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.
What do HRVs and ERVs do?
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.
Click here for our available HRVs
Click here for our available ERVs
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.
What is Indoor Air Quality ?
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:
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
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 !
https://www.hvacquick.com/products/brands/AquaMotion
THE PROBLEM: How long do you wait for hot water to arrive in the shower? 30 Seconds, 1 minute, 2 minutes? While you wait, a family of 5 wastes approx. 15,000 gallons of tempered water down the drain and pays for that water plus sewage fees.
THE SOLUTION: AquaMotion has the SOLUTION for every possible installation in homes, condos, multi-family, mansions, businesses, restaurants and factories. Their products offer the simplest, uncomplicated, most cost-effective solutions for any type of installation.
THE BENEFITS: By providing instant hot water there’s no more waiting for hot water. This prevents the dumping of energy loaded warm water down the drain reducing sewage fees as well as the water bill. The pumps meets building codes for water saving and helps to alleviate water shortages.
Homes built before 1980 and many later homes use a single pipe (no dedicated return line) system to deliver hot water to the sinks and showers. The water in the pipe turns cold when no one uses hot water. For this type of application, use any of the AquaMotionHOT™ One Kits. They are installed under the sink furthest from the heat source.
Homes that have a dedicated return line (2 pipe) where a pipe goes from the furthest sink from the heat source back to the hot water tank or boiler or tank-less heater use an AquaMotionHOT™ Two kit. See the selection chart below.
One of the most popular systems is the AquaMotion AMH1K-3UV Pump and Valve Hot Water Recirculation System pictured below. The pump is installed at the water heater and the bypass valve under the furthest fixture such as a sink. Additional bypass valves can be added if the house has multiple plumbing systems.
The alternative to the split pump and bypass design is the popular AquaMotion AMH3K-7 Under Sink Hot Water Recirculation System pictured below. The pump and bypass is one piece installed under the furthest sink. Note that power is required at the pump location.
MODES OF OPERATION: AquaMotionHot™ One and AquaMotionHot™ Two are fully automatic systems that are controlled by built-in sensors and switches. When water at the faucet cools down, the sensor turns on the pump and shuts it off when hot water arrives. The pump runs, depending on the length and size of the pipe, three to four times an hour for one or two minutes to maintain instant hot water at the faucet.
Built-in timers on the pumps are available to limit the operating time to save energy when hot water is not needed.
All systems can be made ON-DEMAND to meet certain codes or preferences by adding ON-DEMAND buttons and wireless receivers or motion sensors with receiver kits.
California and some other states require an operator controlled system where the user presses a CALL button to turn on the pump (ON-DEMAND). Motion sensor are another method used to start the pump. AquaMotion offers both these solutions with their ON-DEMAND systems. Up to 5 wireless buttons or 5 motion sensors or mixed 5 can be programmed into one receiver.
The good news is AquaMotion makes larger pump systems to accomodate tankless water heaters. Checkout the full selection here.
https://www.hvacquick.com/products/brands/AquaMotion
Images and data courtesy of AquaMotion.
It is important to think about filtration, ventilation and air cleaning in order to mitigate risk of COVID-19 transmission.
Let’s define some terms :
Droplets are propelled through the air, visible but fall to the ground after traveling 3-6 feet. Published research which has been replicated shows that droplets are only important when coughing and sneezing
Aerosols are much smaller than droplets (generally considered to be anywhere from 1 to 10 microns). They can be generated by talking, or by evaporation of droplets.
Aerosol (also referred to as “airborne”) transmission is similar to droplet transmission, except that the bits of fluid are so small that they can linger in the air for minutes up to 16 hours. Fears AC, Klimstra WB, Duprex P, et al. Comparative dynamic aerosol efficiencies of three emergent coronaviruses and the unusual persistence of SARS-CoV-2 in aerosol suspensions. medRxiv 2020:2020.04.13.20063784. doi: 10.1101/2020.04.13.20063784
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0360132320302183
Appropriate air filtration and ventilation ensures that adequate dilution is achieved where and when needed, avoiding the build-up of viral contamination
Ventilation is the replacement of stale or noxious air with fresh air to a space or building by natural or mechanical means (ISO, 2017). It controls how quickly room air is removed and replaced over a period of time. Ventilation plays a critical role in removing exhaled virus-laden air, thus lowering the overall concentration and therefore any subsequent dose inhaled by the occupants.
HEPA is a type of pleated mechanical air filter. It is an acronym for “high efficiency particulate air [filter]” (as officially defined by the U.S. Dept. of Energy). This type of air filter can remove at least 99.97% of dust, pollen, mold, bacteria, and any airborne particles with a size of 0.3 microns (µm).
