Heat Exchangers pros and cons

usignuolo

We went to stay with friends for the weekend recently. I always sleep with the window open a fraction but we could not do that there as everything is very tightly sealed and the air circulates via a heat exchanger in the roof which they had installed a couple of years ago. This was put it for three reasons they said, one their German central heating system requires the house to be completely draught proof, two it prevents condensation and three our friends are convinced it is ecologically a better way to clean and circulate the air in the house.

I am calling it a heat exchanger but I think the correct term might be an air exchanger. Our friends said something about it bringing in clean air from roof level to replace the old air? Any views?

Looby_Lou

Sounds like a Heat recovery ventilation system. We are just having one put in at the moment. It sucks the hot moist air out of kitchens and bathrooms, uses the heat to heat up air coming into the house and pumps it into bedrooms and living areas. We had one in out old house and it was great. Smells and condensation were removed without having to open windows (which is a pain if you are going out or it is freezing cold outside)