When it comes to HVAC installations, both functionality and aesthetics are paramount. The last thing a homeowner or business wants is an unsightly vent cap marring the exterior of their structure. Seiho has successfully combined the two with their range of vent caps.
Seiho vent caps provide a variety of vent caps that allow for finding that perfect blend of functionality and elegance. The models with backdraft dampers provides energy efficiency by preventing outside air from coming back into the house. Models without the backdraft damper can be upgraded with an insect screen to prevent smaller creatures from finding their way in.
The Crucial Roles of Vent Caps
1. Protection from the elements: Vent caps provide a barrier against external factors such as rain, snow, and wind-driven debris. Without an effective vent cap, these elements could enter the ductwork and compromise the HVAC system or indoor air quality.
2. Prevention of Animal Intrusion: Many vent caps feature louvered grilles designed to keep out birds, rodents, and larger insects. This is vital because animals can nest in unprotected ducts, leading to blockages and other potential issues.
3. Supporting Proper Airflow: A well-designed vent cap allows for optimal airflow out of the exhaust ducts or into intake ducts. It minimizes backdrafts, which can be a concern, especially for exhaust vents from appliances like water heaters or furnaces.
4. Aesthetics: Vent caps can be designed to fit in with a building’s exterior, preventing the ductwork from being an eyesore.
5. Energy Efficiency: By minimizing drafts and preventing backflow of air, vent caps can also help in maintaining the energy efficiency of HVAC systems.
Explore the different Seiho vent caps and find the style that suits your aesthetics
Click on a picture to start customizing a grille with that pattern or click here to start fresh.
Decorating your home or office is a personal journey, an opportunity to express your unique style and preferences in every nook and corner of your space. While furnishings and wall décor often receive much attention, a seemingly humble but vital element, air vents or grilles, are often overlooked. However, these small yet significant elements can make a powerful impact on your overall aesthetic. The solution to these overlooked aspects?
Custom grilles
The Power of Custom Grilles
Grilles are a crucial component of any home or office space. Traditionally, grilles have been standardized, mundane objects – purely functional with little regard to aesthetic appeal. Custom grilles are becoming a popular choice among homeowners, architects, and designers.
Custom grilles are not just about function, they introduce an additional layer of aesthetic charm; seamlessly blending practicality with design.
Advantages of Custom Grilles
1. Made-to-Order: Every space is unique, and so should be the elements within it. Custom grilles are tailored to your specific measurements, ensuring the perfect fit for your requirements.
2. Quality Craftsmanship: Crafted from top-notch materials, our grilles are designed to stand the test of time. Precision cutting and meticulous finishing guarantee that each piece is durable, beautiful, and a testament to excellent craftsmanship.
3. Personalized Aesthetics: Our custom grilles offer a broad array of materials such as aluminum, black acrylic, black GeoTone MDF, maple ply, or bamboo, with three powder coat finishes available for aluminum grilles, providing a selection that aligns with your individual style. The intricate perforated patterns can add a sophisticated touch to any décor, enhancing your room’s aesthetic appeal.
4. Made in the USA: Each custom grille is made in our warehouse in Medford, Oregon.
5. Specialized Purposes: Custom grilles can be designed with a specialized purpose such as a blanking panel, or other specific use cases.
Making a Statement with Custom Grilles
The beauty of custom grilles is that they allow you to express your unique style in an unexpected place. They can seamlessly match your existing décor or serve as an accent piece, adding an intriguing touch of design.
With our customized grilles, you’re not just choosing a functional component – you’re selecting a piece of art that breathes life into your spaces. So, whether you’re revamping your home or designing a new office space, consider the transformative power of custom grilles.
Stepping into the world of custom grilles means every aspect of your home or office can reflect your personality and taste. It’s about creating a space that feels truly yours.
Explore the exciting possibilities today, and elevate your interiors with our custom grilles. Remember, no detail is too small when it comes to creating your dream space.
As our spaces grow increasingly comfortable with modern heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, we seldom stop to think about the unseen components working tirelessly in the background. One vital component is the condensate pump, a device designed to collect and dispose of the water generated during the cooling and heating process.
Tank Type Condensate Pumps: The Heavy-Duty Performers
Tank type condensate pumps are workhorses designed to handle substantial volumes of condensate. They’re commonly used in high-output systems, where the volume of water produced is significant.
