A year ago I installed two compact recuperators in my house. I tell you honestly about the work of these devices

A recuperator is a useful thing, but for some reason it causes a lot of controversy. Some say that he is definitely needed in housing, others consider him a useless expensive contraption. Valery, a member of our portal, shared a review of this device. In the end, our guest responded very emotionally to the exposure of this device by some bloggers.

Short reference

A compact recuperator is a ventilation device that supplies fresh air to the room and removes waste air. The main feature of the device is that the air flows of the supply and exhaust air pass through the recuperator, which carries out heat exchange between the air flows.

In the cold season, the air removed from the room partially transfers heat to the incoming stream. In hot weather, when the air conditioner is operating, the opposite is true: cold air removed from the room slightly cools the warmer incoming stream.

An important point: a small air exchange created by compact recuperators cannot but heat the room and cool it. These devices only help to maintain the temperature that is in the room!

Feedback

First, a little about your home. Two years ago I bought a new brick house (74 sq. meter) economy class: everything in it is done simply and frankly saved on some things.

For example, there is no ventilation in the house, there is only an extractor hood for installing a gas boiler and stove. But the developer made it for one reason: without a gas ventilation shaft, he will not be given permission to install equipment, and, therefore, he will not be able to sell the house. So there is an exhaust hood for gas, but there is no ventilation in the rest of the rooms.

In such housing, with the onset of cold weather, problems immediately arose: the windows began to fog up, the window sills and walls under them became damp, and mold appeared on the slopes. Airing didn't help much. It became cold in the house when the windows were open. We often got cold from this. The problem had to be solved and I began to ask my friends what could be done.

One of my colleagues lives in a dormitory, where the ventilation is old and the problems are about the same: the apartment is damp and stuffy, and if you open a window or window, it’s cold. He has installed himself a compact recuperator and seems to be satisfied. I also decided to install this forced ventilation in my house. It was the best choice, since it would have been much more expensive to install full ventilation in my house.

The area of ​​my house is larger than my colleague's living room, and I installed two recuperators with an air exchange of 60 cubic meters per hour each. One is in the children's room, the other is in the living room, which is both a kitchen and a dining room. I felt the result of the work of these devices immediately.

Of the advantages of the recuperator, I would like to note the following:

• The house is dry. Condensation on the windows appears only during cooking and even then a little. Streams from windows and doors do not pour as before. Consequently, the mold has stopped spreading.

• Fresh air and warmth at the same time. There used to be a problem: the house is either stuffy and hot, or fresh but cold. When the air is stuffy and stale and there is not enough oxygen, the head often hurts. When it's fresh, but at the same time a draft is walking around the room - a cold, neuralgia or tonsillitis are provided. I have a weak immunity to this. Now these problems do not exist at all. There are no temperature fluctuations in the house and the air is always fresh.
• Important! We practically stopped using windows and the load on the fittings was significantly reduced. I consider this a savings, since the rubber bands need to be changed less often, and the mechanisms can be adjusted once and not be touched again. There is always trouble with rubber bands - dust accumulates on them, they tan and lose their tightness - then they blow from the windows. Now the windows are always closed and nobody touches them.

There is only one drawback so far: the recuperator begins to freeze at temperatures from minus ten. Because of this, the device does not work well, as the filter and heat exchanger are covered with ice. But I live in the southern region and this is not critical to me. During the year I faced this problem once.

Now about the controversy, bloggers and my opinion about all this

Before buying these expensive devices, I read a lot of reviews and watched more than one video. And here's what I noticed: a recuperator is the kind of thing that everyone wants to expose. Especially hitting devices with cyclic air exchange and ceramic heat exchangers. Some bloggers, splashing saliva, prove that it is noisy and does not meet the declared efficiency.

You know what I want to answer to all this - I honestly do not care about their opinion. Now on the points about the shortcomings sucked out of the finger.

• It is noisy and makes 35 decibels at a distance of three meters. I agree with decibels, but if I open the window at night, I hear cars, the noise of the railway, barking, and sometimes the screams of drunken neighbors. That's at least 50 decibels. 35 decibels is like the noise of my computer cooler - you can get used to it.
• About efficiency, which does not correspond to the declared one. I will simply say that air enters the dwelling without any drafts and it is not icy. The efficiency is not 80%, as stated in the specifications, but approximately 35–45%. It produces 60–70% at low motor speed. With an increase in air exchange, the efficiency drops, but for me this is not critical. I pay to have 120 cubic meters of fresh air in my home every hour. By the way, electricity bills for 0.003 kW (0.006 kW for two devices) did not grow much. But gas bills are a little, but they fell. In terms of energy consumption, then it comes out.
• Payback. Evil tongues on YouTube say that this little thing pays off in 20-40 years. I agree and I won't even argue. But when you buy a car for 500 thousand, in how many years will it pay off if you count the savings on minibuses? I have over 10 years, but that's not counting gasoline and maintenance. If you add fuel and repairs, you get the same 20-40 years. In my opinion, it is foolish to consider this. In this case, I am paying for comfort, and not for some kind of energy efficiency far-fetched by marketers!

How do you feel about recuperators? Write in the comments!

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