Using mechanical ventilation with highly efficient heat-recovery in northern European or arctic climates is a very efficient way of reducing the energy use for heating in buildings. However, it also presents a series of problems concerning condensation and frost formation in the heat-exchanger. Developing highly efficient heat-exchangers and strategies to avoid/remove frost formation implies the use of detailed models to predict and evaluate different heat-exchanger designs and strategies. This paper presents a quasi-steady-state model of a counter-flow air-to-air heat-exchanger that takes into account the effects of condensation and frost formation. The model is developed as an Excel spreadsheet, and specific results are compared with laboratory measurements. As an example, the model is used to determine the most energy-efficient control strategy for a specific heat-exchanger under northern European and arctic climate conditions. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.