What is an ERV System – This description is from Engineering Solutions

ERV stands for Energy Recovery Ventilator, and is regularly referred to as an air exchanger and an ERV ventilation system. They are designed to be connected into the HVAC system or individually ducted into each room in your home, office, or any other building. ERVs pull fresh, clean air into the building and take out stale/unclean air. They consist of two fans and a heat exchanger, which make it possible to transfer heat and moisture between the two air streams. It transfers the heat and moisture for the building to retain heat while in operation, which is obviously quite important during the winter months. 

In addition to swapping out “dirty” air for clean, ERVs can also trap pollutants, contaminants, pollen, allergens and many more with their advanced filtration systems. These features are most important when boilers are installed in cities, for how they ensure the air entering the home is healthy, clean, and not polluted as city air can often be. You might be surprised to learn that the air within most homes is at least five times more contaminated than the air outside! This is especially a problem since people can spend more than 90% of their time indoors. And it is why incorporating an air exchanger like an ERV into your home is a smart way to get the fresh, clean, and healthy air that everyone needs.”

 As I already mentioned, current building codes can create confusion and as many problems as they attempt to solve. The people who determine these codes are always working to remedy this challenge, but that effort is imperfect and takes time, while jurisdictional employees attempt to balance policy decisions from federal, state and local governments as they create new, or updated codes. 

ERVs and HRVs have been available for many years, and they are very similar. Essentially, ERVs should be used in all climate zones except for the hottest and most humid zones. In the US, this would include the deep south, from eastern Texas, through Tennessee, and into North Carolina. Though Florida is not technically considered the deep south, it is included in this this zone. 

Though ERVs do not make a moldy home safe for people with mold illness, most people with mold illness are highly sensitive and their environment can trigger many symptoms for them. It would be great if we all lived in pure air, but very few people do. 

When I built a house to help my wife manage her CIRS symptoms, I added the Zehnder ERV system. It is produced in Switzerland, and, in my opinion, it is the best ERV on the market. It’s three times more expensive than its competitors, but I was not going to build a house for the most important person in my life that wouldn’t breathe the way it is supposed to. 

In my home, the house exchanges the inside air 10 times per day. The filters in the Zehnder are far superior to the filters in your typical HVAC system and they filter almost all of the items mentioned in the ERV description before the air ever reaches my HVAC system. This keeps my HVAC clean from these pollutants so it can do its job effectively. 

There are many other ERV systems on the market made by highly reputable companies, such as Trane, Carrier, Venmar, Ruskin, RenewAire, Aldes, Broan-NuTone, and others. 

I don’t believe that any home should be built without and ERV / HRV system, and I encourage every client of mine to add one. In addition, we are starting to see code changes in certain municipalities requiring them. 

Your home is a living organism and needs to breathe like all organisms.