Damaged belt causing the knocking sound
Filter pad wedged between disc and unit
Delaminated filter wedge after removal from disc

After a few months of flawless operation our UltimateAir RecoupAerator ventilation unit started to make a horrible squealing sound after we turned on the boost for a morning shower. I turn it off and grunted. No one likes a new piece of equipment to malfunction this early in their lifecycle.

I easily found the source of the problem after opening the case. One of the filter pad wedges had somehow become wedged between the rotating disc and the edge of the unit, locking the rotating disc. Easy enough, I just turned it over and reinserted into the unit. Problem solved.

Then after a day or two I noticed a repetitive knocking noise coming through the ventilator ducts. It wasn’t noticeable at first but became loud enough that we turned it off at night so we could sleep.

I called our installer and they determined that the culprit was a small belt that connects the motor to the disc. When the filter became wedged in the unit, it stopped the disc from turning and the motor chewed up the belt. It still worked, but it now created that knocking noise.

UltimateAir was very helpful and since we’re still under warrantee they shipped us a new belt and new filter wedges. Everything fixed. Happy homeowner.

Until 6 days later, the disc froze up again. Same issue. Once agin I called UltimateAir. Once again they were very helpful. They admitted that they had a bad shipment of filter pads fabric. It appeared to be causing other people problems as well. The pad was expanding and delaminating causing the rotating disc to luck up and burn out the belt.

So they said they would ship us new pads when they had corrected the problem. The new pads and a new belt arrived within a week. Everything fixed. Happy homeowner again.

Until the repair bill arrived. Over $300 in labor. Apparently labor is not covered under the warrantee.

We’re keeping our fingers crossed this is the last of the problem. The weather has been so temperate lately that we have the windows open and the ventilator off most of the month. Most likely we won’t find out if the problem has been fixed until we start using the ventilator full time again in the winter.

I’m hoping we can get UltimateAir to cover the $320 labor to fix the defective pads.