{"id":4611,"date":"2026-09-10T19:57:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T02:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.26yc.com\/air-to-air-vs-air-to-water\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T23:36:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T06:36:09","slug":"air-to-air-vs-air-to-water","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.26yc.com\/fr\/air-to-air-vs-air-to-water\/","title":{"rendered":"R\u00e9cup\u00e9ration air-air vs air-eau"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Heat recovery comes in two broad forms. <strong>Air-to-air<\/strong> exchangers move heat directly between two air streams. <strong>Air-to-water<\/strong> devices (like run-around coils or exhaust water heaters) transfer heat into a fluid loop that can serve distant or mixed loads.<\/p>\n<h2>Side-by-Side<\/h2>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<th>Facteur<\/th>\n<th>Air-to-Air<\/th>\n<th>Air-to-Water<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Streams<\/td>\n<td>Two air ducts<\/td>\n<td>Air + water\/glycol loop<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Distance<\/td>\n<td>Short (cores co-located)<\/td>\n<td>Long (piping carries heat)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Cross-contamination<\/td>\n<td>None (plate\/pipe)<\/td>\n<td>None (closed loop)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Reuse options<\/td>\n<td>Pre-heat supply air<\/td>\n<td>Air, water heating, process<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Complexity<\/td>\n<td>Low<\/td>\n<td>Higher (pump, expansion tank)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Cost<\/td>\n<td>Plus faible<\/td>\n<td>Plus \u00e9lev\u00e9<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<h2>When Air-to-Water Wins<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Exhaust and the heat sink are on different floors or buildings.<\/li>\n<li>You want to heat domestic water or a process, not just air.<\/li>\n<li>Multiple exhaust points feed one loop.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>When Air-to-Air Wins<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Supply and exhaust are side by side.<\/li>\n<li>You only need pre-conditioned make-up air.<\/li>\n<li>Budget and simplicity are priorities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Hybrid arrangements are common in practice. A building may use air-to-air recovery for the bulk of the ventilation load and an air-to-water loop to serve a distant domestic-water or process load that the air stream cannot reach. Controls should coordinate the two so the water loop does not fight the air core; a simple priority rule keyed to outside-air temperature works well. In a laboratory or mixed-use building, for example, the air-to-air core trims ventilation load while the loop pre-heats service water, and the combined effect shortens payback versus either alone. Keep the loop insulated and the pump sized to design flow to protect efficiency. Our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.26yc.com\/fr\/heat-recovery\/\">heat recovery solutions<\/a> cover both air-to-air and air-to-water forms.<\/p>\n<h2>Questions fr\u00e9quemment pos\u00e9es<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Can I combine both?<\/strong><br \/>\nYes. Air-to-air handles the main recovery; an air-to-water loop serves remote or water loads.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Which is more efficient?<\/strong><br \/>\nAir-to-air is usually a few points higher because there is no pump and fewer transfer steps.<\/p>\n<div class=\"yc-related\">\n<h3>Articles connexes<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.26yc.com\/fr\/verifying-chinese-heat-exchanger-certifications\/\">CE, AHRI, Eurovent: How to Verify a Chinese Heat-Exchanger Supplier\u2019s Claims<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.26yc.com\/fr\/en-308-test-procedure-air-to-air-heat-exchangers\/\">EN 308: Test Procedures for Air-to-Air Heat Transfer in Recovery Equipment<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.26yc.com\/fr\/gb-t-21087-air-to-air-energy-recovery-china\/\">GB\/T 21087: China\u2019s Standard for Air-to-Air Energy Recovery Devices<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.26yc.com\/fr\/thermal-comfort-heat-recovery-ashrae-55\/\" title=\"Thermal Comfort and Heat Recovery: ASHRAE 55 and IEQ\">Thermal Comfort and Heat Recovery: ASHRAE 55 and IEQ<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Heat recovery comes in two broad forms. Air-to-air exchangers move heat directly between two air streams. Air-to-water devices (like run-around coils or exhaust water heaters) transfer heat into a fluid loop that can serve distant or mixed loads. Side-by-Side Factor Air-to-Air Air-to-Water Streams Two air ducts Air + water\/glycol loop Distance Short (cores co-located) Long [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[197,242],"tags":[235,210],"class_list":["post-4611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-encyclopedia","category-exchanger-types","tag-air-to-water","tag-comparison"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.26yc.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.26yc.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.26yc.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.26yc.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.26yc.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4611"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.26yc.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4611\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5150,"href":"https:\/\/www.26yc.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4611\/revisions\/5150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.26yc.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.26yc.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.26yc.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}