Atlantic Refrigeration and Air Conditioning, Inc. Blog: Posts Tagged ‘Energy Recovery Ventilators’

Don’t Forget the “V” in Your HVAC System: Ventilation

Monday, April 27th, 2020
duct-sealing-in-attic

When homeowners think about their indoor comfort, they usually think of their heating and air conditioning: the “H” and “AC” in the acronym “HVAC.” They often forget about the “V” sandwiched in the middle, standing for “ventilation.” But that letter is in the acronym for a good reason—ventilation is essential for comfort in a home and for better indoor air quality. Problems with ductwork in the ventilation system can lead to poor heating/cooling distribution, humidity swings, dusty and polluted air, and a plunge in HVAC energy efficiency.

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Can Your Home Benefit from an Energy Recovery Ventilator?

Monday, July 10th, 2017

ERV-energy-efficiencySummer is here, and that means high temperatures hitting us relentlessly for the next few months. Your air conditioning system is going to be put to quite a test, as it is every summer. You’re usually going to have to pay more in monthly costs for air conditioning during the summer, since your system will need to run for longer periods of time. But just because you’re paying more doesn’t mean you should pay more than is necessary. Timely upgrades to your existing system can help you cut down on those high costs, and provide other benefits to the air conditioner as well.

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Have You Thought about an Energy Recovery Ventilator?

Monday, December 5th, 2016

With winter on its way in the Bridgeville, DE area, homeowners will be looking for any advantage they have to keep those energy bills down. There’s a number of ways you can do so, ranging from turning the thermostat down to a wholesale replacement of your heater. In between that, there are a number of upgrades you can perform to augment your HVAC system. We’d like to talk about a specific upgrade today, one which can make a huge difference in your home’s efficiency in winter and summer alike. It’s called an energy recovery ventilator. Here’s a quick breakdown on how it works. 

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How Do Energy Recovery Ventilators Help Your Home?

Monday, June 27th, 2016

One of the biggest concerns in the summer here in Bridgeville, DE isn’t that your air conditioner won’t do the job. With proper maintenance and care, it should be ready to go. No, the issue is making sure that it doesn’t cost you an arm and a leg in monthly bills. An energy recovery ventilator, or ERV, should be able to nip those high bills in the bud. And with summer bearing down on us, now is the perfect time to get one installed in your home. Here’s a quick breakdown of how it all works.

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Energy Recovery Ventilators Improve Your Home’s Efficiency

Monday, November 16th, 2015

With winter on the way in Dover, DE, homeowners needs to consider every option in keeping their houses as energy efficient as possible. The better your home can retain its warm air – or cool air in the summertime – the more money you save on monthly energy bills and the less strain you put your heater and air conditioner under. There’s plenty of simple steps to improve your home’s energy efficiency, but one you might not have considered is an energy recovery ventilator (ERV) placed in your attic. We’re provided a quick outline of how it all works.

Ventilation without Loss of Temperature

The central purpose of an energy recovery ventilator is to swap out the stale air in your home with fresh air from outside, without losing the warmth (or coolness) your heater or air conditioner have worked so hard to provide. This is true year ‘round, but bears especial importance in the winter, when we shut out homes up tight to retain the heat. All of that stale air can force your heater to work harder to do its job – lowering humidity to unacceptable levels and forming a breeding ground for germs and bacteria to circulate endlessly. An ERV fixes that by linking two vents – one blowing fresh air in and the other blowing stale air out – to a heat exchanger in your attic. The air doesn’t co-mingle, but the heat exchanger pulls the heat out of the outgoing air and into the ingoing air.

What You Can Expect

As a result of this exchange, your air is refreshed and yet your household temperature remains the same. Even better the load on your heating system is reduced considerably, which means it doesn’t need to run as long to retain the warm temperatures in your home. Your monthly rates go down and your system doesn’t suffer from as much of a risk of a breakdown.

Atlantic Refrigeration and Air Conditioning, Inc. installs and services energy recovery ventilators.

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What Are Energy Recovery Ventilators?

Wednesday, August 20th, 2014

Having an energy efficient home is important for you, your family and your wallet. However, some homes can be too airtight, which can cause problems with proper ventilation. No one wants to throw open a window in the middle of summer or winter to allow fresh air into the home, and with an energy recovery ventilator in Dover, you don’t have to. An energy recovery ventilator (ERV) from Atlantic Refrigeration can help you properly ventilate your home while also reducing your energy usage.

How Does an ERV Work?

An ERV is a component that attaches directly to your HVAC system, and is used year-round. ERVs capitalize on a law of thermodynamics that states energy will spontaneously move from areas of high energy to low energy. As such, when two different temperatures meet, the heat, which is energy, transfers from the higher temperature to the lower one. Additionally, ERVs transfer moisture in a very similar way to heat. Inside every ERV is a heat exchanger that allows moisture to transfer between incoming and outgoing air. As with heat, high levels of moisture move to lower levels of moisture.

How Does It Differ Seasonally?

Here is how an ERV works during summer and winter:

Winter – upon expulsion from your home, the warm, humidified indoor air transfers moisture and heat to the cold, dry incoming air, preheating it and adding needed moisture as it enters your HVAC system.

Summer – the cool, dehumidified air is expelled, and as the fresh, more humid air enters, the expelled indoor air absorbs the excess heat and moisture from the incoming air before leaving the system. This pre-cools and dehumidifies the incoming air before it enters your system.

Benefits of an ERV

  • Greater energy efficiency – the pre-treating of incoming air reduces the amount of work your HVAC system has to do, which helps reduce the amount of energy it uses
  • Better indoor air quality – the constant stream of fresh air increases your indoor air quality
  • Better moisture control – the transfer of moisture helps maintain balanced humidity levels in your home year-round

Installing an energy recovery ventilator to your Dover home is an easy way to increase your energy efficiency and comfort.

For more information on this technology, call Atlantic Refrigeration today and speak to one of our experts to see what an ERV can do for you.

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