These pumps feature a large, built-in reservoir that collects the condensate from your HVAC system. When the water level in the tank reaches a specific threshold, it triggers a switch that activates the pump. The pump then efficiently moves the water to a suitable drainage location.
An essential advantage of these pumps is their reliability. Engineered to handle the demands of continuous operation, they can operate under strenuous conditions without faltering. Moreover, their design is energy efficient, the pump only operates when necessary, reducing energy consumption and wear on the pump.
Mini Condensate Pumps: Compact Yet Powerful
When space is scarce, such as in ductless mini-split air conditioners or high-efficiency furnaces, a mini condensate pump is the perfect solution. These compact units may be small, but they pack quite a punch.
Like their larger counterparts, mini condensate pumps automatically activate when they detect condensate, saving energy by operating only when needed. Despite their size, they can handle a significant amount of condensate, ensuring your HVAC system operates smoothly.
Perhaps one of the most appealing features of mini condensate pumps is their quiet operation. They can be installed in a living room or an office without causing disturbance, while retaining the same reliability and durability as larger pumps.
Choosing the Right Condensate Pump
When it comes to choosing between a tank type and a mini condensate pump, it’s all about understanding your needs. If you have a high-output HVAC system that produces large volumes of condensate, a tank type pump would be the best choice. However, if you’re dealing with space constraints or need a pump for a smaller HVAC system, a mini condensate pump is the perfect fit.
The aim is to ensure that your HVAC system operates efficiently and lasts longer. Whether it’s a tank type or a mini pump, the right condensate pump will not only save you from potential water damage but will also contribute to the longevity and efficiency of your HVAC system.
While condensate pumps might seem like small cogs in the massive machinery of HVAC systems, their role is anything but minor. By efficiently handling condensate, these pumps protect your systems, your space, and your peace of mind. Be it the robust tank type pump or the compact mini pump, choosing the right one is an investment in comfort and reliability.
InOvate believes in creating products that transform your laundry routine, making it safer, faster, and more efficient.
Efficiency, Space, and Safety with the Dryerbox®
One of the most common challenges homeowners face in their laundry rooms is the lack of space. Traditional dryer venting solutions often require a large clearance, leaving your dryer sticking awkwardly into the room. The revolutionary Dryerbox® by InOvate is designed to tackle this problem head-on.
The Dryerbox® is a recessed box that fits into your wall behind the dryer. It allows your dryer vent hose to run straight through the wall, eliminating those unsightly and space-consuming bends. This allows your dryer to sit flush against the wall, freeing up valuable laundry room space.
But that’s not all; the Dryerbox® also promotes efficient airflow by providing a direct path for venting. This reduces drying times and energy consumption, saving you money in the long run.
Safety and Maintenance with the DryerFlex®
Another paramount concern with dryers is the risk of fire from lint build-up in the vent. The DryerFlex® by InOvate offers a solution to this problem. Made with all-aluminum ribbon, the DryerFlex® provides a safe, smooth, and efficient conduit for your dryer vents. It takes the concept of a flexible vent hose to the next level, offering superior protection and airflow compared to semi-rigid or plastic options. Its smooth interior and flexible design minimize lint accumulation and make it easy to clean, reducing the risk of dryer fires.
Semi-Rigid Crush TestDryerFlex® Crush Test
Roof Venting Solutions with the DryerJack®
Unlike regular roof vents that are prone to lint build-up and bird nesting, DryerJack® offers a unique design that minimizes these issues. It features a curved damper, allowing it to open fully for maximum exhaust airflow, while the professional-grade construction keeps pests out, ensuring your vent stays clear and secure. The DryerJack® also offers a sleek, low-profile design that blends seamlessly with your roofline.
Outdoor Venting Solutions with the DryerWallVent®
The DryerWallVent® is an aesthetically pleasing and effective solution to outdoor dryer venting. Its low-profile design sits flush against your exterior wall, making it an attractive addition to your home’s exterior. But the DryerWallVent® isn’t just about looks. With a strong, lightweight damper and a structurally optimized hood, it also helps to ensure optimal airflow, enhancing dryer performance and efficiency.
