Homes today are built for efficiency, keeping the warm air in during the cold season and the cool air in during the summer months. This is great for your heating and air conditioning system; however, it doesn’t bring fresh air into your home or remove stale air.
According to the EPA, indoor air is 5 times more polluted than the outdoor air. Cooking, aerosol sprays, cleaning agents, paints, and in some cases excess humidity if the house is sealed too tightly can create an undesirable environment. Keeping windows or doors open does not conserve energy. A device known as an Air Exchanger recovers heated or cooled air and provides fresh air to your home while improving indoor air quality.
An air exchanger is basically a ventilation system that pulls humid, stale air out of your home and replaces it several times a day with fresh air from outside. To do this, the air exchanger draws air in from an open port facing the outside of your home. The air moves into a changer (the exchanger), where it’s passed over by the stale air coming from the inside of the house. The air from the outside passes through a filter and is then distributed throughout your home, while the air from the inside of your home is expelled outside. An air exchanger can work independently or can be connected to your existing forced air HVAC system without compromising the efficiency of any of your appliances. Best of all, the temperature of the air can usually be saved from the inside air to the outside, meaning that you’ll retain almost all of your heating and cooling energy.
The benefits of installing an air exchanger are numerous. They basically perform the function of an electronic air cleaner, with the added bonus of introducing fresh air into your home and moving germs, odors, bacteria and other pollutants out. An air exchange can even be fitted with a HEPA filter to trap any incoming particles and pollutants before they can get into your home’s air supply.
For more information or help finding the right air exchanger for your Portland area home, contact us today!
