in 1954. For service, the name matters less than the model number on the unit's label, which tells us which core, filters and motor it takes.
Are bath fans enough ventilation in a tight house?
In an older, leaky house, good bath and kitchen fans often are. In a tight house, exhaust-only fans pull air out without a matched supply, which puts the house under negative pressure and can pull exhaust down a water heater flue. That's why tight houses get balanced ventilation from an HRV or ERV. Broan makes both kinds of equipment, and we look at the fans when we service a ventilator.
Sources
- Broan-NuTone official site broan-nutone.com