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Frequently Asked Questions
Review our Basic FAQ on this page below. If you don't find what you're looking for, try the other FAQ sections or send your question to us.
What is a RecoupAerator and why do I need one?
Who should buy a RecoupAerator?
Everyone benefits from a RecoupAerator. However, there are some people who REALLY need a RecoupAerator and shouldn't live without one:
People with respiratory problems, such as asthma or allergies. Many RecoupAerator owners send us letters of thanks telling us how they breathe easier, sleep better, and stopped taking medication (though we don't recommend it unless your doctor agrees). The RecoupAerator uses an aluminum mesh pre-filter to capture large airborne particles and a high density (Merv 12) filter to capture tiny particles. The filter is thick enough to "catch" these air pollutants but porous enough to allow fresh air to flow freely.
People whose make their homes energy efficient or are concerned about Indoor Air Quality. Tightly sealed homes are great for reducing energy use, but very bad for indoor air quality. Chemicals from carpets, insulation, etc. get sealed up in your home, along with the warm (or cool) air. Greenbuilders swear by the RecoupAerator. Some refuse to seal a home unless it has a RecoupAerator installed. In fact, the RecoupAerator won a 2005 Greenbuild award for its energy efficiency and heat recovery properties.
People concerned about mold growth. The RecoupAerator controls temperature and influences humidity in such a way that it keeps mold spores and dust mites from surviving and multiplying.
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Why are more people buying home air cleaners?
People who buy air cleaners and home ventilation systems are
concerned about the health, safety, and well being of themselves
and their families. And they have increasing reason to be
concerned about indoor air quality.
After the energy crisis of the 1970s, the housing industry
began building energy-efficient homes. Today, homes are tighter,
better insulated, and have much less uncontrolled leakage
of air through floors, walls, and ceilings. But tighter houses
mean less natural air exchange. So pollutants and moisture
are trapped once they enter, unless homes are well ventilated.
This doesn’t mean that an older home can't benefit from
a home air exchanger. Even though an older home may provide
more natural air exchange, that exchange may be spotty. In
addition, older homes have a number of potential pollutants
— lead dust, asbestos, and chemical residues to name
a few — that newer homes may not have.
In addition, any home — old or new — can have
pollution that requires full mechanical ventilation. Any home
with computers, consumer electronics, gas appliances, woodstoves,
and fireplaces will benefit from properly ducted fresh air
ventilation. And people with respiratory problems —
no matter how old their homes are — will benefit from
air cleaners that exchange the air as well as filter particulates
out of the environment.
Remember — all air cleaners are not alike. For the best
air cleaning and filtration, buy an air exchanger that also
offers filtration. UltimateAir's top-rated RecoupAerator®
series features the best energy recovery ventilators (ERVs)
and heat recovery ventilators (HRVs) on the market.
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What benefits do RecoupAerator air exchangers offer?
- A 95% energy-efficient reduction of acute indoor air pollutant problems like radon, household chemicals, excess moisture, and odors
- A continuous supply of fresh, filtered outdoor air in your home
- A comfortable supply of fresh air using recovered heat from exhaust air in winter
- Control of excess humidity
- Rejected heat and moisture from incoming air in summer
- A safe and healthy indoor air quality
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Why
can't I just open a window to ventilate my home?
There are many reasons why you wouldn't want to open a window (also called "natural" ventilation) to ventilate your home. First, when outdoor air enters your home through an open window, there's nothing filtering it, so along with the fresh air come extra pollutants. Second, natural ventilation is impractical in most seasons, as it removes the temperature and humidity and makes your heating and cooling systems work much harder to maintain a comfortable environment. Natural ventilation can increase your energy bills and shorten the life of your existing HVAC system. Also, natural ventilation is uncontrolled - you can't know how well you're actually ventilating your home. With the RecoupAerator, you can rest assured that your indoor air is completely replaced every two hours or so.
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How
can I compare different air cleaners to determine which is
right for my home?
First, we can’t stress enough the importance of bringing
in fresh air. Many so-called air cleaners do not bring in
fresh air, they merely filter what’s there — and
often introduce new contaminants in the process.
