Failure of Recoupaerator 200 DX

The pandemic brought a kind of perfect storm for many of us. In our case, it was ventilation related. Two of our ERV’s broke down – right when we really needed to rely on good ventilation. Although, considering what other folks had to endure, ours wasn’t really a perfect storm but more of an inconvenient breeze.

We had three Recoupaerators 200 DX Energy Recovery Ventilators by UltimateAir in our building, one for each apartment. And as mentioned in the past, these ERV’s were one of my favorite green building gadgets.

Six months into the pandemic, the ERV for the garden unit broke down, followed by the one on the 1st floor. You may be asking: “What is the big deal? Just get replacement parts, or a new unit”.

I tried. I contacted UltimateAir, and got crickets chirping. I eventually found out that UltimateAir went out of business at the beginning of the pandemic.

I was now sitting on three ERVs with no tech support or good way of obtaining parts or even a replacement unit. That this was a disappointing experience is an understatement. I loved the setup, effectiveness and efficiency of these ERVs from UltimateAir.

But it looked like it was time to let go and research alternative products that I could use as replacements. And that had its own challenges because of the supply chain issues that reigned during that time.

We did the only thing that we could do: Ventilated the old fashioned way by opening windows, tried not to think too much about the associated energy penalty, and remained hopeful that the supply chain would eventually unclog.

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About Marcus de la fleur

Marcus is a Registered Landscape Architect with a horticultural degree from the School of Horticulture at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and a Masters in Landscape Architecture from the University of Sheffield, UK. He developed a landscape based sustainable pilot project at 168 Elm Ave. in 2002, and has expanded his skill set to building science. Starting in 2009, Marcus applied the newly acquired expertise to the deep energy retrofit of his 100+ year old home in Chicago.

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