Energy Recovery Ventilator System

https://www.heatair.org/

Energy recovery ventilation (ERV) is the energy recovery process of exchanging the energy contained in normally exhausted building or space air and using it to treat (precondition) the incoming outdoor ventilation air in residential and commercial HVAC systems.

During the warmer seasons, the system pre-cools and dehumidifies while humidifying and pre-heating in the cooler seasons. The benefit of using energy recovery is the ability to meet the ASHRAE ventilation & energy standards, while improving indoor air quality and reducing total HVAC equipment capacity.

This technology has not only demonstrated an effective means of reducing energy cost and heating and cooling loads, but has allowed for the scaling down of equipment. Additionally, this system will allow for the indoor environment to maintain a relative humidity of 40% to 50%. This range can be maintained under essentially all conditions. The only energy penalty is the power needed for the blower to overcome the pressure drop in the system.

My system has no cooling, so when the ERV is on, the existing cool air is used to cool the hot outside air. However, the only reason the inside air is relatively cool is that the temperatures at night are quite low, so we open all the windows at night. In the morning, we close them and close the shades. We have a very well insulated house. It seems to me that by turning off the ERV, we will conserve the existing cooler air. With the ERV on, the inside temperature may rise to the upper 80s when the outside temperature is 100, however, that's rare. The basement temperature remains in the 70s. We haven't tried turning off the ERV yet, were just wondering if that would be a bad idea.