Breathe Easier, Build Smarter: Why ERVs Are a Must-Have in New Homes

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Издатель Sep 28, 2025

If you haven’t heard of an Energy Recovery Ventilator you may want to catch up. This technology, along with Heat Recovery Ventilators (HRVs), have hit the mainstream in the new home market.

Building science developed these devices decades ago, and manufacturers have refined them. They’re basically multi-layer ventilation devices that “exchange” the energy used to heat or cool your home’s air with fresh outdoor air. As a result, you can bring fresh air into your house all year, with minimal impact on your energy bill.

Newer building codes have set stricter rules for home ventilation. While codes written before about 2000 assumed that “makeup” air could enter the house passively--through leaky walls or windows--the 2021 International Residential Code mandates mechanical ventilation.

Based on ASHRAE standards, this rule is based on a minimum number of air changes per hour (ACH) in a new home. The idea is that a house needs to “exhale” the buildup of VOCs and other airborne pollutants at regular intervals.

ERVs solve what can be tricky balancing problems with the old way of putting in a bath fan and/or kitchen range hood and passive vents. When those one-way fans blow air out of the house, the fresh air that enters is a cold or hot as the outdoor environment. It may also be polluted with wildfire smoke or other particles.

Of course, ERVs can (and probably should) be installed in many existing homes, as well. I have installed a few myself, and the effect they have on indoor air quality has been life changing. I put one in a Florida home, for instance, and tracked the impact on CO2 levels in bedrooms. High levels were literally making my family sick, and the problem went away the moment I turned on the ERV switch.