Healthier Homes Start With Fresh Air
Reading time: 4 min
Taken historically, poor indoor air quality in homes is a relatively new problem.
In the past, houses were built without as much focus on energy efficiency. They were more likely to be drafty, with gaps and weak spots in the building envelope and cold, condensation-covered single-pane windows. These homes also were less likely to have air conditioning, with homeowners relying on open windows to provide a cool breeze.
This scenario meant poorer energy performance, but a continuous influx of fresh air.
Fast forward to today, and the situation is much different. A focus on making homes more energy efficient over the past couple of decades has led builders toward a systems-based approach to the building envelope, paying attention to weather barriers, flashing, and proper sealing to create an airtight structure that doesn’t leak and waste energy. Windows are also more robust, and more homes than ever have air conditioning and therefore are closed up most days of the year.
In addition, a vast majority of North American homes’ HVAC systems operate in stand-by mode, allowing air to move only when needed to temper it to the desired level of comfort.
The result? Stagnant air with indoor pollutants within your home.
The IAQ Problem
When homeowners hear “pollution,” they likely think of outside issues such as smog and smoke. They may not realize how much pollution is also in their homes. Houses are full of chemicals— off-gassing from the furniture, released by cleaning products, and created by cooking, pet dander, among other sources. In the tightly built homes of today, those pollutants have no way to be effectively diluted and removed; heating and cooling systems simply recirculate the existing air.
How bad is the problem? According to the EPA, Americans spend roughly 90% of their time indoors, where concentrations of some pollutants can be two to five times higher than typical outdoor concentrations. Indoor pollutants can lead to health problems such as headaches and respiratory diseases.
The Fresh-Air Solution
As builders have begun recognizing the indoor air problem, the attention toward fresh air appliances is increasing. As part of the home’s HVAC system, these appliances exchange indoor air with fresh, conditioned, filtered outdoor air, helping to dilute the concentration of pollutants within the home. The systems transfer energy from outgoing air to the incoming fresh air to reduce energy loss.
This brings a new result:
| Clean air in the environments where families can thrive.
In fact, you can feel the difference walking into a home equipped with a fresh-air appliance.
Fresh Air Options
Fantech’s HERO line of fresh-air appliances offers a diverse selection to meet the specific needs of each home. The largest capacity model, HERO-250H-EC, continuously supplies up to 265 cfm of fresh, filtered air while removing moist, stale air. It also recovers up to 80% of the heat from outgoing indoor air.
Elevating the HERO line even further is the introduction of a new controller, the ECO-Touch® Auto IAQ. This innovative, first-of-its-kind control system recognizes elevated Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) in the home, such as from cooking and cleaning, and automatically ramps up ventilation rates to bring more fresh air inside while removing stale air to the outdoors. It will even recognize the influx of moisture generated by a large family gathering.
Think of the ECO-Touch® Auto IAQ as the brains of the HRV system, with the unit operating as the lungs. Much like breathing, the ECO-Touch® Auto IAQ will automatically signal the HRV to “breathe.”
Best of all, the system offers set-it-and-forget-it operation: the ECO-Touch® Auto IAQ adjusts fresh air rates based on VOCs to operate with optimal energy efficiency. Homeowners don’t have to do anything to ensure ideal air quality in their homes. Meanwhile, the touchscreen control panel provides easy identification for clean air status in the home at any time.
Learn more about the ECO-Touch® Auto IAQ and browse the full line of HERO Fresh Air Appliances
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