Improving air quality in the home environment: a challenge met thanks to HRV

The air we breathe inside our homes has a significant impact on our health and overall well-being. Often overlooked, home air quality can affect our ability to concentrate, rest, and even prevent respiratory diseases. That's why improving air quality in the home environment is crucial, and one effective way to do this is through heat recovery ventilation (HRV).

Indoor air can be more polluted than outdoor air due to various factors, including the accumulation of moisture, dust, mold, bacteria, and toxic gases released by furniture, appliances, and cleaning products. Breathing poor quality air can cause a range of health problems, such as allergies, asthma, headaches, fatigue, and eye and respiratory tract irritation.

How HRV works

HRV is a system designed to ensure living comfort through a constant flow of fresh air into the home while simultaneously removing stale air. There are two main types of HRV: single-flow and dual-flow.

• The single-flow HRV extracts stale air from rooms such as the kitchen and bathroom, and replaces it with fresh air from outside. This is done by a fan that expels the stale air and creates a vacuum that is filled by outside air, passing through a filter to remove any impurities.
• Dual-flow HRV uses two separate air streams: one for the fresh air intake and one for the stale air outlet. These two streams cross into a heat exchanger, which transfers heat from the outgoing air to the incoming air during the colder months, thus reducing energy loss.

What HRVcan do for your home comfort

Here are the main benefits of Heat Recovery Ventilation:

• It improves health. Because it reduces the presence of allergens, mold, and harmful gases in the air, helping to prevent respiratory problems and other diseases related to indoor pollution.
• Increases comfort. Proper ventilation reduces humidity and odor inside rooms, creating a more comfortable and pleasant environment to live in.
• Saves energy. HRV can reduce overall energy costs by reducing the need to heat or cool incoming air.
• Prevents structural damage. By reducing humidity and the risk of condensation, HRV helps prevent damage to the building structure caused by mold and moisture.

Investing in a HRV system is an important step toward creating a healthy and comfortable home environment. However, it is essential to choose the most suitable system for your needs, coupled with proper installation and maintenance. FITT / Airplast can best meet any need in the area of HRV.

Contact us to learn more.