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About Whole House Ventilation

Whole House Ventilation

New homes are tightly built to save energy, but this can often times have a negative impact on the home without proper ventilation

Air within your home can be up to 10 times more polluted than the air outside. Microbial pollutants like mold, pet dander and plant pollen along with chemicals such as radon and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) create a toxic environment in your home. The build-up of pollutants such as these is shown to lead to allergies, asthma and other health concerns.

To combat the issue of poor ventilation, many studies from Building Science organizations, government and independent building science experts indicate that today’s homes need whole house ventilation throughout the day to maintain a healthy indoor environment.

BROAN offers a wide selection of innovative whole house ventilation solutions to fit your every need.

Exhaust Only
An exhaust only system removes stale and moisture-laden air from the home. It works by extracting indoor air from a house while make-up air infiltrates through leaks in the building shell and through intentional, passive vents. Typically exhaust-only solutions remove air from rooms where moisture and pollutants is most often generated (kitchen, bathrooms and perhaps the laundry room).

Supply Only
Supply ventilation systems involve the use of a fan to bring outside air into the home while air leaks out of the home through holes in the shell, fan ducts and intentional vents (if any exist). A typical supply ventilation system introduces fresh air into usually one or more rooms within the home that residents occupy most often (e.g., bedrooms, living room).

Balanced Systems
Balanced ventilation systems, if properly designed and installed, neither pressurize nor depressurize a home. Rather, they introduce and exhaust approximately equal quantities of fresh outside air and polluted inside air, respectively.

A balanced ventilation system works within the home’s HVAC system to facilitate proper distribution of fresh air throughout the living environment. Fresh air supply and exhaust vents can be installed in every room but are primarily focused to supply fresh air to bedrooms and living rooms where people spend the most time. It is also functional to exhaust air from rooms where moisture and pollutants are most often generated (kitchen, bathrooms and perhaps the laundry room).

Balanced Systems with Energy Efficiency
Energy recovery ventilation systems provide a controlled way of ventilating a home while minimizing energy loss. They reduce the costs of heating ventilated air in the winter by transferring heat and/or humidity from the warm inside air being exhausted to the fresh (but cold) supply air. In the summer, the inside air cools the warmer, incoming supply air to reduce ventilation cooling costs.

There are two types of energy-recovery systems: heat-recovery ventilators (HRV) and energy-recovery ventilators (ERV). HRV systems draw fresh air into a home while simultaneously exhausting stale air from the home. During this exchange, the two airstreams pass through a core within the unit where a portion of heat from one air stream is transferred into the other (usually the indoor air in winter and the outdoor air in summer).

An ERV works similarly to an HRV, except an ERV allows a portion of the moisture in the more humid air stream (usually the indoor air in winter and the outdoor air in summer) to be transferred to the dryer air stream.

Removal of Polluted Indoor Air

BROAN offers a wide selection of highly effective ventilation solutions that remove stale, polluted air from your home.

Studies show that the normal build up of pollutants in the interior of your home leads to numerous respiratory ailments that can affect you and your family's health.

Fresh Air for a Healthy Environment

Studies show indoor air can be up to 100 times more polluted than outdoor air. BROAN whole house ventilation systems replace your home’s stale, polluted air with clean, fresh air from outside.

HEPA Filtration

BROAN’s HEPA air exchangers filter particles such as dust, pollen and dander from interior air as well as incoming fresh air.

HEPA stands for High Efficiency Particle Air. A HEPA filter removes at least 99.97% of airborne particles 0.3 microns in diameter. A human hair is 100 microns in diameter.

Continuous HEPA filtration provides year round reduction of particles in the air of your home. Unfiltered and once inhaled, these particles can cause respiratory irritation and other breathing related ailments. The reduction of these particles can also reduce dust build up on surfaces.

Energy Efficiency

BROAN whole house ventilation solutions are designed for maximum energy efficiency—saving you money while ensuring a healthy home environment.

Air exchangers contain a heat exchanger core that uses the heating/cooling energy contained in the outgoing stale air to temper the incoming fresh air. This process minimizes the need to reheat/cool the incoming air, resulting in significant energy savings.

BROAN SmartSense® is the most advanced whole house ventilation system on the market. Using cutting-edge home control technology, SmartSense optimizes ventilation by only ventilating when required.

Balanced Ventilation

BROAN’s air exchangers accomplish a balanced volume exchange of indoor and outdoor air. This balance ensures that unwanted air is not pulled into wall cavities and voids in the home, which can cause mold and mildew issues. Additionally, the exchange of air does not affect the operation of naturally vented combustion appliances.

Make-Up Air

BROAN is the only manufacturer of residential ventilation that offers a comprehensive Make-Up Air solution for fans and range hoods.

Typically, supply and exhaust ventilation systems can pressure or de-pressurize the home. Such a scenario creates issues with moisture in wall cavities and interference with naturally vented combustion appliances.

When used with selected BROAN fans and range hoods, the Make-Up Air Damper series provides affordable and effective Make-Up Air to ensure a balance of stale air exhaust and fresh air introduction within the home.

Brochures | CAD details

CAD details for Whole House Ventilation

CAD details for Whole House Ventilation
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Last year we introduced our high-quality product line catalog developed with 20-20's state-of-the-art technology, featuring over 170 of the BEST and Broan kitchen ventilation products. As we continue to update our 20-20 catalogs we also wanted to offer those who do not use 20-20 the opportunity to incorporate our state-of-the-art range hoods into their designs.
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News archive:
BROAN Balanced Ventilation Systems Target Energy–Efficiency Needs in Today’s Homes (Aug 18, 2014)

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