Improving Indoor Air Quality with the Dryer-Ell®
The Dryer-Ell® is an innovative elbow fitting that offers a brilliant solution for long vent run situations. It provides equivalent airflow performance to traditional sections of straight duct, enabling you to have longer vent runs without compromising on dryer efficiency or safety. It’s a perfect choice for homes where the laundry room is located in the center of the house or on upper levels.
InOvate dryer products are designed with the customer’s needs in mind. They aim to solve common laundry problems with innovative solutions, making the routine task of doing laundry easier, safer, and more efficient. So whether you’re renovating your laundry room or simply upgrading your dryer venting solutions, InOvate’s products are the right choice for you.
MERV is the Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value, it is a standard rating system used to measure the effectiveness of air filters in removing particles from the air. The MERV rating scale ranges from 1 to 16, with higher numbers indicating better filtration preformance.
What do the MERV ratings mean?
MERV 1-4: These are the lowest-rated filters and provide minimal filtration. They only capture large particles such as dust, pollen, and carpet fibers, but are not effective at removing smaller particles or airborne contaminants.
MERV 5-8: Filters in the range offer moderate efficiency and are suitable for most residential and light commercial applications. They can capture smaller particles like mold spores, pet dander, and fine dust.
MERV 9-12: Filters in this range provide a high level of efficiency and are commonly used in commercial and industrial settings. They can capture even smaller particles like tobacco smoke, bacteria, and particles from exhaust fumes.
MERV 13-16: These are the highest-rated filters and are generally used in specialized applications such as hospitals, cleanrooms, and other environments where very high air quality is essential. They can trap extremely small particles, including viruses and bacteria.
How do MERV filters work?
MERV filters work by capturing and removing airborne particles from the air that passes through them. To do this, the filters are typically made from materials such as fiberglass, synthetic fibers, or pleated paper. The materials are designed to create a maze-like structure with passages for the air to pass through.
While the air flows through the filter, particles are trapped in different ways depending on their size. Larger particles are trapped by colliding with the filter fibers in a method called impaction. Smaller particles are trapped when they collide with filter fibers as they travel through the passages in a method called interception. Smaller particles can also be trapped when random particle motion causes them to hit and adhere to the fibers in a method called diffusion.
What is HEPA?
HEPA stands for High-Efficiency-Particulate-Air, it is a highly effective method of air purification that can remove a wide range of airborne particles.
What is the difference between a HEPA filter and a MERV filter?
Similarily to MERV filters, HEPA filters are composed of materials such as fiberglass or polyporopylene with diameters between .5 and 2 microns. The materials are designed as a mat of arranged fibers which create narrow convoluted pathways so that air may pass through. Typically, HEPA filters consist of multiple layers of filtration materials with varying sizes of pores. The layering enhances the filter’s performance and helps extend its lifespan.
What are the HEPA filter do we use?
We use a European standard H13 HEPA filter. These filters must capture at least 99.95% of particles down to .3 microns.
What does that mean?
The hardest particles for a filter to catch are .3 microns, so this rating is used to show the capture rate of the least captured particle. Like MERV filters, HEPA filters capture particles through impaction, interception, and diffusion. Particles that are smaller than .3 microns are captured through diffusion due to the collision of gas molecules with small particles.
This is the typical performance of a HEPA 99.9% filter and as you can see, HEPA filters are incredibly efficient at capturing particles under .3 microns.
What does a pre-filter do?
A pre filter is a MERV filter that is placed before the airflow gets to the HEPA filter. The MERV filter captures a majority of the larger particles and leaves the HEPA filter to only capture the smaller particles that made it through the MERV filter. This makes the HEPA filter more efficient and increases the lifespan of the filter by not getting clogged up by larger particles. This becomes more cost efficient as well because MERV filters are much more affordable than HEPA filters.
We are thrilled to announce that we now have HRV and ERV products on our website made by Broan. Say goodbye to stale, polluted air in your homes with Broan’s state-of-the-art HRVs and ERVs. Promote a healthier and more inviting atmosphere for you and your loved ones with our selection of Broan products.
HRV and ERV products made by Fantech, Lifebreath, S&P and Aldes are also available.
Find out more about how HRVs and ERVs work, and which one is best for you here.
