When the summer heat arrives, your cooling system keeps you comfortable. However, relying solely on air conditioning while keeping windows and doors closed reduces ventilation and causes a range of problems. Poor airflow affects not just your comfort but also your indoor air quality and energy efficiency. In this article, we’ll explore why proper ventilation is essential during the summer and share practical ways to improve airflow and indoor air quality without driving up your utility bills.
What Is Ventilation and Why Is It Important?
Put simply, ventilation is the process of exchanging the indoor air in your home for fresh outdoor air. There are two main types of home ventilation. Passive ventilation includes things like opening windows and doors. Active ventilation involves using mechanical means, such as fans, to introduce fresh air into your home.
On warm days, ventilation can help keep your home comfortable by venting built-up heat to the outdoors. It also prevents excess indoor humidity, which also plays a significant role in your comfort. Additionally, the higher the humidity rises in your home, the harder it is for your AC to cool it.
Proper ventilation can also improve your home’s indoor air quality. That’s vital because multiple everyday activities can quickly cause indoor air quality problems. For example, the use of household cleaning products can contribute volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to your air. Plus, using natural gas appliances can add toxic substances like benzene and nitrogen dioxide. As a result, indoor air is often two to five times as polluted as outdoor air.
Ventilation and Your HVAC
It’s essential to understand that proper ventilation can be highly beneficial to your HVAC system. For one thing, a well-ventilated home should require less air conditioning during the cooling season. According to experts, air conditioning shouldn’t be necessary at outdoor temperatures of 75 degrees or less. In New Britain, PA, that means you can remain comfortable without AC for much of the summer, particularly at night. However, that’s only possible with adequate ventilation.
Heat can build up inside your home even on mild summer days due to everyday activities and limited airflow. Indoor temperatures can rise quickly without a way for that heat to escape, especially on upper floors. Proper ventilation allows hot, stale air to move out while bringing cooler, fresher air in. This means you can run your air conditioner less often, reducing cooling costs and wear and tear on your HVAC system.
Tips to Ensure Proper Ventilation
If your home isn’t well-ventilated, there are several ways to address the issue besides opening a few windows. The following are some tips to help you do it.
Exhaust Fans
If your home’s bathrooms have exhaust fans, remember to use them, especially after showering or bathing. Those activities can quickly increase indoor humidity, reducing your comfort and straining your HVAC system. To prevent that, it’s a good idea to run your exhaust fans for at least 15 minutes after bathing.
Ceiling Fans
If your home has ceiling fans, consider using them whenever you open windows to increase airflow. Ceiling fans, when running counterclockwise, push air down from the ceiling. That forces accumulated heat down, allowing it to mix with cooler outdoor air from your windows. It also creates a wind chill effect that carries heat away from your body, helping you feel cooler.
Attic Fans
The temperatures in your home’s attic can be 50 degrees hotter than the outside air on sunny days. That excess heat can radiate into your home, forcing you to keep the AC on to compensate. If you install an attic fan to ventilate your attic, it can reduce how often your cooling system needs to run to keep your home at your desired temperature. A well-ventilated attic should be within 20 degrees of the outside temperature.
Whole-House Fans
Before AC became common in the US, many homes relied on whole-house fans to stay cool in the summer. They work just as well today as they did then, but modern versions are even quieter and use less energy. A whole-house fan pulls in large volumes of air through a ceiling vent, typically located on your home’s upper floor. It then vents that air out of your home through its attic. By opening shaded windows while the fan runs, you can increase ventilation and cool your home.
A whole-house fan can also dramatically reduce your AC use in the summer. On cool nights and mornings, you can use the fan as an alternative to air conditioning. However, the benefits don’t end there. By forcing hot air out of your home overnight and increasing airflow, you can take advantage of thermal mass cooling. That’s the process of lowering the temperature of your home’s walls, ceilings, floors, and even furniture. Then, when you close your windows the following morning, you can delay turning on your AC for far longer.
Install a Whole-House Dehumidifier
While opening windows in your home can improve ventilation, it can worsen indoor humidity on certain days. To combat that, you can install a whole-house dehumidifier. They are installed in your HVAC ductwork and work to maintain indoor humidity within an ideal range. That should allow you to open windows more often in the summer without making your home damp or uncomfortable. It will also help reduce your demand for AC since humidity makes you feel warmer than the ambient temperature suggests.
Consider Installing an HRV or ERV System
Maintaining proper ventilation year-round without wasting energy is possible with a heat recovery ventilator (HRV) or an energy recovery ventilator (ERV). These systems allow you to bring fresh air into your home even while your HVAC system is running, improving indoor air quality efficiently.
An HRV exchanges heat between the outgoing stale air and incoming fresh air, helping to equalize temperatures. This process recovers much of the energy spent heating or cooling your home, with heat exchanger efficiency typically ranging from 60% to 95%. As a result, you get fresh air without significant energy loss.
An ERV functions similarly but also transfers moisture between the outgoing and incoming air streams. This moisture exchange can help maintain indoor humidity levels. For example, on humid days, an ERV transfers some of the moisture from the incoming humid fresh air to the outgoing stale air, helping reduce indoor humidity. In fact, in muggy conditions, they can remove up to six gallons of water from your home’s air per day. Conversely, during dry winter months, an ERV helps retain indoor moisture, preventing your home from becoming too dry. This makes ERVs especially suitable for climates with seasonal humidity variations.
Your Local Comfort Experts
Since 1976, TCS Heating and Air Conditioning has provided quality comfort solutions in New Britain. As a family-owned and operated business, we are dedicated to serving local homeowners. If you’re looking for ways to improve ventilation in your New Britain home, contact TCS Heating and Air Conditioning today!
