How can an Energy Recovery Ventilator Solve Air Quality Problems in Your Home

There are many ways you can improve your home’s air quality. Installing a high-efficiency filter or a whole house air cleaner, for example, is a great way to remove the pollutants in your air that cycle through your HVAC system. But filtration is only one way to improve air quality. If you want the highest-quality air in your home, you should also have a method of ventilation. An energy recovery ventilator is the perfect solution. Today we’re going to talk about why ventilation in our homes is necessary and how you can benefit from installing an energy recovery ventilator!

The problem: Indoor air is typically more polluted than outdoor air

One of the best ways to ensure your home is energy efficient is to limit the amount of air that leaks in and out of it. Homes these days are built as tightly-sealed as ever, and an emphasis has been put on sealing up any air leaks that homes might have. While this has been a great way to conserve energy, it also poses a problem: many airborne contaminants end up stuck inside our homes with nowhere to go.

The EPA estimates that the air in a typical home is 2-5 times more polluted (and sometimes as much as 100 times more polluted) than the air outside. So what can Glen Carbon area homeowners do to improve their air quality and bring fresh air into their homes without sacrificing efficiency?

The solution: Install an energy recovery ventilator

One way to ventilate your home and bring fresh air indoors is to open your doors and windows. Although this might be a good idea in the spring or fall, it’s not very practical in the middle of summer or winter when you’re relying on your HVAC system to control your indoor temperature levels. That’s where an energy recovery ventilator can help.

An energy recovery ventilator is a device that connects with your home’s ductwork and is able to ventilate your home while keeping it tightly sealed. It works by sending stale and polluted indoor air outside while bringing fresh outdoor air into your home.

The best part about an energy recovery ventilator is that it can exchange indoor and outdoor air without affecting the temperature or efficiency of your home. It is able to do this with a heat exchanger that exchanges heat and humidity from incoming air (during the summer) to the air that it sends outside. That way, you can always have a fresh supply of air in your home without having to crack open a single door or window!

If you have any questions about an energy recovery ventilator, or if you’d like a cooling system serviced or installed in your home, contact Tiger Services, your Glen Carbon plumbing, heating and air conditioning company.

photo credit: SDTeamCanada via photopin cc