Is It Conditioned?

Even if you don’t know much about ventilation inward a habitation, yous will probable know that bringing exterior air into your nicely conditioned menage is non a expert idea. Who wants icy winter air piercing through the warm blanket created past the heating arrangement, or cloying hot air suffocating the effects of the air conditioning?

Makeup air is (nearly ofttimes) outside air that is brought into the house. One of the benefits of makeup air (although non its primary function) is to prevent unconditioned drafts from being pulled into the family. It would non make a whole lot of sense of it to achieve this past bringing inwards unconditioned air itself!

Not all makeup air units condition the makeup air. Some alone temper cold air. Others tin can both estrus or cool the air, depending on the outdoor temperature. Units that can cool air tin can besides dehumidify it. Humidification is possible, although it is non a mutual characteristic.

Different Types of Makeup Air Units

There are diverse types of makeup air units available. These have different capabilities in addition to you tin can choose which ones adjust your needs best.

Even though the range of makeup air units is varied, they tin can live classed into the next categories:

Active or passive.

Non-conditioning or conditioning.

The instant grouping is what we are near interested inward here, only before we become to these, I only want to briefly touch on active versus passive because y'all tin get either version alongside non-conditioning in addition to conditioning makeup air units.

Makeup air system inside the house with ducts, make up fan and exhaust

Active makeup air units role a fan to pull air into the abode. With these units, yous are more able to control the amount and charge per unit of air pulled inward.

Passive makeup air units, on the other paw, utilise holes cutting into the outside of the dwelling as well as linked to the room containing the exhaust system. When exhausted air leaves behind a negative pressure level organisation, air is drawn in through these holes. It is passive because air naturally moves downwardly the pressure slope.

There are besides makeup air units that are designed alongside unlike users in listen. There are industrial, commercial, besides as domestic makeup air units.

No Conditioning

Makeup air units that don’t condition the air can be active or passive units.

By non-conditioning, I hateful that the unit of measurement does not rut, cool, or add/take moisture from the air. The air is but brought into the habitation every bit is.

Such units are virtually unremarkably used inward temperate climates that feel mild temperatures at either extreme.

They are likewise acceptable to use inwards houses that take no other conditioning. In other words, if your air is non heated past a heating organization, cooled by an AC, humidified, or dehumidified, and so adding inward more unconditioned air is not going to have the same ramifications that it would in conditioned homes.

Another situation inwards which these units would live acceptable would be if the sum of makeup air needing to be supplied was pocket-sized or at least pocket-sized inward comparison to the size of the room/space.

This would hateful the makeup air would not accept equally big an influence over the general room air status anyway.

There is seldom any betoken to insulating makeup air ducts carrying not-conditioned makeup air.

Units That Temper Cold Air

Makeup air units that temper common cold air take common cold air from outside and warm the air and then that it is non equally cold when it enters the space.

Part of the arrangement through which the air passes on its fashion into the house contains coils filled alongside water or glycol (when ambient temperatures regularly drop below H2O’second freezing point). Liquid propane, natural gas, or electricity are used to rut the liquid inwards the coils.

As air passes over them, heat from the coils is transferred to the air, tempering it then that it is not as common cold equally outside air when it is released indoors. This allows the makeup air unit of measurement to live used inwards wintertime without putting added strain on your heating systems.

If the air was non tempered, so your furnace would accept to run harder to maintain the temperature to which your thermostat is prepare.

This tin can accept more immediate negative effects, similar higher utility bills each month. Or the effects can be seen in a few years’ time when the heating arrangement starts to neglect prematurely.

While makeup air ducts don’t accept to live insulated, those carrying tempered makeup air volition benefit from the insulation.

Heating as well as Cooling Units

Some units tin both rut in addition to cool the makeup air that is brought into the domicile together with make so depending on the air temperature exterior. How a makeup air unit heats the air was simply described higher up.

The cooling organisation is like in that the air passes over coils. However, these coils are filled alongside a cooled refrigerant that absorbs oestrus from the air passing over the coils. The cooled air is and so released into the house.

Having a makeup air unit of measurement amongst both heating together with cooling capabilities helps trim back the strain on air conditioning units too furnaces, peculiarly in less temperate climates, where yous can feel extreme rut as well as extreme cold in the same twelvemonth.

Makeup air unit illustration with components

Such units are as well well-suited to homes that tend to status the air extremely using the HVAC arrangement. If you lot take paid a lot of money to go along your menage at fall temperatures inward the middle of the summer, and so yous don’t want makeup air to undo all the cooling.

Do Any Makeup Air Units Remove/Add Moisture?

Another aspect of the condition of the air that may upset the rest inward your habitation is the humidity level. If you lot are bringing inwards extremely humid air, then your household tin commencement to feel like a tropical isle. Moreover, your furniture in addition to textiles tin can get-go to endure.

Happily, makeup air units tin can also add together together with/or remove moisture from the air.

Moisture is removed past cooling the air. As yous probably think from high school science, cold air holds less H2O than hot air, so equally the air is cooled, water condenses as well as is removed. The dehumidified air is and so released into the family.

To add together moisture to the air, makeup units must be equipped alongside a specialized arrangement that supplies water to the makeup air unit of measurement (connects to the habitation’second H2O supply). This water is so subjected to noise that movement it to pause up into very fine droplets.

The dehumidifying facial expression of a makeup air unit is acquaint inward any unit of measurement that cools the air, merely a humidifying aspect is ane that is non automatically included with a unit that heats or cools.

Makeup air units that add together moisture to the air are not too common. These units are commonly used in arid climates where the air is exceedingly dry out.