What to Know About Residential Ventilation
Everybody relies on ventilation to some degree. Commercial industries need the right ventilation to ensure the reliable manufacture and transportation of products, and at home, we rely on ventilation to be comfortable and healthy.
Even those of us who live in a climate that is temperate and relatively comfortable year-round need ventilation. Without it, even if the air temperature is comfortable, the air would become stale, humid, and polluted. Below, we’ll briefly go over everything you need to know about residential ventilation.
Why is Residential Ventilation Important?
Ventilation at home exhausts trapped air and replaces it with fresh air, when there’s not enough ventilation in the home, the following problems will arise:
Stale air: Stale air may be the first thing you or your guests notice. Stale air will happen gradually as ventilation remains stagnate, so if you’re living in your home you may not notice it until a (good) friend mentions the air. Stale air is stuffy and nobody wants it in their home.
Indoor air pollution: Did you know you create indoor air pollution every day in your home? Dead skin cells, dirt, pet dander, and fumes from cooking, candles, and incense all create air pollution in the home. When your residence is properly ventilated, these pollutants accumulate in the air and can harm your health over time.
Humidity: In addition to pollutants, we naturally release moisture into our homes. Our bodies perspire and steam from showers and cooking add to the humidity of your natural environment. If the air isn’t exhausted this humidity can cause condensation on the windows and may even contribute to rot, mold, and mildew.
How to Improve Residential Ventilation
There are two main ways to improve residential ventilation:
Passive ventilation: Passive ventilation is the obvious way to improve ventilation inside the home. In this context, it usually equates to opening up the windows in your home to let fresh air in. This way, air naturally circulates through your home.
While this method does improve ventilation, it’s not enough for most homes. Furthermore, it’s not practical in cold climates.
Active ventilation: Active ventilation refers to methods that use mechanical means to ventilate a space. The best way to actively ventilate a residence is by using a whole house fan. Whole house fans are devices that circulate air throughout the entire home, exhausting trapped, stale air and replacing it with fresh, outdoor air. Unlike passive ventilation, this method will ensure total ventilation of the home to radically improve residential ventilation.
WholeHouseFan.com has a wide variety of whole house fans to choose from, including Energy Saving Whole House Fans. Take a look and give us a call should you have any questions. 1-661-775-5979