Air Exchanger Open Or Closed
An air exchanger allows you to provide a consistent supply of fresh air, and potentially lower heating costs during the winter months. This happens because you are transferring heat from the exhaust air to the fresh air flow. In summer months, the air exchanger can help to reduce the load on your air conditioner by lowering the temperature using fresh outdoor air. This is done by means of a damper, which is a flat blade inside the air exchanger which controls the amount of air flow. You will sometimes hear this called a vent.
The biggest question many consumers have is whether they should have the air exchanger open or closed on their unit. Ideally if you are looking for cooling you want to keep the air exchanger closed. This is especially true in the summer months. If you have the air exchanger full open you are allowing some outside fresh air in. This is a good thing in terms of air exchange and reducing indoor pollutants by diluting and exchanging stale indoor air for fresh outdoor air. However, having the air exchange vent open during the summer month’s means more heat is drawn in through the intake and that means your air conditioner may need to work a bit harder.
Keeping the air exchanger open or closed really depends on what your goal is. Many homes are designed to be air tight. This leads to a buildup of fumes and gases from common household products such as cleaners. So, you can either open the doors and windows, or you can use an air exchanger unit to improve the room air quality. An air exchanger can correct the problem by removing stale air and replacing it with fresh outdoor air.
In the winter months the same thing holds true but in reverse of summer. If you keep the air exchanger closed you will not be drawing in cool air, so your heat will remain warm and comfy in your home. However, you need that air exchange. So, opening the vent some can help to allow fresh outdoor in to replace a portion of the stale air. This doesn’t mean your heating bills will go up. In fact, many air exchanger units have a built in heating element that creates a stable air temperature before the fresh air is pumped into the home, and this setting can be adjusted for comfort.