Why do we even need to ventilate in the first place? 

Us humans have never had to worry about ventilating our homes until we started building airtight houses. This is because these cracks in the building have functioned as ventilation so closing these has led our buildings not being supplied with fresh air and therefore being Co2 heavy. 

This has led to poor indoor air quality for everyone who lives in these houses without an inbuilt ventilation system, and it’s the main reason why a ventilation system is and will be needed for humans throughout the future. 

Extensive Co2 is one of the reasons why poor indoor air quality is the norm for the majority today, but there are other pollutants that affect us negatively as well. If we for example open our windows, our house will draw in the pollutants from outside, and we are from the inside contaminated with VOCs and mold and these are deteriorating to our health.

It’s also of major importance to mention that buildings who aren’t built in an airtight manner and are located in a very polluted area are even worse off than the previously mentioned cases. This is due to the pollution from outside leaking into the house and then mixing up with the indoor pollutants, creating 2-5x more pollution than outside. 

These are the short explanations of the main reasons why a ventilation system is absolutely vital today for both our health and performance. We will in this article go in depth on Energy Recovery Ventilation (ERV), which is the most modern way of solving this problem. 

What is energy recovery ventilation? And how does it work? 

ERV is an intelligent ventilation system that reliably keeps the temperature and oxygen levels in the building on a good level at the same time as it effectively exhausts the used air and harmful pollutants. We say intelligent because at the same time as it perfectly ventilates and cools your home it recovers a majority of the used energy. Creating a top class indoor air environment at the same time as saving our wallets from high electric bills. 

It mechanically works through connecting the aggregate to a duct system that transports used air out of the building and fresh air into the building. The fresh, supplied air is thanks to a cooling coil cooled down as it enters the building, and when the same air then is to be extracted it passes through the recovery part of the aggregate which then recycles the energy used, saving up to 86% of the used energy. Giving you a ventilation process sustainable for both the environment and wallet

The ERV system is often placed in the attic, laundry room or closet. For ultimate comfort and ventilation efficiency the supply air valves are placed in the bedroom and living room. The exhaust air diffusers should be placed in the bathroom, toilet, laundry room and kitchen for ultimate cleansing of the indoor pollutants.

The ERV system is often placed in the attic, laundry room or closet. The supply air valves should be put in the bedroom and living room for ultimate comfort, whilst the exhaust diffusers should be placed in the bathroom, toilet and laundry room for ultimate cleaning of pollutants.Your ERV system then makes sure that the supplied air cools/heats the temperature of your home to your desired level whilst supplying you with fresh and natural air. 

Why erv? 

Other ventilation systems such a balanced ventilation system or exhaust and supply only, can also be used. But these will first and foremost not ventilate your home as well, and also lead to higher bills. This is due to the conditioned and already cooled/heated air being wasted out of the building.

Another option that many people consider, or choose to go with, are air purifiers. These can be really good at purifying the indoor pollutants if they are of high quality. But the big problem with these are that they don’t bring in new and fresh air to the building, which always leads to a heavy Co2 contaminated building thanks to the airtight houses we inhabit today. 

Another reason why air purifiers don’t get the job done is that they don’t control the humidity nor air flow which leaves the door open to both mold and mildew. 

ERV is furthermore relatively cheap thanks to its high energy recovery. The ERV user in principle only pays for the installation and the driving of the fans, and this is today fairly cheap thanks to modern EC-engine technology. But if you wish to cool or heat the air to, for example, the normal level of an air conditioner in Thailand, you’ll obviously have to pay more due to the energy cost. In these cases it’s smart to combine ERV with an air conditioner. 

Now you know… 

You now know the exact reasons why ERV are superior over other possible ventilation systems, but it’s all in all failry complicated in the beginning. So please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or if you’re interested in getting a free guidance call. You do this by simply clicking the messenger icon on the bottom right of this website, log into facebook and sending us a message.