Home ventilation on a daily basis is important for maintaining healthy indoor air quality by replenishing stale indoor air with fresh outdoor air. If you have decided a ventilation system is a good idea for your household, weigh the differences between the four basic types of systems, as well as the features that are right for your Greater Kansas City home.
Home Ventilation
A ventilation system is a mechanical setup that utilizes one or more fans and perhaps ductwork (shared or dedicated air ducts) to provide air exchange for the home. These are the four main types:
- Exhaust ventilation forces indoor air out of the home, but does not provide supply-side ventilation. This forces outdoor air into the home through cracks and holes in the home shell, inviting unconditioned and perhaps contaminated air inside.
- Supply ventilation forces air into the home, with no exhaust-side ventilation. Indoor air is forced out of the home much the same way as an exhaust system forces air into the home.
- Balanced ventilation provides both mechanical supply and exhaust ventilation for equal volumes of air exchange.
- Heat recovery ventilation is a balanced system that also provides heat transfer inside a heat exchange coil to minimize heating costs. This type of ventilation system is ideal for Greater Kansas City homes in any season. During the heating months, exhaust air transfers heat energy to cold intake air. During the cooling months, hot outdoor air transfers heat to exhaust air.
What to Look For
The features available with your new system are important for performance and home comfort. Consider the following extras, add-ons and performance features:
- Noise – If a system is too noisy, you may not want to run it as often as recommended.
- Controls – If a system isn’t outfitted with a nice control system, it can be inconvenient to operate.
- Air filtering – You’ll also want to consider air filtration as an add-on feature, since healthful indoor air quality is the primary purpose of a ventilation system.
If you would like assistant selecting the best ventilation system for your home, please contact Overland Park Heating & Cooling, Inc.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Overland Park, Kansas about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).
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