What is an Air Exchanger? An air exchanger improves indoor air quality by regularly exchanging and filtering the outdoor and indoor air. With older homes, outdoor air replaces the indoor air every 30 to 40 minutes. In tightly constructed homes however, it can take up to ten hours for air exchange to take place.

What does an air exchanger do in a house?

The installation of an air exchanger inside the house will remove stale and polluted air from the house to the outside and replace it by an equivalence of fresh air. Generally, an air exchanger system installed properly will renew the air of all the important parts of the house.

Is an air exchanger necessary?

Modern homes are so well insulated that they trap contaminants, allergens and moisture inside. Installing an air exchanger is an effective way to move that stale air out and bring fresh air in. ... Modern homes are built to retain warm air in the winter and cool air in the summer, so those pollutants can stay stuck inside.

What does air exchanger mean?

: a ventilation and climate control system or device that exchanges air inside a building with fresh air from outside the building and that typically transfers heat between the outgoing and incoming air in order to reduce the energy required to maintain the building's indoor temperature An air exchanger is often added ...

What are the benefits of an air exchanger?

An air exchanger constantly renews your indoor air, bringing several advantages:

• Significant improvements in air quality.
• Moisture evacuation.
• Superior ventilation.
• Elimination of pollutants (tobacco smoke, cleaning product vapours…)
• Reduced risk of mould and mildew.

Air to Air Exchanger Overview and Maintenance

32 related questions found

Do air exchangers dehumidify?

What Does An Air Exchanger Do? ... The purpose of these air exchangers are to provide fresh air into the air system along with dehumidifying the existing air to ensure your home isn't creating mold growth. These systems also clean the existing stagnant air inside the home, allowing fresh air to move around freely.

Do air exchangers help allergies?

Prevent Allergies

Think about it: most common allergens are airborne. Dust, mold, pollen, dander–all that junk floats through the air! ... Fortunately, also like other pollutants, air exchangers offer a solution. When air exchangers push the stale air out of your home, they're pushing out allergens, too.

Should my air exchanger run all the time?

Your air exchanger is most effective when run continuously. As long as it's on, your exchanger continuously filters out polluted air and brings in the clean stuff. ... Keep your exchanger operating at low settings constantly, and you won't have to worry about stale air buildup.

Should air air exchanger run in summer?

The answer depends on your home's air conditioning system, your ERV wall control, the outdoor temperature and, most importantly, the outdoor relative humidity. As a rule of thumb, if you are more comfortable outside than inside your house, you should run your air exchanger in the summer.

How do you know if your air exchanger is working?

If your air exchanger is working properly, the air exchange must be balanced, meaning that the stale air being drawn out of the living space is being replaced by an equal amount of fresh air. ... Turn on the air exchanger and then go outside and find the exhaust air outlet, which is the one that has air blowing out of it.

Do air exchangers help with radon?

The air exchanger doesn't prevent radon from entering; it simply dilutes it with outside air. A typical home may change air naturally every two hours and have a radon level of 6 pCi/L. ... An EPA study of radon systems found that 88% of air exchangers were not effectively reducing radon levels.

How long does an air exchanger last?

In general, most HVAC systems will last from 15 to 25 years, but depending on the type of system and other contributing factors, that estimate can be highly variable.

How long does it take to exchange air in house?

To exchange the air in a house, the average is 1 to 2 air changes per hour or between 60 and 30 minutes. This is known as the air exchange rate and that amount of time needed can vary. With open doors and windows, the rate is about 4 changes per hour, meaning that it takes only 15 minutes.

Does an air exchanger purify the air?

Air exchangers and purifiers remove environmental contaminants from the home. An exchanger exhausts stale air from inside and replaces it with fresh air from outside. Conversely, a purifier detoxes the existing air, making it supplementary to a ventilation system—not substitutional.

Does an HRV dehumidify?

HRV / ERV's are a very cost effective way of reducing indoor humidity levels when the outside air is colder than the inside air of the home, the colder the air the greater the capacity for an HRV/ERV to dehumidify. ... If you have the VanEE ERV with the Platinum Control, it will do this work for you.

How do you use a home air exchanger?

How to Use Air to Air Exchanger in Summer

1. Decide on whether or not to open the air exchanger vent. ...
2. Locate the speed settings dial, usually on the front of the unit. ...
3. Set the speed setting dial to "low" for regular use, or "high" if the air is highly contaminated by pollutants such as smoke or odors.

Does an air exchanger Remove dust?

An air exchanger improves indoor air quality by regularly exchanging and filtering the outdoor and indoor air. ... Particles that are in the air like pet dander and dust can contribute to poor indoor air quality.

How often should you clean your air exchanger?

How to keep your air exchanger running smoothly. Some of the components on your air exchanger, such as the recovery core, ventilator, drain pan, and exhaust duct, need to be cleaned at least once a year.

What should humidity level be in house in winter Canada?

Health Canada recommends keeping the humidity above 30% in winter and making sure it doesn't exceed 55% in summer (ideally, it should be somewhere between those percent values at all times).

How do you get fresh air in your house in the winter?

Other options to ventilate your indoor air in winter:

1. Try micro-ventilation. Here, you don't open up a window all the way, but just crack open one window in each room to permit a bit of fresh air to enter.
2. Switch ceiling fans to "winter" mode. ...
3. Run bathroom and kitchen fans.

Why does my air exchanger run continuously?

Your ERV/HRV may run continuously on high speed if: The main control is set for high speed. A timer has been pressed for high speed override. The set point for RH (Relative Humidity) is below the actual relative humidity of your home.

Do you need a dehumidifier if you have an air exchanger?

The answer is no. Installing an ERV is a great way to ventilate your home, but it's a poor choice for dehumidifying indoor air. That's right: An ERV will not help you dehumidify your home.

Do ERVs need drains?

Because ERVs recover moisture, condensation does not typically form in their cores. So, many do not have drains, but it's still possible for the cores to gather moisture or freeze in extreme weather.