So, the house came with a heat exchanger ... Does it do much in the summer?

In the winter, as I have a Nest, the house doesn't have much heat going on anyway when I'm away/asleep, so it's mainly acting as a weak air circulation system...

In the summer... I dunno ... I've so far kept it disconnected... Will keep it on for a week to see if there's a change... 2nd floor's starting to get stuffy at night.

Quote:

During the heating seasons, heat is transferred from the warm indoor exhaust air into the cold outdoor supply air inside the HRV heat exchanger. The ERV heat exchanger not only transfers this heat, but transfers some of the moisture in the more humid exhaust air into the less humid supply air. This heat/energy transfer means that your home heating system uses less when compared to any other form of ventilation.

During the cooling seasons the process depends whether or not you are exhausting air conditioned air. If you are not air conditioning the indoor air, ventilation is generally accomplished by opening windows and turning off the air exchanger.

If you are air conditioning the indoor air, heat is transferred from the warm/hot outdoor supply air into the cool indoor exhaust air inside the HRV heat exchanger, thus reducing the temperature of the fresh air coming in. The ERV heat exchanger not only transfers this heat but transfers some of the moisture in the more humid supply air into the less humid exhaust air, thus reducing the humidity of the fresh air coming in.

This heat/energy transfer means that your house cooling system uses less energy when compared to any other form of ventilation. This transfer of heat or energy is accomplished with very little or no mixing of the 2 air streams, meaning the pollutants are exhausted and the heat/energy is recovered.