The more time you spend at home, the more important your indoor air quality. Have you considered an energy recovery ventilation (ERV) system? An ERV can make your home smell as fresh as if you had all the windows and doors open on a clear day—without the allergens and dust that go along with it.

Here’s why an ERV could be the best solution for your indoor air quality issues.

What is an ERV and why you need one

An ERV helps remove the stale air in your home and pump fresh air back in. When you keep your doors and windows closed during the colder months, your indoor air quality may actually be worse than it is outside. That’s because you track in dust, pollen and mold and then trap it indoors with pet dander, more dust and other pollutants. This contributes to poor air quality in your home.

An ERV works as part of your HVAC system. They’re usually installed between your indoor and outdoor ductwork so that they can filter out the stale, dirty air without you losing your heating or air conditioning. Your HVAC system will pump out excess humidity and stale air while the ERV filters the fresh air coming in. You’ll get all the benefits of fresh air—without the allergens and contaminants that can come along with it.

Best of all, an ERV filter is more powerful than the consumer-grade air purifiers you can purchase. They catch particles as small as 1 to 10 microns, which is the size of the average bacteria. Imagine how much better you’ll feel when you’re not breathing in these microscopic particles.

Benefits of an ERV

Here are some of the benefits of an energy recovery ventilation system:

• Better indoor air quality: Obviously, the biggest benefit of an ERV is breathing in fresher, cleaner air. If you suffer from allergies or other respiratory ailments, this can be life-changing.
• A better-smelling home: Along with pollutants come unpleasant smells. You’ll be able to cut down on unpleasant smells when you install an ERV in your home. The constant filtration means odor-causing bacteria won’t have the opportunity to do much damage.
• Easy to maintain: All you need to do is change the filter occasionally and have an HVAC tech inspect and repair any issues during their yearly maintenance. It’s a lot of payoff for very little work involved.
• Better ventilation: With energy prices going up, you don’t want to make your HVAC system work any harder than normal. ERVs allow you to ventilate your home without losing too much heat or air conditioning.
• Improved moisture control: Finally, ERVs help control how much moisture is in your home. This is a great way to stay on top of mildew and mold.

Your indoor air quality can be greatly improved when you install an ERV. Interested in learning more about your options? Talk to the team at Healthy Communities about adding one to your home design. Call us today to get started.