Adequate air exchange can alleviate and prevent poor indoor air quality (IAQ) issues in your northwest Arkansas home. Moreover, with the right ventilation technology, you can help lower cooling expenses while enjoying fresh air.
Benefits of whole-house ventilation
The typical household harbors a host of airborne contaminants, such as viruses, mold, chemicals, and many other allergens and pollutants. Poor IAQ is particularly common in tightly sealed homes and homes that don’t receive enough daily air exchange. These contaminants become trapped, free to grow and proliferate, creating and exacerbating health and respiratory ailments. Whole-house ventilation technology is a key element for achieving and maintaining good IAQ.
Heat recovery ventilators
Heat recovery ventilators (HRVs) are whole-house ventilation systems that transfer heat between stale and polluted indoor air and fresh supply air. A cube-shaped heat exchange core is the technology used to transfer heat from warm supply air (cooling months) to the out-flowing stale air. The fresh supply air may transfer over 90 percent of the heat energy, depending on the HRV model, allowing you to enjoy air-conditioned fresh air without using your cooling system to cool the supply air.
You may program the HRV to ventilate your home at strategic times of day or night when indoor and outdoor temperatures are close to the same, which would provide fresh air at no cost to cool it. This same heat-exchange technology works to provide heat to the cold supply air during the heating season.
Energy recovery ventilators
Energy recovery ventilators (ERVs) are identical to HRVs in the heat-exchange process and in utilizing a duct system for whole-house ventilation. The only difference between an ERV and an HRV is that an ERV also transfers moisture between opposing air streams, which helps regulate indoor humidity levels. Most models of HRVs transfer more heat energy, so you’ll need to decide between a higher rate of heat exchange for lower cooling and heating costs, or more humidity control for greater comfort on warm, humid summer days.
Contact Paschal Heat, Air & Geothermal to learn more about ventilation technology for your home. We’ve provided homeowners in northwest Arkansas quality service and installation for HVAC and IAQ services for over 40 years.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Northwest Arkansas about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about ventilation and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.
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