Changes In Fan Energy Consumption According To Filters Installed In Residential Heat Recovery Ventilators In Korea

In recent years, because of outdoor ultrafine particles, residential heat recovery ventilators (HRVs) have been used with high efficiency filters by residents in Korea. However, as pre-filters are primarily used in residential HRVs, when a high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter is installed, the filter pressure drop increases, reducing the airflow rate, which requires the fan to draw more power to maintain the airflow rate. Therefore, in this study, the change in power usage of HRVs installed in residential apartments in Korea with various air volumes and filters were analyzed. The results show that HEPA filters consumed 13.5-17.5% (16.1% on an average), 11.8-16.0% (13.8% on an average), and 16.8-41.3% (30.1% on an average) more power at 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 air changes/h, respectively, than the pre-filter. These results indicate that unexpected power consumption increase could be caused if a pre-filter is replaced with a HEPA filter in residential small air-volume HRVs. This may lead to noise or failure due to fan overload. Thus, it is necessary to operate residential HRVs at the optimum air volume according to the fan performance.