Public health messaging can be confusing. Scientists have issued a global statement through the World Health Organization stating that when it comes to COVID-19, the evidence overwhelmingly supports aerosol transmission.
With infectious diseases transmitted through aerosols, HVAC systems can have a major effect on the transmission from the primary host to secondary hosts. Decreasing exposure of secondary hosts is an important step in curtailing the spread of infectious diseases. HVAC systems impact the distribution and bio-burden of infectious aerosols.
https://www.ashrae.org/file%20library/about/position%20documents/pd_infectiousaerosols_2020.pdf
It is important to visualize the mechanism by which COVID-19 is transmitted, in order that individuals and institutions can understand how to protect themselves.
The closer you are to someone releasing virus-carrying aerosols, the more likely you are to breathe in larger amounts of virus. We know from detailed, rigorous studies that when individuals talk in close proximity, aerosols dominate transmission.
Superspreading events, where one person infects many, occur almost exclusively in indoor locations and are driving the pandemic. These observations are supported and explained by aerosols, and are very difficult or impossible to explain by droplets. https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.02.28.20029272v2
Contact tracing shows that, when it comes to COVID-19, being outdoors is 20 times safer than being indoors, which argues that aerosol transmission is much more important than droplets. Outdoors, there’s plenty of air in which aerosols can become diluted; not so indoors.
As we move from warm weather outdoor activity season into autumn and winter indoor season, the Airscape HEPA.Tower provides an excellent ventilation solution to create fresh air indoors.
Since coronavirus is spread by breathing in respiratory aerosols from infected people, it stands to reason that avoiding breathing those aerosols is key to not getting COVID-19. One way to do that, according to a new study, is to keep humidity levels in indoor settings at 40 to 60 percent.
Researchers came to this conclusion after analyzing 10 international studies that were done between 2007 and 2020 looking at the rate of survival and infections of coronaviruses and influenza based on humidity levels in the air.
It was discovered that at higher humidity, the droplets grow faster, fall to the ground earlier and have less chance of inhalation by healthy people, meaning that viruses cannot spread as easily in humid conditions.
Although low humidity causes the droplets containing viruses to dry out more quickly, the survivability of the viruses still seems to remain high. Research concluded that other processes are more important for infection. If the relative humidity of indoor air is below 40 percent, the particles emitted by infected people absorb less water, remain lighter, fly further through the room and are more likely to be inhaled by healthy people. In addition, dry air also makes the mucous membranes in our noses dry and more permeable to viruses.
From the researchers’ point of view, more attention should be paid to indoor air to prevent future outbreaks of viral disease.
HRV/ERV exhausts stale indoor air to the outside, and brings in fresh air from outside. This fresh air is then distributed throughout the home either by the HRV/ERV or by your furnace fan.
In the winter, the warm indoor air passes through the HRV/ERV core as its being exhausted and warms up the incoming fresh outside air. The the summer, the cycle is reversed and the cool indoor air cools down the hot outdoor air recovering the energy. The 2 airstreams never mix when passing through the HRV/ERV core.
https://www.ashrae.org/technical-resources/energy-recovery
During cold and inclement weather, high efficiency filter ventilation systems that recirculate some of the air are an excellent solution.
Arising out of our personal and professional need for high quality portable air filtration during the COVID-19 pandemic, the inspiration and launch of the the newest member of the Airscape family was born.
We noticed an absence of cost effective and high quality portable indoor air filtration products utilizing critical core attributes:
*high number of air exchanges
*quality filtration media: MERV pre-filter and HEPA filtration
*particulate level filtration appropriate for airborne size micro-droplets (i.e. COVID-19, influenza etc.
*quiet operation (suitable for conference rooms during meetings)
*efficient energy utilization (speed controllable, low energy use ECM motor)
We utilize this product in our headquarters and trust it to keep our team safe.
If you’ve been following our blog entries about viruses, micropdroplets, and Covid-19, or just reading the news, you’re coming to the conclusion that air filtration is getting to be very important.
It’s important to cut the “viral load” or amount of viruses that one is exposed to, and micro droplets that can contain Covid can remain aloft for up to 10 hours.
Masking and source capture (see our blog on dental aerosols) are good ideas, but there are many reasons why we still want to filter our air. Masks are not 100% effective (nothing is), and people make mistakes.
Just the facts: Why Filtration?
Just the facts: What does my filtration system need to do ?
How to calculate required airflow
Airflow in cubic feet per minute (CFM) = # Air changes per hour (ACH) x Room Volume / 60
Example: Conference room 10’x20’x12′, with desired 12 ACH. CFM = 12 x (10x20x12) / 60 = 480 CFM
Specifications
Availability and Cost
