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Fall is here, which means the heating season is just around the corner. It\u2019s time to check your windows, insulate your doors, ensure proper thermal insulation, and prepare your heating system for the cold weather. However, there\u2019s one more important aspect that\u2019s often the last thing on people\u2019s minds\u2014ventilation. And this raises a logical question: how can you ventilate a room without losing precious heat? Do you think that ventilating during the cold season isn\u2019t necessary and that you can just keep the windows closed until it gets warm outside? Absolutely not! In fact, you need to ventilate a room regularly and effectively, regardless of the season.<\/p>\n
Constant access to fresh air is critical for our brains to function properly. High CO2 levels in a closed room can lead to distraction, reduced concentration, irritability, and headaches. What\u2019s more, insufficient air exchange affects not only how we feel but also the condition of the room itself. Without proper ventilation, a whole range of problems can arise, such as mold on the walls and condensation on the windows. So we\u2019ve established that it\u2019s necessary to ventilate rooms year-round. The only question is: how do you do it correctly?<\/p>\n
The first thing that comes to most people\u2019s minds is simply to open a window. Yes, this is indeed the easiest way, but it has a number of drawbacks. First, it\u2019s important to note right away that an open window isn\u2019t ventilation. It\u2019s just a temporary and misleading sense of freshness; proper and truly effective ventilation must work both as an intake and an exhaust system, and an open window cannot handle this task comprehensively and effectively. Second, by opening a window during the cooler months, we simply let the heat\u2014which took energy to generate\u2014escape outside. Instead, we let cold air into the room, which the heating system will then have to heat up. In other words, the more heat is lost this way, the greater the load on the heating system to maintain a comfortable temperature.<\/p>\n
Indeed, a significant portion of heat can be lost through ventilation. In standard buildings without controlled ventilation, heat loss through the air can account for up to 30\u201350% of total heat loss.<\/p>\n
In this case, a ventilation system with heat recovery plays a particularly important role. It is precisely this type of ventilation that ensures a complete air exchange cycle in the room with minimal loss of heat or cool air.<\/p>\n
How does it work? In fact, the principle behind such a system is quite simple.<\/p>\n
The term \u201crecuperation\u201d itself comes from the Latin recuperatio, meaning \u201creturn\u201d or \u201crestoration.\u201d The main process takes place in the heat exchanger. Warm air removed from the room passes through the heat exchanger, thereby partially transferring its energy to the fresh supply air coming from outside. Importantly, the air streams do not mix with one another. As a result, the fresh air entering the room is already preheated, so the heating system does not have to expend additional energy. This, in turn, means savings on utility bills.<\/p>\n
Depending on the technology, ventilation systems with heat recovery can recover approximately 70\u201398% of the heat from the exhaust air. Various materials can be used to manufacture heat exchangers, including aluminum, plastic, ceramics, and copper. Copper leads the way in energy efficiency, as this material\u2014as we learned in chemistry and physics class\u2014has one of the highest thermal conductivity rates.<\/p>\n
It is precisely this copper heat exchanger technology that is used in PRANA heat recovery units. This solution has made it possible to ensure the system\u2019s high energy efficiency, as the PRANA heat recovery unit\u2019s efficiency reaches up to 98%! At the same time, the PRANA heat recovery unit has very low power consumption; depending on the operating speed and without heating elements, the system can consume even less energy than a standard LED bulb. The heat recovery unit requires significantly less electricity to operate than what would be needed to reheat the entire volume of cold air that would enter the room during conventional ventilation. Therefore, the system can run continuously, providing the necessary air exchange without the need to open windows every time<\/p>\n
The energy efficiency of ventilation systems with heat recovery is also confirmed by independent, recent studies.<\/p>\n
In 2025, researchers from the University of \u0141\u00f3d\u017a and the Krak\u00f3w University of Technology studied the economic efficiency of ventilation systems with heat recovery for new single-family homes in Central Poland. As part of the study, more than 2,500 energy simulations were conducted under various parameters of insulation, building airtightness, and air exchange rates.<\/p>\n
The results showed that the use of an HRV system can significantly reduce a building\u2019s heating energy demand. In the scenarios studied, the annual energy savings due to heat recovery amounted to approximately 2,600 kWh, although the specific result depended on the building\u2019s characteristics and the ventilation mode. In the scenarios studied, the use of ventilation with heat recovery reduced the building\u2019s heating energy demand by 29\u201335%, with an average reduction of 32.6%. At the same time, the annual heating energy demand in models with heat recovery ranged from 6,300 to 7,700 kWh, while in models with natural ventilation, it ranged from 9,600 to 11,200 kWh.<\/p>\n
Interestingly, the authors did not consider ventilation in isolation but rather in conjunction with other building characteristics\u2014such as insulation thickness, air exchange, and the thermal properties of windows. This once again demonstrates that a building\u2019s energy efficiency consists of many elements, and ventilation is one of them. And this makes sense: even a well-insulated house can lose a significant amount of heat through air exchange if warm air is simply expelled outside and cold air enters without being preheated.<\/p>\n
Link to the study: https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2071-1050\/17\/9\/3908<\/a>.<\/p>\n