Are you worried about the indoor air quality of your home? You should be. Cooking odors, pet dander, dust mites, household chemicals — these elements can affect the quality of your home. It’s not just indoor allergens that cause problems. Indoor and outdoor air are equally problematic. Northern California homeowners right now can't escape the effects of poor air quality the fires are spreading throughout the Bay area. Emergency situations such as they are experiencing can happen anywhere.
Homeowners who want to improve air quality can run their air conditioners and employ HEPA filters in their HVAC system and vacuums. However, home ventilation is a critical component of ensuring quality indoor air.
Why a Ventilation System Is Important
Ventilation a double edged sword that helps and hinders. Keep the home shut tightly, and indoor pollutants can’t escape. Open up windows and doors, and outdoor pollutants move inside. Mechanical ventilation systems, such as the Trane FreshEffects™ Energy Recovery Ventilator (ERV), offer homeowners a viable solution without having to sacrifice either goal. Here’s how it works.
Keeping the home tightly sealed helps prevent outdoor pollutants from penetrating the home, but indoor pollutants become trapped inside. The ventilation system can work with your existing ductwork to bring some outdoor air into the home while exhausting old, stale, polluted indoor air. Before the outdoor air moves inside, however, it passes through a filter that traps pollutants. With a way to bring in fresh air and remove old air, homeowners get a ventilation system that helps advance home comfort.
What Your Ventilation System Should Address
When you select a ventilation system, consider the key components it should address:
- Noise: You may be happy that the ERV is removing pollutants and keeping the air fresh, but if the system is noisy when it runs, you might be less likely to use it. FreshEffects runs quietly, so you can enjoy a peaceful home that’s comfortable too.
- Air quality: With a filtration system that removes common home contaminants, the Trane FreshEffects™ system will drive your home’s air quality and make sure it’s clean. In addition, the ventilation system will address the range of allergens that exist in the home, including chemicals from carpets, paints, furnishings and cooking odors.
- Energy efficiency: If a ventilation system is such a logical solution, why don’t more homeowners use them? Many systems use a lot of energy to run the fan to power the movement of air into and out of the home, but the Trane ERV is “smart.” It uses energy in the incoming and outgoing stream of air, depending on the season, to preheat and precool the air. In summer, as cooled air is moving out of the home, the system essentially strips the energy from the air and transfers it to the incoming airstream, which is hot. By reusing this energy, the ERV operates more efficiently.
- Moisture control: It doesn’t make sense to allow humid outdoor air to enter the home in the name of improved air quality. Trane’s ventilation system addresses moisture control, too. In the summer, it removes moisture before it can enter the home. In winter, it saves moisture from the indoor air and reuses it, so the air in your home won’t get as dry.
Consider the advantages of the FreshEffects™ system. The quiet, energy-efficient system delivers superior indoor air quality and moisture control. For help selecting and installing the ventilation system, contact Reliable Heating & Air today.