Robbins Heating & Air Conditioning Blog : Posts Tagged ‘Energy Recovery Ventilators’

Let Some Fresh Air In: How to Ventilate without High Bills

Monday, May 9th, 2016

It feels a little stuffy inside, and you’d like to open up a window or let some air through the screen door. The only problem is that you’ve got your heater running. If you open up the window, you’ll let a breeze in. You’ll feel a lot less comfortable, to start with.

But what’s more is that your bills can skyrocket, forcing your heater to work a lot harder to attempt to heat your home. The same is true with an air conditioner in the summer, when opening a window will just cause trouble for your AC system and wear down the parts.

There is a system that will allow you to let some fresh air in, making the indoor air feel a lot less stale without affecting your comfort or raising your bills significantly. Learn more about energy and heat recovery ventilators below.

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2 Reasons for Poor Indoor Air Quality (and What to Do about It)

Monday, April 20th, 2015

Do family members in your home have asthma or severe allergies? Do you notice that family members seem to get sick frequently? Are you worried about the quality of the air in your home? It’s time to think about ways that you can improve the quality of the air in your home. Of course, keeping living spaces clean is one place to start, but it’s difficult to keep common contaminants out of the air, no matter how clean the house is. Here are three reasons your indoor air quality may suffer, and what you can do to remedy the situation.

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When Is an Energy Recovery Ventilator Necessary?

Thursday, December 11th, 2014

You know that your heater or air conditioner will have to work much harder if you open up the windows for a bit of fresh air. Unfortunately, we keep our homes sealed up tight to prevent our air conditioners and heaters from consuming too much energy. If your HVAC system runs for too long, your bills will skyrocket and the parts may wear down far too quickly. While this may help us to save quite a bit of money, it can have consequences to our health and comfort.

Most home comfort systems circulate the air from inside the house in order to consume as little energy as possible. While this is useful in preventing your air conditioner from becoming overworked, poor ventilation is responsible for many indoor air quality problems. Improper ventilation results in stale air and a general feeling of discomfort, but can also allow for a lot of pollutants to remain in the home.

An energy recovery ventilator is necessary whenever improper ventilation allows for less-than-satisfactory conditions in your household. An energy recovery ventilator (ERV) brings in fresh air from the outside and pre-heats or pre-cools it so that it is conditioned for your home. The stale indoor air is simultaneously vented to the outside. And don’t worry; the outside air will go through the same filtration process as the indoor air that circulates through the home, and will ultimately be cleaner to breathe in than the air that recycles through the house. Besides, the sealed heat exchanger allows for very little heat to escape, meaning you won’t notice an impact on your bills.

An ERV is also useful when you have a problem with humidity in the home. High humidity levels can allow moisture to buildup in the home, ruining furniture, walls, and structural components, and allowing for a dangerous buildup of mold and mildew. Although it is not technically a dehumidifier, an ERV will transfer moisture from the indoor air to the outdoors to keep the home feeling more comfortable and preventing the possibility of structural damage.

You might choose an energy recovery ventilator when you notice conditions in the home have become uncomfortable. But ultimately, you should ask a trained technician whether this type of unit is right for you.

Contact Robbins Heating & Air Conditioning to learn more about installing energy recovery ventilators and to gain some control over your indoor air quality today.

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