How Installing a New Heat Recovery Ventilation System Can Help Keep Mould at Bay
|For those homeowners that have dealt with mould issues before, they are well aware of just how serious a health risk it causes, and what a difficult process it can be to remove the mould. Not only can it be time-consuming to remove, depending on the type and severity of the mould, but it can also be quite expensive at the end of the day. Ideally you want to find a way to set yourself up so that you won’t be dealing with mould issues at all, and that your house will be properly ventilated all year long with any moisture extracted.
If you’re in the process of building a new home or are about to enter the home buying market but have your eyes on a new build, then it could be wise to look into the benefits of a heat recovery ventilation system, also known as an MVHR or HRV system. Here’s a look at how a heat recovery system can help with mould, among other things.
What is a Heat Recovery Ventilation System?
When you’re busy shopping for a new build home, there is no doubt you have a lot of things on your mind. The ventilation system isn’t exactly the most pressing of issues, and often it’s not even something people are aware of.
This is when being an informed consumer can really pay off, as the type of ventilation system you have installed in your home can make a big difference in the amount you pay in bills each month, and how well of a job it does keeping your house at a comfortable temperature with as little energy loss as possible.
To put it very simply, a heat recovery ventilation system uses a device that works to keep the warm air in your home, while at the same time is able to move that stale air out. In order to understand why this is necessary, you need to step back into the 1970s when people were spending a small fortune to heat their homes. Draughts and cracks were to blame for heat loss, so the solution was to make the home virtually airtight.
Unfortunately, this created a whole new problem. Sure, the heat wasn’t escaping, but nor was any of the air. The stale, and sometimes moisture-laden air, was remaining in the home. Moist air is of course all that is needed to start the growth of mould.
Extract the Moist Old Air and Enjoy Fresh Air Instead
This brought about a better understanding of the importance of ventilation. A proper ventilation system is actually able to remove the pollutants, moisture, and stale air from a home. These things naturally build up thanks to breathing, showers/baths, using the washing machine, and from cooking. They can cause pockets of moisture to build up.
What the heat recovery ventilation system manages to do is use the heat from the stale air that is being extracted to then heat up the nice fresh air. You are then left with air that is healthy, fresh, the correct temperature, and free of moisture.
If you are currently dealing with a mould problem in your home, or want to prevent it in the future, make sure to look into a heat recovery system as the perfect solution.
Great idea… something I actually knew nothing about until I read this. Thanks!
We’ve had an HRV for three years. Setup is in the conditioned air space of the basement furnace room. Just discovered condensation and mold growth in both the intake and exhaust flex duct. So it seems the very problem these things were supposed designed to prevent, is actually causing a problem with mold growth in the flex duct which is then sent through the duct work and out the supply registers to every room of the house. No wonder my allergies have been worse since having this thing installed. Opening and closing a window would’ve been easier and far cheaper.