8 Steps to Take to Improve Your Home’s Ventilation
Air pollution is an invisible threat to your health. Most of us expose ourselves to toxic chemical vapors and irritating particles every day without realizing it. The threat often comes from inside our homes. Houses tend to trap air pollution, which gives it a chance to build up to hazardous levels. Good ventilation solves that problem. The air outside of your home is relatively clean, and you can use it to dilute the air pollution. You just need to find a few ways to bring it into your house and vent the polluted air.
1. Open Some Windows
Natural ventilation isn’t the most powerful solution, but it’s usually the quickest and easiest option. Every window that you open will help ventilate your house. Polluted air will flow out of your home, and clean air will enter it. It’s a gradual process, so it’s important to leave your windows open for as long as possible. You can accelerate the process by opening your windows as widely as possible, but even a cracked window will help.
This method does have a few downsides. You should try to keep your windows closed if you’re heating or cooling your home. The open windows will force your heating and cooling systems to work harder, which wastes energy. You also need to pay attention to the air quality outside of your house. It’s usually better than indoor air, but there are exceptions. For example, fires contaminate the air with smoke, and construction projects can stir up dust. If the air around your property is dirty, you need to keep your windows closed.
2. Make a Cross Breeze
If you’re opening your windows, you should try to create a cross breeze. That happens when air enters your house through one window and leaves through a different one. It improves your home’s airflow and increases the rate of air exchange.
It’s easy to create a cross breeze in most homes. You just need to open windows on opposite sides of your residence. If a room only has one set of windows, then you can open a door to get the same effect. You’ll know that you’ve created a cross breeze when you can feel the air blowing through your house.
3. Try Exhaust Fans
Natural ventilation is useful, but it has its limits. Mechanical solutions are more powerful and effective in most cases. Exhaust fans are the simplest option. Most homes already have a few in their kitchens and bathrooms. These fans are designed to ventilate specific rooms. They remove moisture from bathrooms, which helps keep mold growth under control. Kitchen fans eliminate harmful combustion products from your house, such as smoke and carbon monoxide. Those are major air pollutants, and removing them at the source prevents them from spreading throughout your residence.
These fans are an important part of your house’s ventilation system. You can maximize their efficiency by keeping kitchen and bathroom doors closed while they’re running. Try to run the kitchen fans whenever you’re cooking, and use the bathroom fans after every shower. That will minimize the pollution that enters the rest of your house.
4. Upgrade Your HVAC System
Professional HVAC technicians can upgrade your home’s HVAC system to improve ventilation. For example, we can install mechanical ventilators that push dirty air out of your house and bring clean air into it. Some of these systems, such as the Healthy Climate Heat Recovery Ventilator, even extract heat from the air before they vent it. That maximizes the system’s energy efficiency and makes it easy to ventilate your house in cold weather.
These mechanical systems are the most powerful ventilation options for homes. They provide a constant supply of clean air and remove contaminants more quickly than other methods. Mechanical ventilators are great choices if you’re willing to invest in a home improvement project.
5. Use Roof Vents and Attic Fans
Some parts of your house need more ventilation than others. We tend to overlook our attics, but they usually have worse air quality than the rest of the home. They often accumulate mold, dust, and other pollutants as well.
You can solve those problems with a dedicated attic fan. Roof vents also help by giving the air an escape route out of the attic. Both of these systems will help keep your attic dry and prevent pollutants from building up. That protects your health and reduces the risk of mold and water damage in the attic.
6. Prioritize the Crawl Space
Most crawl spaces and basements also suffer from poor ventilation. Water tends to accumulate inside them, which leads to mold problems. They rarely have enough windows to allow proper natural ventilation. Fans and vents can help, but you need to use them with care. In most cases, you’ll need to close the vents during the winter to keep your home warm. Leave them open during the rest of the year to maximize airflow and eliminate moisture.
7. Use Portable Fans Strategically
Portable fans don’t have enough power to ventilate your entire house, but they can still play a vital role. Some activities produce a lot of concentrated air pollution. For example, painting releases volatile organic compounds, which can irritate your lungs and skin. Most cleaning solutions and craft supplies also release them. You fill the air with dust whenever you’re cleaning.
Portable fans are perfect for those situations. They have enough power to ventilate a small area. If you expect to release a lot of air pollution, open a window and set up a portable fan. Use the fan to push air through the window. It will increase the rate of air transfer and eliminate the pollutants as quickly as possible.
8. Maintain Your Air Ducts
If your home has air ducts, you need to take care of them. Air ducts are relatively fragile and tend to develop leaks over time. If you’re using a mechanical ventilation system, those leaks will interfere with it. Polluted air can escape through the leaks instead of leaving your home.
If you think you have leaky air ducts, you need to call a professional to look at them. An experienced technician will test the ducts to identify all the leaks, then apply a sealant or replace them. In most cases, this is a fairly quick and easy process that can have major benefits.
Call the Professionals Today
It can be hard to protect yourself from air pollution, but our team will make the process easier. Air Max HVAC offers heating, cooling, and indoor air quality services to households in the Burbank area. Our business has been booming since 2001 because we focus on technology. Engineers constantly develop superior HVAC systems, and we strive to offer them to our clients. We combine those innovations with traditional craftsmanship and excellent service to ensure your satisfaction.
Modern technology makes it easy to protect yourself from contaminated air. Reach out to Air Max HVAC today if you want to boost your home’s indoor air quality or learn more about ventilation services.
Tags: HVAC Systems, HVAC Tips, Ventilation