Ventilation HRV Services In Chico, Paradise, CA, And Surrounding Areas
Short for “heat recovery ventilation” technology has been partially driven by the trend toward more stringent building standards to save energy, as well as a concurrent concern about the health of the indoor environment. The one-way approach to mechanical ventilation has been updated for the 21st century into a balanced, whole-house approach. HRV ventilation systems induct fresh, filtered outdoor air into the house while exhausting stale, polluted indoor air at exactly the same rate. Utilizing small-diameter dedicated ductwork or your existing HVAC ducts if preferred, along with a central unit that incorporates intake and exhaust fans plus a heat exchanger, these systems run continuously at a selectable speed and rate of air exchange.
Stale indoor air is removed from areas like the kitchen and laundry room while an equal volume of fresh outdoor air is delivered to bedrooms and living areas. Because the exhaust and intake volumes are balanced, indoor air pressure remains neutral, not depressurized as with conventional exhaust ventilation. The HRV ventilation systems also address another longstanding downside of ventilation: excessive heat loss or heat gain, depending on the season. To prevent temperature swings due to the effects of ventilation, the central controller in HRV and ERV ventilation incorporates a heat exchanger mounted between the intake and exhaust air streams. Heat energy naturally flows from a warmer area into a cooler area. While the incoming and outgoing air streams are entirely separate and never mix, heat from the warmer air stream transfers into the cooler air stream.
What does this mean for your summer and winter comfort? During summer, outdoor heat in the incoming air stream is extracted by the heat exchanger and added to the exhaust stream. As much as 85 percent of the heat is removed from outdoor air, vastly reducing the impact on your air conditioner. In winter, the process reverses. The outgoing air is warmer, so heat flows in the opposite direction and is added to the incoming fresh air stream to pre-heat it. This helps maintain indoor temperatures and lowers heating costs.