HRVs and ERVs allows fresh air to get into the home, and makes stale air go out of the home. The fresh air coming in and the stale air going out travel through the HRV or ERV core, the stale air pre-conditions the fresh air as it’s coming in, and then the fresh air coming into the house is closer to the temperature inside of the house than before it comes in. This means that your house is conserving energy from having to heat or cool the fresh air coming into the house.
Why is this important?
According to the EPA, we spend approximately 90% of our time indoors, where the concentrations of some pollutants are often 2 to 5 times higher than typical outdoor concentrations. In order to combat this, it is important to have a constant airflow allowing air to travel in and out of the house. This filters out the stale, poluted air that has been sitting inside and replaces it with fresh air from outside.
What is the difference between an HRV and an ERV?
HRV is a heat recovery ventilator, the core does not allow for moisture to be transferred from one side of the core to the other. This means in humid conditions, the moisture of the fresh air is coming into your home. This will actually make your air conditioner work harder trying to get the moisture out of the air.
ERV is an energy recovery ventilator, the core allows the transfer of moisture from one side of the core to the other. This meanss that in humid conditions, part of the moisture of the fresh air is being transferred to the stale air going out, and your air conditioner doesn’t have to work as hard to get the moisture out of the air.
Which device is right for you?
This infographic can help determine if the HRV or the ERV is better for your home.
As you can see, in a majority of the United States, an HRV is recommended over the ERV. These are locations that are typically more dry with longer heating seasons.
As you get closer to the southeast of the United States, it is recommended to get an ERV as these locations are typically more humid with longer cooling seasons.
We love houses, and so do our friends at Redfin – the very cool and informative real estate website. They just published this article , which has some great tips on keeping your house cool this summer.
Keeping you cool, while saving energy – that’s a core part of our business, so we’re happy to see our partner at AirScape’s tip mentioned. And what do you know ? They suggested whole house fans.
The following article from the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene makes a compelling case for adding HEPA filtration to indoor environments in order to greatly reduce the chance of Covid spread.
The article has a couple of important points.
Based on their model, an office worker has a 40% chance of contracting Covid when sharing an office with an infected worker “Even with use of N95 masks in this scenario” after 1 week of exposure !
By combining HEPA filtration (12 Air Change per Hour – 12 ACH), the probability of contracting Covid from the office environment over a 6 month period drops to 0.003%.
Conclusion: Use HEPA filtration in indoor environments in this time of panemic, and continue to use to avoid other airborne pathogens.
Indoor air quality (IAQ) is the air quality within and around buildings and structures. IAQ is known to affect the health, comfort, and well-being of building occupants. Poor indoor air quality has been linked to sick building syndrome, reduced productivity, and impaired cognition (yes, you can actually become more stupid !).
Common indoor air contaminants include:
Particulates: cigarette smoke, candle burning, wood smoke from fireplaces
Allergens: skin flakes, pet dander, mold spores, mite proteins, radon
The World Health Organization states that particulate matter in the air can penetrate deep into the lungs and enter the body systematically, affecting the cardiovascular and other major organ systems. Chronic exposure to particulate matter leads to increased risks of premature mortality from heart attack, stroke, respiratory infections, and lung cancer.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) warns that “studies of human exposure to air pollutants indicate that indoor levels of pollutants may be two to five times — and occasionally more than 100 times — higher than outdoor levels.”
VOC’s
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are emitted as gases from certain solids or liquids. VOCs include a variety of chemicals, some of which may have short- and long-term adverse health effects. Concentrations of many VOCs are consistently higher indoors (up to ten times higher) than outdoors. VOCs are emitted by a wide array of products numbering in the thousands.
Organic chemicals are widely used as ingredients in household products. Paints, varnishes and wax all contain organic solvents, as do many cleaning, disinfecting, cosmetic, degreasing and hobby products.
Nitrous Oxide and Carbon Monoxide
Gas combustion produces PM2.5 (one of the deadliest air pollutants) — research suggests gas cooking produces about twice as much PM2.5 as electric cooking. It also produces nitrous oxides (NOx), including nitrous oxide (NO) and nitrous dioxide (NO2), carbon monoxide (CO), and formaldehyde (CH2O or HCHO). All of these pollutants are health risks if not properly managed.
Stay tuned for solutions to improve indoor Air Quality just in time for winter !
