April 2, 2025
If your home feels stuffy, overly dry in winter, or too humid in summer, your ventilation system might need an upgrade. Today’s tightly sealed homes do a great job of keeping in heat or cool air, but they also trap stale air inside. That’s where systems like ERVs and HRVs come into play. These systems pull in clean air from outside and push out old indoor air, all while keeping your indoor temperature steady.
What These Systems Actually Do
When you look at an energy recovery ventilator or a heat recovery ventilator, the name might sound complicated. The job they do is pretty simple. Both systems bring fresh air into your home and move stale indoor air out. But instead of just trading air, they also help keep indoor temperatures steady.
So, in winter, the cold outside air doesn’t flood your living room with icy drafts. In summer, you don’t end up pulling in warm, sticky air. These systems help your HVAC setup work better without wasting what you’ve already paid to heat or cool.
The way they manage that balance is where the two start to differ. They both recover energy from the air moving out and use it to condition the air coming in, which is why they’re part of what people call balanced ventilation.
How a Heat Recovery Ventilator Works
Heat recovery ventilators focus on temperature. They pull stale indoor air out and bring in fresh air from outside. The air stream moves through a heat exchanger, which moves heat from one stream to the other without mixing them. In winter, warm indoor air helps heat the cold air coming in. That way, you get fresh air without putting a bigger load on your furnace. In summer, it works in reverse. Warm air heading outside passes its heat to the cooler incoming air, which makes your AC work a bit less.
This setup works best when you want to control temperature efficiently, especially if you live in a colder region where winter can drag on. You might notice your home feeling more comfortable with less variation from room to room. You also reduce the amount of heating your system has to do, which lowers your bills. HRVs don’t mess with humidity levels, so if your home already manages moisture well, that might be all you need.
What Makes an Energy Recovery Ventilator Different
Energy recovery ventilators do the same job as HRVs but with one key difference. In addition to heat, they also move moisture. They transfer humidity from one air stream to the other using a special core inside the system.
If you live somewhere humid in the summer or where winters get extremely dry, this can help your house feel more balanced. Instead of just warming or cooling the air, the ERV also helps you hold onto indoor moisture in winter or reduce extra humidity in the summer. You get fresh air without the discomfort that sometimes comes with opening windows or running exhaust fans. If your home often feels muggy or bone-dry, this system can help fix that without you having to run humidifiers or dehumidifiers constantly.
Why Humidity Matters More Than You Think
Humidity plays a bigger role in your home comfort than most people realize. Dry air can leave your skin itchy, make your nose feel dry, and cause wood furniture or flooring to crack. On the other hand, too much moisture invites mold, dust mites, and that damp, sticky feeling that makes everything uncomfortable.
If you already have indoor humidity problems, your ventilation choice matters. A heat recovery ventilator can’t adjust moisture levels. It only helps with temperature. But if humidity levels in your house swing too far in either direction, an energy recovery system may give you a smoother, more balanced result.
Ventilation and Air Quality Go Hand in Hand
Maybe your home feels a bit stale, or certain smells seem to stick around longer than you’d like. If someone in your family deals with allergies or asthma, you might be looking for ways to lower dust and other particles in the air. Good ventilation can help with all of that. A balanced setup keeps fresh air moving in while pushing used air out. It lowers the concentration of indoor pollutants without cracking a window or blasting your HVAC fan nonstop.
That said, ventilation doesn’t replace filters or air purifiers. It works alongside them. But when you start with a better flow of outside air and reduce moisture where needed, your filters don’t have to work as hard. If someone in your household is sensitive to indoor air changes, the kind of ventilation you use might help reduce flare-ups, especially during allergy season or when the heat is running nonstop.
How Your Climate Can Help You Decide
Where you live plays a big role in this choice. In colder places where dry air is common during the heating season, a heat recovery ventilator usually does the trick. It helps lower heating costs without drying the house out more. But if your winters are dry and your summers get sticky, the energy recovery ventilator might make life easier.
Size and Setup Matter Just As Much
Whichever system you choose, how it’s sized and where it goes will affect how well it performs. If the unit is too small, it won’t bring in or push out enough air to be useful. If it’s too large, it might turn on and off too quickly, which can create airflow problems. Where you install it also plays a role. Some models work better when they’re tied directly into your HVAC system. Others can run on their own with dedicated ductwork.
If your home has tight construction or was built with energy savings in mind, these systems help reduce stale air buildup. If you live in a house that leaks air like a sieve, you may still benefit, but you’ll also want to think about sealing and insulating other parts of your home first. Otherwise, the system will work harder to deal with issues it wasn’t built to solve.
Ongoing Maintenance Makes a Difference
Both types of systems need some basic care to keep working well. Filters need to be cleaned or replaced. Vents need to be checked for blockages. Some units use cores or exchangers that also need cleaning, depending on how much dust or moisture your home creates. Skipping this step can slow airflow or reduce how well the system works. If you already stay on top of HVAC maintenance, adding this to the list doesn’t add much time. But ignoring it can lead to problems that make your air feel worse than before.
If you’re planning to install one in a newer build or during a remodel, talk with a contractor about long-term access to the unit. You don’t want to shove it behind a wall or up in a cramped attic where nobody wants to go. Keep it where someone can get to it without a hassle. That one choice makes maintenance less of a chore.
Let Us Fix Your Ventilation
Choosing the right ventilation system is about more than just comfort; it also affects your bills, indoor air quality, and the health of your home. At Scott-Lee Heating Company, we offer heating, cooling, and air quality services to residents of St. Louis and surrounding areas. If you’re ready to breathe easier, schedule a consultation with Scott-Lee Heating Company today.