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JJ wrote:

The existing home I purchased has an Air to Air Heat Exchange Ventilator.
What is the theory of operation?

Sounds like you have a Heat Recovery Ventilator (HRV), in which outgoing
warm moist stale house air heats incoming cold dry fresh outdoor air.
They may condense water from outgoing air, which helps transfer heat.
Unlike more expensive Energy Recovery Ventilators (ERVs), they don't
re-evaporate water into incoming air. HRVs and ERVs are useless in most
US houses, since they naturally leak lots of air in wintertime. On mild
days, when they don't leak at all, exhaust fans and humidistats can help.

Each bathroom has a switch to manually turn it on, plus, it has a
humidistat
mounted on the wall in the main area of the house. Is this just some
overgrown ventilator fan to take care of humidity in winter? We're in
Wisconsin.

Last winter we used it when we showered but it never seemed to run on its
own via the humidistat which was set around 40 percent humidity. Never
had
moisture on the interior of the windows and my wife has around 30 house
plants.

Any thoughts on correct operation?

It sounds like your house naturally leaks so much that the heat exchanger
never needs to turn on to reduce indoor humidity, despite all those
plants.
Andersen says an average family of 4 evaporates 2 gallons per day of
water.
Each green plant might evaporate 1 pound per day.


Snip
Actually it seems to be just the opposite. Eight year-old house and it
appears to be heavily insulated, attic crawlspace has 24" of batt
insulation, Anderson dual-pane, low-E windows thru out and basement ledge
also fully insulated. I've done a visual on the outside and couldn't find
anything to caulk. House has a sealed fireplace, can't think of the brand,
I'm at work at the moment, but the type that the doors get locked into place
and it has a blower to circulate the hot air with an outside air draw.
Propane use for the forced air heat is quite good. 800 gals for the heating
season, including water heater, clothes dryer and stove. House is approx
3000 sq ft ranch. Full unfinished basement. Now I've never had it tested,
so its not scientific, just basing this on past experiences with my 5 prior
homes.