We were owners of several UltimateAir RecoupAerator 200DX energy recovery ventilators (ERVs), until they broke down. And like so many other former 200DX owners, we found ourselves hunting for some suitable replacements. We settled on the Broan ERV200TE and Panasonic FV-20VEC1 (Intelli-Balance 200).
In this post I am comparing the filters of these two units, and hope you will find the information useful if you are in a similar situation.
Broan filters
The Broan comes with two washable filters MERV 6, one on the fresh air intake side and the other on the stale air exhaust side. The filters are easy to remove and clean, and they are reusable.
The Broan product literature points to a disposable HEPA filter for the fresh air intake side. The HEPA filter would reduce the overall airflow (increase the static pressure) and would require re-balancing the ERV. I will cover the balancing of the units in an upcoming post.
If we need to replace the two reusable MERV 6 filters, we could do so for around $80.00 at the time of this writing. The optional HEPA filter seems more difficult to find (special order) and retails around $80.00.
Panasonic filters
The Panasonic comes with a disposable MERV 13 filter on the fresh air intake side and a washable filter on the stale air exhaust side that has not a rating as far as I can tell. Panasonic also offers disposable MERV 8 and HEPA filters for the fresh air intake side.
I assume that the MERV 8 and HEPA filters would also require to re-balance the ERV, although there is no mention of it in the product literature.
The disposable filters should be replaced around every six months, according to the operating instructions. And they are not cheap. As per this writing, the MERV 8 filter costs around $115.00, the MERV 13 filter around $125, and the HEPA filter around $135.
I guess clean air has its price.
I purchased the Panasonic MERV 8 filter for the Panasonic system; it comes with 4 disposable filters for the ~$120 price.
Glad to see the content is continuing!