Keeping your home comfortable all year round can feel complicated. In the winter, you’re faced with stale air and weeping windows, but it’s too cold to leave a window open. In the summer, you need windows open to stay cool, yet this lets in pollen and kicks off the family’s hayfever.

It sounds like a lose-lose situation, but it doesn’t have to be. Modern home ventilation systems come with in-built and added features, designed for seamless heating and cooling. That means you can achieve year-round comfort and save money on heating and air con bills, since energy demands are lower.

Find out more about the heating and cooling features of our home ventilation systems that you may not have been aware of, to add a breath of fresh air to your home from January to December.

Keeping cool in summer

Temperatures in New Zealand regularly crank up to 30ºC during summer, and can creep even higher in some areas. Now that modern homes are much more airtight thanks to better insulation, our homes are staying warmer. That’s great for your heating bill, but it does mean that homes run the risk of overheating. We want to find that temperature balance to avoid any stuffiness at home.

The good news is that some ventilation systems can actually introduce cooler air to the home, through a controlled method that doesn’t cause the temperature to drop to anything less than comfortable. Heat recovery systems in particular are great for reducing the risk of overheating during summer.

They do this with some clever features:

• By using the outside air as the primary air source, instead of the roof cavity, for a fresh, filtered breeze when things heat up. This can be achieved for positive pressure systems by adding a flexi air source
• A core bypass is a standard feature of the Balance system that allows outdoor air to come inside without being tempered by the air going outdoors, for effortless summer operation.
• Combining a heat pump in summer, with a Balance system or Synergy3 system, can transfer the cool temperature from the outgoing stale air to the incoming fresh air.

Temperature aside, a home ventilation system also helps to keep common summer nuisances, like bugs and pollen, outside of your home. They do this by filtering the fresh air that comes into your house, reducing the amount of pollen and other allergens that can build up.

Keeping warm in winter

Keeping the air fresh without letting in the cold is tricky, especially when the last thing we want to do is leave our windows open. During winter, we spend more time indoors, which only adds to the problem. We’re cooking, showering and hanging out our clothes indoors more often – and with closed windows. This causes condensation to build up on surfaces, which can turn into mould without good ventilation.

A balanced pressure ventilation system (also known as a heat exchanger) is useful here. The system extracts any damp, warm air from inside the home. The heat exchanger then brings in dry air from outside and warms it up, effectively swapping the damp air for fresh, dry air. Balanced pressure systems are the most suitable for modern, airtight houses.

With a second air source, homes can automatically take advantage of any solar gain, this feature is available for Synergy3 systems.

For those homes where heat is a bigger issue than damp, consider a heat transfer system. They move warm air from one room to another, to achieve consistent heat throughout the house, this feature can be added to Synergy3, Positive3, and Positive Advance systems. 

Some positive pressure ventilation systems let you add heating to ducting, which stops cool air from the roof space from bringing temperatures down inside.

Many of the SmartVent systems, such as the SmartVent Synergy3, Positive3, and Positive Advance can be configured for winter with a tempering heater, a handy seasonal add-on. 1 or 2kW tempering heaters are perfect when it’s cold outside and you want to take the chill off the air that comes in, helping you to use the driest air available.

Get tailored advice from the climate experts

Book a home consultation with the experts at SmartVent. We can assess your needs based on your home plan, home-style and environment, to recommend the best ventilation system layout that will keep you comfortable all year round. And, since all SmartVent systems and seasonal add-ons come with a 5-year warranty (excluding filters) you can buy in the confidence that you’re making a smart choice for your long-term energy bills.

Give us a call on 0800 140 150 or email enquiry@smartvent.co.nz to speak to a specialist and make an appointment.