With the growing concern about indoor air pollution, many
families are looking for a quick fix to indoor air quality
problems. The marketplace has responded with a barrage of
appliances promising to purify household air. But very few
bring in fresh air.
Home air cleaners generally fall into four categories:
Ozone generators claim to kill undesirable organisms and cleanse particulates from the air. This tabletop appliance draws household air over a high-voltage plate. When oxygen molecules pass through the electric discharge, some are ionized. The ions combine with oxygen to form ozone, which theoretically kills contaminating organisms. However, ozone itself can produce toxic levels of chemicals known to cause irritation to lung tissue and has been proven minimally effective at removing many household pollutants such as nicotine and nitrogen dioxide. An ozone generator does not bring fresh air into the home
Ionizers send out radio waves that electrically charge airborne particles within a prescribed radius (typically 60 feet). These negatively charged particles attach themselves to surfaces such as draperies, walls, and tabletops, which must be cleaned frequently or else the particles will become resuspended in the air. Also does not bring in fresh air.
Filtration devices rely on filters
to trap airborne particulates, ranging in efficiency from
about 20% to 99%. Filtration devices do not introduce fresh
air into stale environments.
Air exchangers with filtration devices
(like the RecoupAerator® series) exchange indoor air every
several hours, filtering the air as it circulates. Air exchangers
paired with filtration are the best filtration devices on
the market today. The RecoupAerator® is the only air exchanger
designed to maintain your home’s air temperature and
humidity while refreshing indoor air. The RecoupAerator®
is an Energy Recovery Ventilator (ERV), which falls into the
larger category of Heat Recovery Ventilators (HRVs).
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What is the recommended standard for residential ventilation?
Ventilation and indoor air quality has been the subject of
much research, both in the United States and Canada as well
as overseas. The United States remains one of a few highly
industrialized countries that does not mandate ventilation
rates for single-family dwellings. States, however, are increasingly
setting their own minimum ventilation requirements, usually
with new construction only.
The need to ventilate indoor spaces is not
in dispute, but the amount of fresh air to deliver for the
health, safety and comfort of those living in today's tight
homes continues to be somewhat of an open quesion. It is probably
prudent to discuss a variety of viewpoints, standards and
methods of calculation.
ASHRAE 62.2
- Ventilation recommendations for low-rise single-family dwellings
recommend a minimum of 1 cfm per 100 sq. ft. of floor space,
plus 7.5 cfm per bedroom, plus 1 bedroom. For a 2500 sq. ft.
home with three bedrooms, this would translate into 55 cfm
of fresh air continuously (1(2500/100) + (7.5x4) = 55 cfm).
Canadian Code
CSA F-326 - Residential Mechanical Ventilation Systems
meet or exceed the ASHRAE 62.2 codes. CSA F-326 requires that
fresh air be delivered into all rooms in the home at the rate
of 10 cfm per room, 20 cfm for the master bedroom. For the
same 2500 sq. ft. (three bedroom, unfinished basement, kitchen,
dining, family room) home would require 90 cfm of ventilation.
The rule of thumb for many years was 0.35
air exchanges per hour (ACH). To calculate ACH multiply the
sq. foot by the ceiling height to arrive at the volume, multiply
by 0.35 to arrive at the volume of air to be exchanged each
hour and then divide by 60 to arrive at the cubic feet per
minute. Using this method, 116 cfm of fresh air would be required
for a 2500 sq. ft. home.
Calculating the amount of fresh air that
is delivered to a home is one of a number of additional factors
to consider when installing a good ventilation system that
ensures the equipment interacts correctly with the existing
heating/cooling system and is distributed throughout the home.
Some of these inlude: pressure control (preventing the home
from becoming negatively pressurized), capacity (the ability
to increase ventilation rate when desirable), contaminant
removal, distribution, duct sizing (properly located and installed),
and control sytems (easy to understand by the user).
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Is
the RecoupAerator a Heat Recovery Ventilator or an Energy
Recovery Ventilator?
Both.
A heat recovery ventilator (HRV) exhausts stale air, brings
in fresh air, and transfers heat energy from one air stream
to the other to keep indoor air temperature stable. HRVs assure
a continuous supply of fresh air to your home, while recovering
energy normally lost through natural ventilation.
