HRV or ERV?
An HRV, or heat-recovery ventilation, plate core moves heat only, keeping supply and exhaust air fully separated. An ERV, or energy-recovery ventilation, plate also transfers moisture, helping manage humidity. For hygienic or contaminated exhaust, a sensible HRV plate is preferred to avoid any carryover.
Why plate cores over rotating wheels?
Plate cores keep the two air streams separated by solid walls, so no moisture, dust, or contaminant crosses over. Rotating wheels share one moving medium between streams and can carry moisture or microbes back into supply air, which is unacceptable in laboratories, food plants, hospitals, and livestock houses.
How do I choose the plate material?
Match it to the worst-case air quality and temperature. Aluminum suits clean indoor air; 316L stainless or coated plates suit corrosive, coastal, or hygienic duty. Always request the material certificate rather than accepting a generic "stainless" label.
What effectiveness should I specify?
Higher is better up to a point, but it raises core size and pressure drop. Compare effectiveness and pressure drop at your real operating flow, not a single catalog peak, and confirm part-load performance for variable-speed systems.
How do I verify a supplier?
Ask for EN 308 test data, material certificates, references, and a pilot order before scaling to volume. Start from a clear specification and compare two or three qualified suppliers on the same criteria.
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Key takeaway
These answers cover the most common starting points; the right detail always depends on your duty. Gather your inlet temperatures, flow rates, and air-quality notes before contacting a supplier, and the conversation will move from generic advice to a concrete, sized recommendation that you can actually order.
Revisit this FAQ as your project takes shape. The same questions, asked with real inlet temperatures and flow rates, will lead to a different and more useful answer each time, so keep refining the brief you send to suppliers.