An energy recovery ventilator (ERV) is an even more efficient
kind of HRV. In addition to managing temperature efficiently,
ERVs manage indoor humidity — less in summer, more in
winter.
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What
is the difference between Sensible Recovery Efficiency and
Apparent Sensible Effectiveness?
Apparent Sensible Effectiveness is the comparison between
the temperatures of the two air streams traveling through
the system. It is used to predict the actual temperatures
of the airstreams. It measures the temperature difference
you feel. Sensible Recovery Efficiency (SRE) takes the Apparent
Sensible Efficiency and all other energy, from the power used
to the crossflow, into account. SRE lets you compare energy
recovery and therefore provides a performance rating.
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Will
the RecoupAerator filter out contaminants inside my home?
Yes, it not only ventilates, it filters the air at MERV 12
which means particles as small as 3.5 microns. In addition,
the RecoupAerator has a HEPA model which provides true HEPA
filtration (99.97% of dust and allergens down to 0.3 microns
in size)
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Are RecoupAerators better in some climates than others?
ERVs work well in almost any climate. Unlike a Heat Recovery
Ventilator, an ERV allows both air and moisture to be passed
between air streams. This means it can influence humidity
in order to prevent excessively dry indoor air in the winter
and excessively humid indoor air in the summer. A recent (2004)
study by the Florida Solar Energy Center found that our technology
compares favorably to other established methods of ventilation
and humidity control in very humid climates, such as those
in the southern United States. Download the study.
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What
does MERV measure and what does it mean?
MERV, or Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value, is a numerical
value given to filters in order to identify its filtering
abilities. The RecoupAerator filters to a MERV 12, which is dense enough to capture most all airborne particles, but porous enough to allow fresh air to flow through into your home.
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Can
an air exchanger help with radon mitigation?
Radon is a naturally occurring, colorless, odorless, tasteless,
radioactive gas and is a known source of cell damage to lungs.
The EPA recommends that all homes be inspected for radon and
that homeowners reduce levels of radon to below 4picocuries
per liter (pCi/L).
The measurment and the mitigation of radon
is regulated by each state, and a list of certified specialists
is avaialble throught your state's radon office. Although
the primary method of radon removal is sub-slab mitigation,
the EPA and others recognize that the best way to dilute radon
is by air exchange (when levels in the home do not exceed
16 pCiL). Air exchange is also sometimes used in combination
with sub-slab techniques to bring radon levels down to acceptable
levels.
ERVs such as the RecoupAerator exhaust radon
by diluting the radon with fresh air and, when programmed
to do so, by slightly pressurizing the space to prevent radon
from entering the structure. Because radon originates in the
ground and enters the home through cracks in the foundation
or basement walls, mitigation through air exchange is best
achieved by installing ventilation equipment in the lowest
level of the dwelling and running dedicated ductwork (not
connected with furnace or AC system ducting). Non-ducted (e.g.,
window) untis are sometimes used in open floor-space basements
where radon levels are low, and when it is not possible to
run separate ductwork.
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How
can you tell if your house is pressurized or depressurized?
You can have your home tested, which usually requires what's
known as a "blower door" test. But there are some
indicators you might be able to recognize for yourself.
- You feel a draft.
- You own a house that is older than 30 years.
- Your windows and doors are older than 30 years.
- Your chimneys and fireplaces are not properly sealed.
- You frequently use bathroom and kitchen fans or a dryer vent that exhaust air, but don't replace the lost air.
- Your curtains or blinds get sucked against the window or blown away from it when it is first opened.
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Will
the RecoupAerator® keep out excess humidity?
Yes, a RecoupAerator will not transfer
100% of the relative humidity from the outside air. Instead
40-60% of the humidity in the airstream will remain outside.
An ERV also expells humid air that is inside the house already.
An ERV is designed to "influence" humidity in a
way that tries to achieve optimum comfort for the occupants.
In addition, the RecoupAerator is designed
to accept an input device like a dehumidistat, which enables
the unit to boost to high speed when the humidity reaches
a certain pre-set level.
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